…Media.
Google recently launched a new ad format for Adwords which see them integrate rich media directly into their SERPs.
Following in the footsteps of a Yahoo! product named RAIS (Rich Ads in Search), poor Yahoo! great idea – small audience 
Google are now integrating Youtube videos into their search results in the paid listings for the first time in Australia. They call them ‘Media ads’. As you know they’ve been integrating Youtube videos into the natural results for quite some time as a result of the inclusion of Universal search results (results consisting of more than just web pages including videos, images, news articles, products and local listings) but this is the first time video has been included in the paid listings.
Examples of the new ad format below…
In SERP…
Clicked & expanded…
The move sees Google integrate its core search product with Youtube and is a perfect fit for the likes of Fox Studios who were first to market to raise film awareness through the promotion of trailers.
At this point in time media ads are only available in beta to ‘major motion picture studios’. This will change very quickly based on guaranteed demand and it will be interesting to see how different industries and content producers take advantage of them.
The setup for the new ad format is slightly different to what we’re useful, as Dan Friedman from Google explains…
“With Media Ads, you don’t pick any keywords — the targeting is completely automated. When someone enters a search on Google.com that our algorithms determine is directly related to your movie title (most commonly the title and variations on it), we automatically display your Media Ad at the top of the search results page. Our research shows that when someone searches for a movie title on Google.com, they’re most commonly looking for a trailer. With Media Ads, we’re able to help you ensure that those users find exactly what they’re looking for.”
The payment model is slightly different too…
“Unlike typical AdWords ads on Google.com, you don’t enter any bids for Media Ads. Instead, clicks on Media Ads are charged at a flat rate. This simplified pricing model makes it easier to budget for your Media Ads campaign and to know exactly how much an interaction is going to cost.”
It will be interesting to see how quality score is factored in for this new format and how average CPCs compare to text ads.
I personally think they’ll be a bit of a game changer as advertisers take advantage of being able to include branded content directly into the search results, over and above a plain text ad, and we see Google grab itself a bigger slice of the brand pie.
What do you reckon?
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