TV Nets Tap Google's 'Video Box' for Series Boost

That placement, introduced last spring as part of an ongoing beta test, consists of a small graphical box that appears within Google’s text-based search results. The box features a small plus sign which indicates that a video is available with a click of the mouse.

According to sources, multiple TV networks have employed this tactic of late to promote new series, including The CW for its new shows Melrose Place and Vampire Diaries, ABC for its much-hyped FlashForward, USA for its just-launched crime series White Collar and TLC for the returning hit Cake Boss.

For entertainment brands, the Video Plus Box tactic is something of a no-brainer, as video is typically these companies’ best asset, and searchers are essentially asking for it directly.

“Our product is visual; we are a video medium,” explained Rick Haskins, The CW’s executive vp, marketing, who likened the practice to a packaged-goods brand handing out samples in Walmart. “What better way to showcase your content than giving it to people? This gives people a taste and flavor of the show. We were really aggressive with it this fall.”

For Google, the product helps the company better realize the promise of universal search, an initiative kicked off in 2007 aimed at making the search experience more content-inclusive—from text to photos to video.

“This brings sight, sound and motion into the search experience, and gives us an opportunity to make that universal search an ad opportunity,” said Adam Stewart, Google’s entertainment industry director.

That immediacy factor is particularly attractive for new TV shows trying to break through the clutter. “We are always searching for ways to put video in front of consumers whenever possible,” said Julie Diffenbach, associate director, interactive at Media Storm, which handles clients such as Miramax, FX and Food Network. “This allows us to bring the video to them as opposed to having them chase for it.”

Diffenbach added that, to date, initial performance for Video Plus Box has been solid, with click-through rates sometimes exceeding text ads’ rates.

Google also has been smart about pricing these new placements, said David Berkowitz, senior director of emerging media & innovation, at 360i, charging advertisers only when users view videos or click through to a brand’s site via these units, but not for both actions.

Beside TV networks, Google’s Video Plus Box units have attracted movie and videogame companies promoting new content including Warner Bros. and Madden Football (93 percent of online moviegoers use search to learn about movies, per Stradella Road Research).

Stewart said he believes that as more entertainment lovers regularly turn to search both prior to and after the launch of new content, there is an even larger opportunity for these companies to use search to sustain interest. “People continue the conversation online, and search becomes the watercooler of sorts,” he explained.

For example, according to Stewart, movie search queries tend to grow throughout an opening weekend, even as marketing budgets subside. “Search for week two is being underutilized,” he said.

TV networks may have a similar opportunity. According to Google Insights, though searches for the show Vampire Diaries peaked in early September, they repeatedly spiked each week following new episodes. Haskins said that 47 percent of the monthly traffic to The CW’s site now comes from search, a fact that has led him to keep using Video Plus Box units throughout the season as budgets allow. Just last week, The CW dialed up activity for the show’s Halloween episode.
While expanded use of Video Plus Box seems likely, advertisers did warn Google against moving too fast—something the cautious company rarely does. “For a lot of these more involved forms of ads, there is a consumer learning curve,” said Berkowitz. “You see that a lot with other video tactics. It takes some getting used to.”