Google Adds Videos to AdSense

Google has made no secret about its ambitions to become a bigger force in the branded rich-media space and today it launched online video advertising on its AdSense network of publishers. Paramount Classics has already tested Google’s new video ad program for its film ‘An Inconvenient Truth.’ The program has been in beta testing for the past six weeks, said Gokul Rajaram, product management director for AdSense, with such advertisers as Paramount Classics for the film “An Inconvenient Truth,” Fox Home Entertainment for DVDs of “The Simple Life” and General Motors Corp. for its Pontiac G6. The ads can be served on any Google publisher that currently displays graphical ads from Google. The video ads are static and boast a play button that activates the video.