Google TV

Google TV’s latest ad is a reminder of why it should only promote movies and shows

Ben Schoon | Nov 6 2024 - 4:30 pm PT

Google TV ads have been opening up to new content and product types, but a new “Dragon Age” ad is a great example of why the platform probably just should have stuck with content.

For its first few years on the market, Google TV’s recommendation-heavy experience largely only showed sponsored content in the form of movies and TV shows. You’d see some recommendations from Google directly, as well as the occasional and clearly marked “sponsored” ad for a TV show or movie.

That has been changing more recently. Google TV started rolling out ads for physical products in early 2023, expanding that to things such as cars and even chicken tenders in the time since.

This week, users in the US may see an ad on Google TV devices which promotes “Dragon Age: The Veilguard,” a new game for PS5, Xbox, and PC. The game isn’t available on Google TV itself, but the ad shows a prominent “Buy Now” button. Clicking that button, however, doesn’t let you purchase the game in any capacity. Rather, it leads to the YouTube channel for the game.

That’s pretty misleading, but likely not entirely on purpose.

Google TV’s ad formats were originally designed with content in mind, content accessible on the platform. There have been “ads” for games in the past, back when Stadia was alive, but that’s long gone at this point.

This latest advertisement really just serves as a reminder – Google TV should probably just stick to promoting movies and TV shows. But, since there’s money in these other types of ads, that’s likely not going to happen. Hopefully, the ad formats will catch up at some point. In some cases, the current format works just fine, like for cars. A Toyota ad currently in rotation uses a “Learn More” button to link to a YouTube video about the vehicle. That makes a whole lot more sense than “Buy Now.”

What do you think of these ads on Google TV?