Web search leader Google Inc. said on Monday advertisers could now choose the Web sites that carry their ads and it was introducing animated graphical advertisements.
Google, which specializes in ads triggered by Web searches that are aimed at sparking a transaction, is also expanding its support of banner advertising. The moves position it to expand into brand marketing ads, called branded advertising, which could diversify its revenue base.
“It’s about time,” Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said of Google’s new site-targeting tool. She added that the new animated ads would enable Google to better participate in the multibillion-dollar display-advertising market.
Users of the new site-targeting tool will be able to buy ads based on the number of times they are shown, a commonly used form of pricing, in addition to Google’s traditional plan that charges advertisers only when Internet users click on ads.
The new programs are being used by a small number of advertisers and will be rolled out more widely in coming weeks.
During the most recent quarter, Google’s gross revenue was $1.26 billion — virtually all of which came from text-based Web search ads.
Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Internet unit get their revenue from Web search ads, branded ads such as banners and “rich media” ads that float and vibrate.
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Google’s shares have soared to more than $200 since their $85 initial public offering price in mid-August.
“In order to keep that valuation up, (Google) needs to get new revenues,” Li said, echoing the views of numerous financial analysts.
Users of Google’s program that puts ads on Web sites previously had to agree to have their ads run anywhere on Google’s content network. While scads of Web site publishers received a windfall of advertising money, the rules irked some advertisers who complained that they had no control over the Web sites that carried their ads.
Google’s new site-targeting tool would allow advertisers to choose among the content sites in its network.
For example, advertisers could opt to have their ads run only on iVillage.com, About.com and The New York Times Web site. They also may choose themed sites. For example, a wine company might decide to advertise on sites about cheese, said Susan Wojcicki, Google’s director of product management.
Site-targeting users may choose to place text ads, static image ads — which Google rolled out last summer — or new animated image ads.
Users that choose site targeting may also decide to price their ads based on the number of times they are shown. Under the traditional pay-per-click model offered by Web search advertisers like Google and Yahoo, advertisers pay when someone clicks on their ad.
Based on Google’s formula, an advertiser who pays $5 to have its ad shown 1,000 times would compete with an advertiser that pays 50 cents per click and whose ads are clicked on 1 percent of times shown.
Yahoo also offers a program that allows search advertisers to place ads on Web sites that carry articles and other content.
