Google is expanding beta testing on a new ad product timed to Super Bowl 50 that will allow marketers to serve ads in real-time in response to relevant TV moments, the company said at a press event Wednesday.
The ads will live on YouTube as well as sites and apps on Google's display ad network.
Wix.com, which has purchased traditional commercial time on CBS during its broadacst of the Super Bowl, will be one of the first marketers to use the product, with plans to air a real-time ad during the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. Comcast will also tap into real-time ads during an "upcoming awards show," said Tara Walpert Levy, managing director-agency solutions, Google.
Google has tested the product with EA Sports and several other marketers, and it now broadening the pool of participants. It plans to roll the product out more widely later this year.
Participating marketers will need to pre-plan the content they want to run as part of Google's new offering. But the product will allow for dynamic insertion in real-time, as the moment is happening or just after it occurred, Ms. Walpert Levy said.
Real-time marketing has been a buzzy concept in marketing circles in recent years as advertisers tried to use Twitter in particular to get in on big consumer conversations as they unfolded. It has yielded a wide variety of results, with consumers latching onto some brands' timely messages but tuning others out.
Ms. Walpert Levy said what's unique about these real-time ads is the ability to do immediate, dynamic insertion in both video and display inventory with meaningful reach among consumers. With several other big TV events on the horizon, including the Oscars, the Olympics and the U.S. presidential election, Ms. Walpert Levy said there are opportunities for marketers to insert themselves into events.
The product is essentially meant to amplify what a marketer is already doing on TV and other platforms, she added.
To tap into the growing interest in consuming Super Bowl content digitally ahead of the big game, YouTube is also debuting a new show, "How to Win Game Day." The show will debut on Feb. 2 and include content from YouTube creators like Hannah Hart from "My Drunk Kitchen" who will reveal her favorite recipe for the big game.
