• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down

2

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
CommentaryGoogle

What Google’s Newest Venture Says About the Future Of TV Ads

By
Bill Wise
Bill Wise
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Bill Wise
Bill Wise
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 2, 2017, 11:58 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Back when Alphabet Inc. was just a massive search engine called Google, skeptics wondered whether the company was a one-trick pony. Search was a cash cow, but then what? There was no clear diversification plan. Flash forward to today, with Google’s DoubleClick and YouTube the reigning forces in display and online video, and the skeptics seem to have gotten their answer. Alphabet is a company that’s diversified to own the digital present, and its future.

Or maybe not. Facebook, not Google, owns the social space. And while video views on Facebook may have been overstated in the past, the social network is clearly poised to compete with Google’s video business long-term. Plus, there’s another looming question in Google’s future: digital convergence.

Ten years ago, linear and digital advertising were completely different worlds. A year from now, 6% of the TV ad market in the United States will be managed programmatically. At some point along advertising’s long path to convergence, close to 100% of the TV business will become a linear TV/digital hybrid. Given that digital and TV ad spending are currently neck-and-neck, the convergence of linear TV and digital advertising will bring every digital player into a much larger, more diverse world. In that new world, “who wins” will depend largely on who adapts best to working with the other end of the digital/traditional divide.

For digital players—Google among them—this means being ready for the future means being ready to sync with new partners from the traditional media ecosystem. But based on its track record, Alphabet faces real hurdles in getting the offline traction it needs. The company’s Fiber cable businesses—a potential access point into television—has achieved extremely low market penetration over its seven years since launch. In 2014, Google went deep into marketing analytics with the acquisition of analytics player Adometry; a Forrester report published last October finds Google strong in online measurement, but relatively weak when it comes to offline measurement. Finally, Google’s previous foray into TV ad buying—its Google TV Ads program—was shuttered in 2012, largely, I argued at the time, because of Google’s miscalculations around how TV ad buyers execute their work. Based on what we’ve seen to date, it’s not clear much has changed in the nearly five years since then.

On Monday, Google announced that its new foray into the TV ad buying business would center on allowing marketers to manage programmatic TV buys through its DoubleClick Bid Manager. While any major announcement from Google stirs interest, this one was met with some deep skepticism surrounding the unknowns. One open question is what kind of TV ad inventory DoubleClick can actually provide. Another is whether DoubleClick can bring its TV buying offering into the full process of TV ad operations—or whether, instead, it will deal with TV ad buyers in a vacuum, cut off from the broader strategy and systems that guide their work. If it’s the latter, that could be a real sticking point for TV media agencies considering using the platform. Compounding these and related issues is the complicated relationship that Google—the constant “frenemy”—has with those same media agencies, for which Google plays the sometimes-contradictory roles of technology provider, media seller, and, in the long run, potential displacement threat.

When we talk about winners and losers in a converged advertising ecosystem, we tend to focus on whether the traditional media players can function in a digital future. But the digital businesses will be disrupted by the coming convergence, too. For every time we ask whether the traditional businesses can go digital, we also need to ask whether the digital players can go linear. The answers to both questions will determine the future of the ads industry.

Bill Wise is CEO of Mediaocean. Google is not a client of Mediaocean.

About the Author
By Bill Wise
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Commentary

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Commentary

craig
CommentaryPharmaceutical Industry
Big pharma’s patent cliff meets a new biotech Cold War: We need to outrun China, not outlaw it
By Craig GarthwaiteJuly 24, 2026
20 hours ago
tim
Commentarysmartphones and mobile devices
NYU Stern pricing expert: There’s a hidden ‘AI tax’ hitting Apple, Dell — and your next phone
By Srikanth JagabathulaJuly 24, 2026
20 hours ago
nyse
CommentaryEconomics
AI doesn’t end scarcity. It relocates it
By François Candelon, Paul-Louis Andres and Augustin ManchonJuly 24, 2026
22 hours ago
Can Bangkok future-proof itself against the heat?
CommentaryThailand
Can Bangkok future-proof itself against the heat?
By Curtis S. Chin and Ella TanJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
mm
CommentaryLeadership
Michael Muthukrishna: The ‘lone genius’ myth is wrong and it’s holding back your business
By Michael MuthukrishnaJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
Paul Keary (L) and Mike Sutcliff (R).
CommentaryAI agents
Teneo & Thoughtworks CEOs: the AI race will be won with governance, not speed 
By Paul Keary and Mike SutcliffJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago

Most Popular

'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
Economy
'The demographic dividend of the last 40 years is ending': J.P. Morgan says the world is running out of the two things that kept interest rates down
By Eleanor PringleJuly 24, 2026
1 day ago
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 24, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 24, 2026
22 hours ago
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
3 days ago
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
AI
Turns out Dead Internet Theory was right: AI agents are eating the Web, growing by nearly 8,000% and rewiring the Internet's business model
By Mia OsmonbekovJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.