Industry Expert Says Google's New Video Ad Service Doesn't Guarantee a Market Lead

04:38 | editor | May 25th, 2006 2:49am |

May 24, 2006 — Google, Inc. announced this week it’s ready to launch video advertising on the web. The move positions Google to compete with television for advertising dollars. Google isn’t the first company to put video ads on the Internet, but the search giant’s approach has some unique aspects. For one thing, users are given control over whether to watch, or not. The video ads appear on the screen as static images, and it’s not until a consumer clicks on the image that the video starts playing. But what’s in it for advertisers? And how does this affect Google’s positioning in the Internet advertising marketplace? Podtech’s Catherine Girardeau called Andrew Frank, a media analyst with Gartner, in his New York office, to get his perspective.