Google India has introduced its new ad format Media Ads on Google Search. Media Ads is a new ad model that introduces new ways to target, pay for, and experience video ads on Google Search. In India, the media ads format is launched with STAR TV campaign built around their new channel Life Ok.

“The media & entertainment category search volumes on Google search have shown phenomenal growth. In the last two years the query volumes have grown at over 125 per cent YoY. With the launch of media ads format, media companies will be able to capture this traffic on Google search and leverage it to create familiarity of the content, sampling and immerse the user with a rich experience with sight, sound and motion. Our research has shown that a substantial number of users are usually looking to watch the movie trailer, TV show clips on the search results page itself which translates into a very high response rate for this Ad format,” said, Praveen Sharma, head, media sales, Google India.

According to the company, Media Ads isn’t targeted like typical AdWords ads on Google Search. With Media Ads, you don’t pick any keywords -- the targeting is completely automated. Media Ads are charged at a flat rate on clicks. This simplified pricing model makes it easier to budget for your Media Ads campaign and to know exactly how much an interaction is going to cost.

“When someone enters a search on Google.com or Google.co.in that our algorithms determine is directly related to the movie/show/games/DVDs title (most commonly the title and variations on it), we automatically display the Media Ad at the top of the search results page. The format does not allow advertiser to pick competing keywords for ex: If a user types ‘Sach ka Saamna’ only ads units containing video from ‘Sach ka Saamna’ will appear,” the company has said.

According to Google, when someone plays the video either by clicking the thumbnail or the “watch” link, the Lightbox player expands to the center of the screen and dims the rest of the page around it. The experience is meant to put the viewer’s full attention on the video and to create a much more theater-like experience.