• by David Goetzl , August 11, 2010

Flying, of course, has become a pain. It's one bag, $25 for a second. There's no room in the overhead because a passenger's one bag happens to be a trunk. But your valise causes a prickly flight attendant to insist it leave the plane to be checked.

So, it's a little paradoxical this week how one of those curmudgeonly flight attendants has been anointed a hero. The JetBlue guardian of the overhead took his job and shoved it, unleashing an emergency chute allowing him to slide out and speed away.

That came weeks after the so-called "Barefoot Bandit" was lionized for his life on the run, stealing cars and teaching himself to fly pilfered planes.

Most Americans wouldn't do any of this, but have an innate affection for the Huck Finns and Holden Caulfields with the courage or craziness to go for it -- kiind of playing into dreams of fighting "The Man."

By dint of jealousy or other motives, the TV trade is littered with over-dogs the skeptical classes continually jab. Until NBC's new shows bomb this fall, maybe give Jeff Zucker a break.

Two entities, however, can't seem to shake the punching-bag treatment: Canoe Ventures and Google TV Ads. Each is making noble efforts to launch systems to possibly enhance traditional buying and selling, looking to do what many advertisers want. But the zeitgeist seems to hold that the scrap heap is only weeks away for each.

Questions about Canoe, the cable industry initiative looking for advertisers to run interactive ads nationally, might be due to one of its early efforts failing. But networks are still reticent about using its fledging platform. And some say CEO David Verklin is full of promises, low on production.

His response: the technical challenges in getting off the ground are massive and overlooked.

Like Canoe, a nagging criticism facing Google TV Ads is that it's failed to garner enough network support. Top-rated cable channels have balked at putting inventory up for bid. EBay, it should be noted, had similar trouble with an auction-type system that went belly-up a while ago.

Well over a year ago, Business Week offered up typical criticism of Google TV Ads, an auction-based system allowing advertisers to bid on inventory. Marketers have a slew of options for targeting audiences, be it well-educated vegans or another sliver.

Then-Burger King CMO Russ Klein told Business Week Google lacks "scale" and "we don't see anything seismic here right now."

So, it wasn't a surprise Wednesday that, when Google announced an impressive deal with DirecTV, one trade Web site noted TV Ads has been "fighting an uphill battle."

Google executive Mike Steib, who oversees the system, doesn't get it -- though he acknowledges Google's pulling the plug on similar ventures in the print and radio space could be a contributor. Steib won't discuss whether TV Ads is profitable, but says 70% of advertisers using the system aren't Joe's Cup of Joes in Topeka, but Fortune 1,000s.

He's frustrated Google isn't able to put out more press release about its progress and frustrated when the trade press touts some Web site launching a new video player. "I just scratch my head because we're generating like 10x the revenue," he says.

The DirecTV deal gives advertisers the chance to run ads in up to 33 million homes served by both DirecTV and Dish Network. Google has access to inventory the two satellite operators own. The DirecTV arrangement is limited, however, to space on 11 lower-tier networks.

Google also sells inventory on a group of national networks, but those also tend to be lower-rated. An executive at one of them said TV Ads just isn't working, and the channel is thinking about yanking its inventory.

TV Ads is touted as having no downside for a network. A channel can set a floor for pricing and sell less-desirable overnight inventory.

Steib says the system isn't for prime-time space on NBC, but perhaps when, on a Tuesday morning, a network finds it still has spots to sell for Tuesday night. "If we ever sit down with a media partner who says I'm getting as much money for my inventory as I think I deserve every minute of the day ... then we can't help," he says. And TV Ads differs from radio and print, largely because of the Web-style performance metrics it can provide for advertisers. Set-top boxes in millions of homes provide a wealth of data.

But maybe until Google CEO Eric Schmidt touts TV Ads on an earnings call, Steib will continue to face that "uphill battle," real or perceived. It's anything but a bandit hop-scotching across American or a flight attendant taking flight.

"We're going to take a lot of punches in the process, but we have a strong jaw," Steib says.