Google to advertise its Chrome browser on TV

May 8, 2009 | Eric Eldon | Comments | |

Google didn’t advertise its way to becoming the most popular search engine in the world, but it has since shown more willingness to pay for some of its newer products. Case in point is Chrome, the web browser it began rolling out last fall — ads for Chrome are going on TV, starting this weekend.

The ad, embedded below, will run on Google’s TV Ads platform, a remnant ad network for network television. Google has already been introducing professionally-created videos to promote Chrome on the web, designed for distribution on YouTube and anywhere else.

These videos are available on YouTube, on this special “Chrome Shorts” channel (by the way, doesn’t Chrome Shorts sound more like some sort of ’80s pop music channel?). The videos don’t necessarily display Chrome features, but rather give you the impression that Chrome is cool. (Anecdotally, many PC users I know swear by it — but the Mac version isn’t out yet, so I haven’t tried it.)

I’ve been hearing for months that Google has been looking at a wide range of ways to promote the browser. Perhaps its most visible effort on that front has been including a link to download Chrome from its search homepage. More generally, a Google product campaign was reportedly considered for the Beijing Olympics last year, but axed by the company’s founders. The viral videos — plus a few TV spots — are a more middle-of-the-road approach to paying to gain market share.

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About the Author, Eric Eldon

Eric currently covers digital media technology and business news, especially what's happening on social networks and their platforms. He also writes and edits stories about venture capital, and lots of other stuff, too. He started at VentureBeat in the spring of 2007, half a year or so after Matt Marshall left his reporting job at the San Jose Mercury News to found the site. Eric previously cofounded a startup called Writewith, that was building editorial software for newspapers and other groups of writers. The startup didn't work out, but he learned a lot.

  • AM
    I've gave it a shot when it first came out and have been using it ever since. Might be a little streamlined for those who love their FF add-ons, but it's quick, stable, and convenient. Everyone should give it a shot.
  • Dino Tobin
    Mac users who want Chrime multiprocess goodness should give Stainless (stainlessapp.com) a try.
  • chleoku
    interesting Ad. I wonder if Google is getting more aggressive this year because of the online advertising $ drop:

    http://www.wealthalchemist.com/Blog/2009/05/onl...