Google Fiber might be on the brink of a huge breakthrough in the way TV ads are tracked, AdWeek's Sam Thielman reports.
Google will be rolling out a system that allows advertisers to see exactly how many views their TV ads are getting from Fiber users in Kansas City, one of the first places to get its blazing fast internet and TV service.
With the current status quo, advertisers rely on viewership numbers from Nielsen, which aren't very exact, since they extrapolate from the viewing habits of a small group of people.
Fiber's tracking system would be much more similar to how ads are measured online. The system will also allow advertisers to dynamically insert their ads onto a viewers' device.
"Fiber TV ads will be digitally delivered in real time and can be matched based on geography, the type of program being shown (sports, news, etc.), or viewing history," the company explains in a blog post that AdWeek saw in advance. "Like digital ads, advertisers will only pay for ads that have been shown, and can limit the number of times an ad is shown to a given TV. We're excited to see how this test progresses, and we're looking forward to hearing from local businesses and viewers along the way."
A source told AdWeek that Google is being very cautious around privacy issues and will let viewers opt out of being shown ads based on their TV viewing history.
This is great news for advertisers, who traditionally haven't had a super-accurate way to know how many people are watching their ads. They will pay based on the number of times their ads are shown.
Right now, it seems Google will only be testing this system in Kansas City, not either of the other two cities where Fiber is live.
But as Thielman puts it, "one-to-one measurement of viewers is still a giant step forward on television."
On February 28, Axel Springer, Business Insider's parent company, joined 31 other media groups and filed a $2.3 billion suit against Google in Dutch court, alleging losses suffered due to the company's advertising practices.
