Google and Verizon are best buds. Verizon Wireless is the largest Android carrier, and the two companies even joined forces to come up with joint government policy proposals in the Net Neutrality Wars. Today, Verizon is giving Google a boost by signing up its 3.3 million Verizon FIOS TV subscribers for Google TV Ads. The Google ads will appear on live TV across 50 channels, including AMC, ESPN, and Fox News.
It’s been a long haul for Google on the TV front. Verizon FIOS joins DirecTV and Dish in running Google’s data-driven, targeted TV ads. The new deal should help extend Google’s reach on TV to 35 million households by early next year.
But don’t expect any cable partnerships to be announced anytime soon. The cable companies want to implement their own targeted advertising and not be beholden to Google. The satellite and phone companies are trying to take share away from the cable companies, so they are more open to trying new technologies. If Google can prove that its ads are more effective, as it is trying to do through a partnership with TV audience measurement firm Nielsen, then maybe it can give its TV partners a leg up.