Google Ads fireplace is aglow with sparks of innovation this week. They’ve been busy at the grindstone it seems, yesterday launching two very new, rather surprising cutting-edge ad formats: Live streaming Youtube video ads for the Display Network, and an interactive 3D ad format.

Live streaming video in display ads? This is surprising, and makes one wonder how content will be reviewed, like all other ad formats are before they’re released to the world.

Another question is how Google will bill advertisers. Matt Southern speculates if watch-time will come into it. Our guess is that the billing style will follow from skippable in-stream video formats that are already used on Display partner sites, where interactions with video, or 30 seconds of watch time constitute a charge. However this ends up working, it’s an intriguing & no doubt engaging new way of experiencing advertising.

The second tidbit that Google Ads are tickling us with is Swirl: An ad creation tool that promises to offer immersive 3-dimensional experiences for users, created using Google Ads’ own in-house software. Swirl will be available on Google’s Media Product Display & Video 360.

It’s exciting to think that this system could be used for creating dazzling exhibition style product showcases, or perhaps even technical models of products for the more pedantic browser.

Why should you care?

Google Ads has been showing a notable drive toward keeping along with the technological curve of late, also trying out Augmented Reality, with interactive animals in search. They also seem to be excited about offering diverse formats across media, such as through recently released gallery ad formats.

The key takeaway from Google Ads diversifying the set of ad format options, is that businesses will need to try out each new ad format, until they know what works. One shouldn’t complain about having too much choice available, and we’re certainly excited to find new ways of using ad formats.

Tags: Google ads