Reminiscent of simpler times, Googleis expected to debut "circulars," which, albeit Web-based, are similar to the ad inserts that newspapers have carried for years.
"Google
is on a quest to make Internet advertising look more like the Sunday paper," Bloomberg writes regarding the program. Expected to debut on Tuesday, Best Buy and Macy's are already on board, Bloomberg report.
"The ads will be displayed when
someone clicks on a regular search ad on Google," Softpedia
writes. "It's unclear if this means an overlay page on top of the regular search results page, or a new page altogether."
The reports come amid new data from Google, which shows that one third of search ads are "enhanced" -- meaning they add
media features, like video, are location-based or use social features, like the +1 button.
Illustrated the rapid rate of change, Google says that only a quarter of search result ads were
"enhanced" at the beginning of the year.
"Same as it did with search results, Google's success in advertising is largely due to its simple yet effective text ads."
Softpedia writes. "Yet Google is moving to obsolete the three-line ads that it made famous in the first place."
"Remember when Google search ads used to be three lines of
text?" TechCrunch asks. "What started as three lines of
simple text has evolved into ads that are multimedia-rich, location-aware and socially-amplified."