The Google-owned Nest confirmed today that it will be acquiring Dropcam, the home-monitoring startup that produces cameras to keep track of the modern home. It seems as though Nest is looking to integrate Dropcam into a complete home system, and to bring Nest onto the cloud; ultimately, Nest is adding a subscription service. It will be interesting to see where Dropcam goes from here, and how Nest – and Google – utilize the service.
Tag: google
Google Will Unveil Connected Car Competitor This Month
The connected car is seen by many as one of the next biggest media frontiers; as cars catch up to smartphones and other connected technology, technologists will come up with innovative ways of integrating new experiences into the platform. Apple has already announced CarPlay, its attempt to craft an integrated experience, but Google announced its Open Automotive Alliance to develop a competitive model for connecting cars within the industry – and big names like Honda, Audi, and Hyundai have signed on. It’s very possible that by the end of the week we’ll have the two leading connected car systems that, going forward, will inform how we think about technology in the automotive industry.
Wearables You May Actually Want To Wear
Sometimes we get so caught up in wearable tech functions that we forget the form factor. You do need to actually wear these things at the end of the day. In an effort to push Glass into the mainstream, Google is pairing up with designer Diane von Furstenberg to design limited-edition frames. The cultural cache may provide some renewed excitement for the groundbreaking tech that has many turned off thus far.
To see great examples of tech meeting fashion, check out Netatmo’s June, an elegant UV sensing bracelet.
JCDecaux’s Witty B2B Stunt Has Earned Media Implications
JCDecaux’s recent stunt was a pretty clever way of getting advertisers attention. They went on Google Street view to find which advertisers OOH placements had been documented on the service, sending them an invoice for the digital impressions. This was a stunt to get advertisers to listen to their sales pitch, but it raises an interesting point about the future of earned media. As we increasingly document the world around us, every OOH placement has legs far beyond those physical impressions. Google Street view is just one example but advertisers need to factor in all the earned media. As geotagging and image identification get more precise, expect this to be part of the standardized reporting.
Google Predicts Futuristic Ads
As Google quietly continues to purchase technology like Nest, Google wants to push out ads to their newest platforms. To that end, the company has come out in favor of serving ads on refrigerators, car dashboards, glasses, and thermostats – anywhere they have the technology to do so, it seems. It’s unclear if this type of all-fronts, intrusive strategy would be popular with consumers, especially in the age of significantly increased privacy concerns.
Google In Talks To Acquire Twitch
Did you know that some of the most engaged audiences are gamers watching other gamers play games? Yes, you heard correctly. Twitch, the video game streaming network has 45 million monthly uniques who gather around displays, armed with Slim Jims and Cheetos to watch videogame play. Not surprisingly, Google is in talks to acquire the service which outpaces YouTube Live. We’ll have to wait and see how this pans out but there is a larger story around live audiences given the huge market for streaming gameplay, concert series, cooking lessons and more.
Google Debuts Magazine-Style Ad Units
It is known that Google gives publishers the ability to run display and text ads on their sites. Now, Google is providing the means for advertisers to utilize a more well-known format: it wants to put magazine-like display and text ads on sites. The goal, it seems, is to give text advertisers the ability to compete, in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, with display-only ad units, and to give publishers the ability to run text ads in addition to their own display ads. It seems like a straightforward play for Google: the company can and will simply make more money when these ads display, as before their existence there wouldn’t have been ads in competition for these spots at all. Though it might feel gimmicky, it’s an effective way for Google to maximize on profits for previously unused space.
Google Acquires Adometry
Google is aiming to help advertisers figure out how their online campaigns work across their networks; to do this, Google purchased the Austin online ad attribution firm Adometry. Though terms of the deal have yet to be announced, Adometry recently raised $8 million in funding, so the deal will likely be around that much or more. Many individual companies monitor their own advertising networks and offer their own attributions, as well as exchanges, but the logic behind this particular purchase is that Google wants to capture a larger share of online ads overall, and wants to convince brands that its ad strategy is on point. Expect Google ads to only increase in power from their current position.
Google Shopping Express Comes To NYC & LA
After offering same-day deliveries in San Francisco for over a year, Google has decided to expand its service to New York and Los Angeles. The service, which offers expedited, same-day shipping from stores like Target, Samples, and Walgreens, as well as other local businesses, can now be used by New Yorkers to deliver groceries, office supplies, and more in record time. As an incentive to get on board, Google is tossing in six free months of shipping for new users. It’s a very direct threat to the likes of Amazon, who only have fast shipping to members of higher-priced plans like Prime. As consumers find different ways of interacting with brands and products, the race to ultimately get those products in their hands as fast as possible will continue to be a sticking point for digital companies going forward.
Google Touts +Post Ads
Google has, for some time, wanted to make the entire web a part of their larger social scheme. Google is seeing this thought process through to fruition with +Post ads, which gives advertisers the ability to display advertising via Google+ posts throughout Google’s display network. The program is now available to any Google+ page with at least 1,000 followers. The posts are fully interactive, allowing users with G+ accounts to comment, share, and +1 without leaving the page. Google says that the ads have had incredibly high engagement numbers; Toyota USA experienced a 50% higher engagement rate than the industry standard for rich media ads, for instance. It’s a way to broaden horizons across the digital space for planners in the rich media space.
