Google

TV measurement continues to rapidly change, but traditional gross ratings points that rely on Nielsen viewers are small enough to create problems for networks without multimillion-viewer bases. Google will try to change that industry standard by providing real-time ad-tracking capabilities similar to the systems it designed for online advertisements.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google skewed its search results to favor its own services over the competition, staffers at the Federal Trade Commission have found. The FTC report finds Google lifted results for its own shopping, travel and business services while pushing down its rivals. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here, and publishers in partnerships with Google probably should.

Google’s acquisition of InMobi for $1 billion would solidify its position as the top player in mobile application ad installations and advertising. The combination of the two companies, reportedly in talks, would turn Google into a powerhouse, leaving Facebook in the dust.

The digital advertising industry has long worried about Google using its dominance in the display ad industry to secure market share in other areas, specifically in the complex ad tech industry. And recently, those fears have been realized, according to several advertising executives. In the latest instance, media buyers report that Google wants them to use DoubleClick Bid Manager — the company’s demand-side buying platform — and it’s using its DoubleClick Ad Exchange as leverage in negotiations.

Right at the end of Google’s 3Q earnings call the company revealed it was ramping up its latest strategy to steal advertising money from broadcast TV networks. It will do this using the same method broadcasters use to secure millions of dollars in upfront advertising deals.

ABC revamped its fall marketing strategy this year to better attract frequent YouTube viewers, working closely with YouTube parent Google to create ads for a new generation of TV watchers. Google hosted workshops for ABC to formulate a digital strategy to reach YouTube viewers who are younger, often have a shorter attention span and are constantly on mobile devices.

Google has reportedly closed a deal to acquire Twitch for $1 billion to join YouTube as it builds out its video and live streaming business. The deal highlights the use of the Web for live streaming events, especially for sports and concerts.

YouTube has embarked on a new round of discussions with Hollywood and independent producers to fund premium content, two sources with knowledge of the talks tell Reuters, a move that could bolster a three-year-old multimillion-dollar effort that has had mixed success so far. The talks underscore Google Inc’s desire to complete YouTube’s transition from a repository for grainy home videos to a site sporting the more polished content crucial to securing higher-priced advertising.

The power that corporations like Google and Facebook have to influence the digital content you consume means that you shouldn’t necessarily depend on them to bring you the things you need to know.

Google’s private programmatic exchanges can now book premium ad space like mastheads for brands. It is working with ABC to promote the new show Rising Star using an exchange that only places ads in prominent positions, ones that are not typically associated with automated buying.

Google Inc., whose Android software reigns as the world’s dominant smartphone operating system, will step up efforts to make inroads into cars, televisions and other devices at its annual developer conference this week, sources familiar with the matter said.

Google’s YouTube has reached a deal to buy Twitch, a popular videogame streaming company, for more than $1 billion, according to sources familiar with the pact. The deal, in an all-cash offer, is expected to be announced imminently, sources said. If completed, the acquisition would be the most significant in the history of YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006 for $1.65 billion. The impending acquisition comes after longtime Google ad exec Susan Wojcicki was named CEO of YouTube earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AP) – Google has bought Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones, saying it could help bring Internet access to remote parts of the world as well as […]

Google — once a lobbying weakling — has come to master a new method of operating in modern-day Washington, where spending on traditional lobbying is rivaled by other, less visible forms of influence. Google was second to General Electric in corporate lobbying expenditures in 2012 and in fifth place among D.C. players in 2013.

Google about to launch a renewed assault on television called Android TV, an entertainment interface.  That means Android TV will look and feel a lot more like the rest of the set-top boxes on the market, including Apple TV, Amazon’s Fire TV and Roku.

Google is now confident enough in Nielsen’s Online Campaign Ratings product that it’s going to start selling guarantees to YouTube advertisers based on OCR ratings next month. And as of the end of 2014, Google will have OCR integrated directly into its Doubleclick platform, so you’ll be dealing with Nielsen ratings when you’re doing workflow, reporting and invoicing. The billing guarantees will be available to buy from Google starting May 1.

The Local Media Consortium inked a three-year deal with Google on Monday providing its 800-plus members with Google search and ad serving technology including a private ad exchange powered by DoubleClick. Among the members with broadcast interests are A.H. Belo, Hearst Communications, E.W. Scripps and Calkins Media.

Google continues to rake in advertising dollars once earmarked for television. Magna Global, part of IPG Mediabrands, committed $100 million of its managed client advertising dollars to the Mountain View, Calif. company in a one-year upfront deal, as more marketing brands realize the benefit of integrating television advertising with digital media.

Internet companies including Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon are blasting a federal judge’s decision allowing an Arizona-based gossip website to be sued for defamation by a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted of having sex with a teenager. The companies warn that the ruling to let the former cheerleader’s lawsuit proceed has the potential to “significantly chill online speech.”

Google said it will begin allowing Nielsen to measure audiences for ads on its YouTube website, a decision that could give ad buyers more confidence to shift dollars to online video.

Google has teamed up with Nielsen and has begun quietly inviting select clients to begin testing ad campaigns sold using online campaign ratings data.

Google CEO Larry Page and YouTube content boss Robert Kyncl are said to have met with a delegation from the NFL led by commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday. And the Sunday Ticket package was among the topics of discussion, according to people familiar with the meeting.

Intel, Apple and others push new technologies to take control of the living room. However, these companies working on new Internet-based services are widely expected to face tough sledding in negotiating rights for video content.

The company has begun talks with major media companies about licensing TV channels, according to people with knowledge of the meetings.

Facebook’s Kay Madati and Google’s David Gehring in a “fireside chat” at the NAB Show gave tips to local broadcasters who have seen their way of business eroded by the Internet behemoths. Madati urged TV and radio companies to keep social media interaction brief and conversational. “Short, snackable content is much better than long form,” he said.

There’s a wide field of players with no shortage of innovative — but often flawed — strategies. Here’s how they stack up.

Federal regulators on Thursday concluded a nearly two-year probe of Google with what amounts to a slap on the wrist: an agreement to restrict its use of smartphone patents and a voluntary change in how the most dominant search engine on the Web behaves and handles advertisements.

Google makes more money from advertising than all U.S. print publications combined, according to a new study from German statistics company Statista. The company found Google generated $10.9 billion in ad revenue in the first six months of 2012, while the whole U.S. print media industry — newspapers and magazines — made only $10.5 billion.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz is planning to step down as one of the country’s top monopoly-busters by the end of the year. But before the 54-year-old lawyer, a longtime consumer watchdog, returns to private life he may want to push an antitrust case against Google, sources familiar with the case says.

Google said that it would not comply with a White House request to reconsider the anti-Islam video that has set off violent protests in the Arab world in light of its rules banning hate speech on YouTube. The company had already determined that the video did not violate its terms of service regarding hate speech.

It’s one thing to undercut your competition by price — but Washington is starting to worry that Apple, Google, Microsoft and other firms are going too far when they actually try to block rivals from selling their products at all. It’s a fight for supremacy in the marketplace — waged using patents as weapons.

Google’s cozying up with the entertainment industry, making movies, TV shows and other content key attractions for its new Nexus 7 tablet and a cloud-based home entertainment device, the Nexus Q. The search giant told developers today that its Google Play service has deals with Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, and Paramount enabling consumers to download as well as rent movies and shows, available by episode or season.

At their first Digital Content NewFronts in New York, AOL, Hulu, Microsoft, Yahoo and YouTube tout their professional-grade content to advertisers the way major television networks do.

Google is looking to unload the set-top box business it will inherit from Motorola Mobility even before it closes on the $12.5 billion acquisition. The move appears to be an about-face from last August, when Google CEO Larry Page, in announcing the deal, suggested the business would play a role in his plans for revolutionizing the living room.

In what could be the biggest boost to couch potatoes since the remote control, Google Inc. is developing a technology that would allow a viewer to tell a TV, by voice, to change the channel or even seek out a favorite show or movie.

The company seeks FCC approval for an “antenna farm” that could capture programs to bundle with Internet service.

The company partners with Google and comScore to explore new methods of single-source, cross-platform video measurement.

In an effort it hopes will help it plan for the future of video, NBCU has enlisted Google and ComScore to reveal how viewers watch the Olympics across screens including the iPad.