Google runs $5m Superbowl ad spot

Google ran a 53-second ad called Parisian Love, previously available on YouTube, showing a person searching for a variety of topics, including courses, restaurants and translations, around Paris.

Google’s ad will have cost the company approximately $5m (£3.2m) to broadcast, with Superbowl ad slots sold for around $3m (£1.9m) for 30 seconds.

It’s not the first time Google has run a TV ad campaign. Last year it ran a series of high-profile ads for its browser Chrome outside the UK. However, this is the first time Google has promoted its core search service on TV.

While it’s still the dominant player in both the US and UK markets, Google has seen Bing, Microsoft’s fledgling search brand, gain a foothold in the North American market since launching last summer.

Bing, which was born from an overhaul of Microsoft’s Live Search, increased its share from 10.3% to 10.7% between November and December last year.

If its proposed search deal with Yahoo is approved by regulators, it would give the combined platform in excess of 30% of the market – just under half of Google’s 65% (nma.co.uk 5 February 2010).

In the UK Google is currently running an outdoor and print campaign for Chrome, while last week it was revealed to have appointed digital agency Essence to manage the online media account for the browser.

The agency will launch an online pan-European campaign across eight countries, including the UK, France, Germany and Spain, to reach an estimated 178m internet users (nma.co.uk 1 February 2010).

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk