The World Needs More Ninjas

Robert X. Cringley speculates on where Google is going with their entry into video:

So what are the data center trailers for? Well, right now, everyone in the country watching “American Idol” sees the identical commercials at the same time, except for two ads at every half-hour mark, which are inserted by the local station. So the state-of-the-art in TV ad granularity is buying only a million people, instead of a hundred million. This is how it’s been done since David Sarnoff cobbled together the first radio network. It’s very primitive, but no one’s really noticed since TV advertising is still incredibly profitable. And it’s profitable despite the fact that VIRTUALLY EVERY TV AD IS WASTED ON PEOPLE WHO AREN’T REAL PROSPECTS. The entire programming chain is profitable DESPITE the fact that practically the entire audience is freeloading.

Suddenly, everybody can (and, really, must) advertise on TV, because it’ll be so specific…and so dynamic. If you start shopping for a new WiFi access point in the morning, Google will know, and that night when you watch Two and a Half Men, your ads will be from D-Link, Linksys and Belkin. And, further, they’ll know that an intelligent buyer lives at your IP, so your ads won’t show you a hot model demonstrating how they’re plug-and-play, but will instead feature a quick recommendation from the SveaSoft guy about which AP’s the best one for hotrodding.

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You’re puttering in your home office around 6pm when you hear your wife call out from the living room where she’s watching CNN. She says she’d rather not cook tonight — how about going out for Italian and a movie? You Google movie showtimes and restaurants, print out a list of what’s playing, and a map to Antonio’s, and walk out into the living room just as Wolf Blitzer is throwing to commercial…

Guess what the commercials are? Yep — nothing but movie and local restaurant ads, with special “code words” to give at the box office and restaurant for steep discounts, good that night only. And it seems a new Italian place just opened up in town, and their commercial is hammering away at a recent review they got that said that they’re so much better than that cheesy Antonio’s dump it’s not even funny. And it’s half-off for new customers, tonight only!