• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, December 6, 2006

Internet, radio, and print. Has anyone else noticed what's conspicuously absent in Google's arsenal?

Over the last couple of years, we've seen Google expand its advertising empire from search terms and eventually online graphical ads to radio and print, specifically newspapers. Google is fast becoming a cross-media solution unmatched by any other source, but it's only a matter of time before it jumps into TV. TV is still the single biggest ad medium and still the most important, if not always the most relevant, and it's an opportunity that cannot be overlooked.

Now that we've entered the home stretch of the fourth quarter and plans are winding down for 2007, it's time to begin to shift focus to the 2007 upfront season. This year's upfront was a test in merging interactive and broadcast, and I imagine next year's effort will be more polished and easier to work with, but I also anticipate that Google will make some waves by entering into the upfront in one manner or another. I mean, what's to stop Google from entering in and becoming a reseller for inventory across multiple networks? What's to stop Google from building partnerships with the existing networks and cable stations to package their opportunities together with cross-media digital, radio and print centralized under one point of Google contact? Nothing, really, and it is a logical next step in the ascension of the world's largest single media company.

The idea entered my mind the other night while I was reading analysts' forecasts for Google, and I finally had the epiphany that I'm sure many of you have already had that Google is no longer a technology company but that they have morphed into a media company. Google is no longer about innovating on a broad scale the way that we interact with the Web--that job is being left to the burgeoning Web 3.0 companies. Google is becoming a cross-media megalith that offers one-stop shopping for any number of advertisers looking to reach their audience in a contextually relevant, cost-efficient manner.

If I were running Google, I would see that opportunity as unavoidable. There is a cap on how much growth Google can see by focusing on one media format. It can certainly plan for the future and the integration of the Google interface into other media vehicles, but many of those opportunities are a longer-term play, and Wall Street is notorious for focusing on the immediate opportunities and short-term growth. If I were interested in determining a path for immediate growth, TV would be the right place to look.

Of course, I have to believe that the Google folks, in their purchase of YouTube earlier this year, are already thinking and planning for this movement. The purchase of YouTube signals a reason to open discussions with the major networks. In much the same way that YouTube recently inked a deal with the NHL to become a licensed point of distribution for its highlight content, the networks must be in discussion with YouTube to become another vehicle for the distribution of their programming, including advertising revenue and revenue share opportunities. After all, the No. 1 focus for any of these companies over the next two years is distribution. The more places you can access NBC, CBS and ABC content, the more likely you are to watch their shows and the more ad revenue the networks can generate to supplement the slight decline in traditional TV audiences.

So 2007 has many things for us to keep an eye on, but don't be surprised if we still spend a lot of our time watching and analyzing what Google is doing. After all, when you're the biggest, fastest-growing media company on the planet, lots of people will be trying to emulate you--and "emulation" is the sincerest form of flattery, right?