Google Mixes Live and Online Advertising

Image by edans via Flickr

Thank you to my brother Albert for the news.  I rarely see my brother so excited about anything related to business but here he was bubbling about this new thing Google's doing. 

You know those Google maps that show you a live street view?  Well yes...they're planning on selling ad space on those live buildings that you see on Google maps.  This means that the advertisement banner doesn't go on the REAL building...it goes on the virtual building, and because so many people use Google maps, they can actually profit off of this opportunity.

Supposedly they're filing a patent for this and some details still need to be worked out; do the real buildings get a cut of the virtual banner that is being placed on the virtual building on Google maps?

Interesting to see how this pans out but yes - definitely a great idea for Google, and maybe for advertisers as well - since they get hold of a captive audience that will most likely be in the area (or else they wouldn't be searching for the area on the map right?)