• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 15, 2016

Google will soon allow ads for games to stream in Android search results, enabling users to take them for a spin before choosing whether to download -- and sometimes buy - them.

The announcement, made Monday for Search Trial Run ads made during Google's Developer Day Conference in San Francisco, follows a similar program on the Google Display Network that allows developers to stream game apps from display ads and try mobile apps from search results, so consumers can try them first. The feature is available to select U.S. advertisers.

Users on WiFi will begin seeing the ads within the next few weeks. Tapping the “Try now” button will load the game, followed by an option to purchase it from the Google PlayStore. Users can try the game for up to 10 minutes.

While this try-before-you-buy option to stream apps and games from search results seems to have become the hot ticket for Google and brands, the news also accompanied several other releases, such as a bevy of features in AdWords and AdMob that make it easier for developers to reach the right users.

The updates support the ability to target ads in Android apps to users who spent more than 30 minutes playing games or who played any Google Play Games game in the past 30 days.

Game developers can serve ads to gamers and combine the ads with other types of targeting such as the Adventure game category to reach a more precise type of consumer.

Sissie Hsiao, product management director of Mobile Display Ads, in a post said Google also made it easier for developers to monetize apps with rewarded video ads from several providers by using AdMob Mediation.

The supported networks and platforms include AdColony, AppLovin, Chartboost, Fyber, Upsight, and Vungle, with plans to add others.

These updates -- along with Now on Tap, the ability to link a word in a search query directly to the content of an app in search results, and Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which pulls up optimized articles in Google search almost instantly -- work together to improve the experience on mobile devices