Analysts have mixed views about Google's new video advertising program. Some, like Emily Riley from JupiterResearch, predict success: "Brand advertisers have plenty of money to spend on the Google
network. It's the next generation," she says. Two things that work in Google's favor are certainly true: brand advertisers definitely have money to spend on the Web,and there's a dearth of video ad
inventory out there. Opening Google's contextual network video ads addresses the latter problem, but brand advertisers also want to see volume; the trouble with Google's new program is, ads aren't
viewed unless someone clicks "play." Google execs say they're most excited about the prospect for smaller advertisers: it won't cost anything to upload ads and, like the rest of AdWords, they only pay
for what's consumed by Google users. This would make Google a much cheaper alternative for advertisers that want to do video. Skeptics say Google will have to react quickly if it wants its video ads
program to evolve into a success, but it shouldn't expect the program to do well right out of the gate. Piper Jaffray's Safa Rashtchy says the degree to which Google can efficiently target the ads
will be key, because users generally find video appealing, but will only play ads if they're relevant to the pages Google places them on.
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