谷歌已经决定取消已经运营5年之久的谷歌电视广告业务，同时将该业务员工分配到其他部门。值得一提的是，这个消息同谷歌正在寻求出售摩托罗拉移动电视机顶盒业务部门的消息于同一天传出，谷歌曾希望通过有线电视和广播电视行业销售谷歌在线广告。
谷歌YouTube和视频业务部门副总裁西什尔-梅罗特拉(Shishir Mehrotra)在接受采访时表示“我们做出了一个艰难的决定，即公司将在几个月内关闭电视广告产品部门，并将这个团队的员工调配到谷歌其他部门。我们将在日后加倍努力的为客户提供更优秀的视频解决方案，比如通过YouTube、AdWords for Video平台，以及面向网络视频出版商的广告服务工具。此外，我们还发现，用户通过电视屏幕或者谷歌TV访问网络视频这一领域仍有有着巨大的成长空间。”
谷歌于2007年正式启动这一服务，已在这一项目中投入了长达5年的时间。在2012年初，谷歌曾信誓旦旦的表示该服务可以覆盖4200万家庭，并同Verizon、DirecTV等内容发行商签署了合作协议。但是，谷歌电视广告业务的关注度远没有谷歌其他业务部门那么高。即便是谷歌在关闭打印和电台业务的2009年，公司也没有考虑放弃这一业务单元，因为谷歌一直希望依托这一业务提升谷歌TV的销量。
此外，值得一提的是，在谷歌宣布关闭电视广告业务的同一天，有消息称谷歌正在考虑出售摩托罗拉移动的电视机顶盒业务。与此同时，谷歌还在美国堪萨斯城努力推广其互联网宽带服务Google Fiber(谷歌光纤)，并承诺这一服务的接入速度将比美国传统有线电视和电信运营商的部分服务快100多倍。
业内人士预计，谷歌关闭电视广告业务的决定不会对谷歌TV构成影响，但谷歌电视广告的灭亡意味着广播和有线电视网络的一个巨大胜利。谷歌此后恐怕也无意再次进军传统广告领域，因为它在自身数字领域已经足够强大，没有必要在即将转变的领域投入更多资源。
Google is pulling the plug on Google TV Ads, the search giant's five-year attempt to revolutionize the way advertising is sold on TV.
The move was prompted by the booming popularity of watching content across a variety of mobile devices, Google said.
"We've made the hard decision to close our TV Ads product over the next few months and move the team to other areas at Google," Shishir Mehrotra, vice president of product at YouTube, said in a company blog post. "We'll be doubling down on video solutions for our clients (like YouTube, AdWords for Video, and ad serving tools for web video publishers). We also see opportunities to help users access web content on their TV screens, through products like Google TV."
Launched in 2007, Google TV Ads was basically an attempt to replicate on the small screen the self-service search-ad model that has turned Google into a Web powerhouse. Google TV Ads customers could upload video ads to Google's site and then decide how much they want to spend per ad impression.
Google TV Ads didn't get as much attention as other parts of the company's advertising network, but Google stayed with the effort for several years after shutting down similar services for print and radio advertising in 2009.
The ad platform was expected to get a big boost from Google TV, the Web giant's high-profile attempt to marry the PC-based Internet and the traditional television world. However, Google TV got off to a rocky start, and the search giant is still trying to get the big media companies to warm up to the software platform.
