• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 18, 2010

For advertisers it's all about reach and segmenting audiences. How can I reach more consumers with specific needs through my ads? On Thursday, Google announced its Google TV Ads platform now reaches 3.3 million homes through Verizon FiOS TV. The deal adds an additional 50 networks.

By early 2011, advertisers will reach 35 million households, or nearly one-third of all U.S. cable and satellite homes, through Google TV Ads. Combine this reach with Google's digital buying platform and, well, you get the picture.

Oh, joy. Just in time. Tomorrow Best Buy delivers my Sony 46-inch TV equipped with Google. The big-box TV bought in the mid-90s finally bit the dust, so I splurged after passing on Apple TV years ago. I had been eying the high-definition television for as many months as Google unveiled the technology, along with Sony, Intel (chips) and Logitech (box, if you already have an HDTV and don't need another).

I've been writing about the ability to surf the Web through a television set for years. Some folks developed workarounds, relying on an external hard drive. So, Sony, tell me why you left out a built-in hard drive, especially when you offer a complete line of small laptops, notepads and solid state hard drives that would have let consumers download and store movies or access Google docs, write articles (in my case), and save them for review later.

Google and Sony, I don't want to store movies or Google Doc files on my FiOS HD box. Can I hook up a hard drive to the TV and use it to store word files, pictures and more? I know Apple offers a cable to link the iPad with the Sony TV. Guess I'll go that route.

Though I'm content with my decision, at least so far since I don't physically have the device in my home, the initial experience of actually making the purchase do go a little rocky. Overall, the experience didn't leave me with the idea of never wanting to go back. The early Black Friday specials and special finance offers did, however, send a flurry of consumers into the Best Buy location in Costa Mesa, Calif., and wait times to get help and delivery schedules from a sales assistant took nearly three hours if you combine time spent the weekend prior. That day I walked out because too many people had queued up.

Checkout lines at retail stores keep getting longer, but Google recently reported as consumers look for information and deals from favorite retailers, stores like Walmart, Best Buy and JCPenney continue to see spikes in online traffic, too.

Anyone have a Google TV hooked up that would like to share their thoughts? I'll let you know about my search experience and how I interact with ads next week.