Google: The REAL Dish on EchoStar TV ad sales deal
Google (will be) a monopoly I said yesterday, an ONLINE ADVERTSIING one.
But, what assets does Google really bring to the offline advertising table?
Google owns the online search market, literally, with its own 50% plus market share Google.com, backed up by a proprietary “massively scalable infrastructure.”
How about offline? What does Google own exclusively that an advertiser can not get elsewhere?
NOTHING, as I analyzed earlier today in “Why Google Television will NOT make money,” despite the “groundbreaking, new advertising system” announced for EchoStar’s DISH Network's 125 national satellite programming networks.
What are Google and Echo Star REALLY saying?
Google will have access to a portion of DISH Network's advertising inventory.
Why is EchoStar only opening up a PORTION, a “small percentage,” of its valuable advertising inventory to Google? After all, Charlie Ergen, Chief Executive Officer, EchoStar, boasts:
Through this groundbreaking partnership with Google, we are confident we will be able to bring increased efficiencies to DISH Network's advertising sales and more accurate, up-to-date viewer measurement with easily accessible online reporting to advertisers.
If Ergen is so confident, why does he not give his new colleague Google CEO Eric Schmidt advertising sales keys to the entire DISH Network?
Moreover, is DISH Network advertising sales so inefficient now, without Googley input, and is DISH Network’s viewer measurement so inaccurate and out-of-date now, without Googley input, and is DISH Network’s advertiser reporting so inaccessible now, without Googley input?
If EchoStar was so inefficient, inaccurate, out-of-date and inaccessible, would Schmidt partner with DISH Network, complimenting the company for its “focus on technological innovation?”
Hardly. EchoStar on its already “ultimate” enhanced advertising, with no help from Google:
With DISH, you’re able to leverage more than 100 premium networks to obtain incredible reach to help you achieve the demographic goals of your campaigns. If you're ready to take your advertising to the next level, then contact us about our traditional or interactive television opportunities. DISH provides the ultimate in enhanced advertising and targeting flexibility on America’s most advanced platform.
EchoStar on its DISH Network technological expertise:
In order to provide programming services to DISH Network subscribers, we have entered into agreements with video, audio and data programmers who generally make their programming content available to our digital broadcast operations centers via commercial satellites or fiber optic networks. We monitor those signals for quality, and can add promotional messages, public service programming, advertising, and other information. Equipment at our digital broadcast operations centers then digitizes, compresses, encrypts and combines the signal with other necessary data, such as conditional access information. We then “uplink” or transmit the signals to one or more of our satellites and broadcast directly to DISH Network subscribers.
So what is the REAL dish on the EchoStar-Google not so ground breaking deal?
It IS a test, from the Google, EchoStar and “closed trial” advertiser tester perspectives. As in all tests, the outcomes are uncertain and unkown and, as in any intelligently prepared test, the risks are isolated and minimal.
Google’s offline advertising expertise to date has solely been about tests, radio advertising tests, newspaper advertising tests, magazine advertising tests…
The outcomes to date of all of Google’s offline advertising tests?
The jury is NOT still out, the jury has been sent home, along with Google's dMarc Broadcasting radio advertising platform founders!
ALSO: Google’s Ten Commandments and Does Google SEO success ’suck’?