Google Brings Web Ads to the Streets of London

Google’s DoubleClick online advertising is one of the most widespread platforms on the internet and Google is now taking on the streets of London in a new proof of concept trial. The company started testing the technology that automatically chooses and provides ads on billboards at multiple locations in London. The billboards will collect data in real-time, including weather, audience, travel information, and local events and then select which ads to display.

Google placed these new billboards in some of the most highly trafficked areas of London, including Waterloo Station and Euston Road. Other advertising companies have tested similar technologies in the past, but it never amounted to anything. Google has far higher ambitions, of this we can be sure. And while this only is a trial run, I’m sure that targeted marketing will hit our streets in the near future.

There seems to be a common misconception according to DoubleClick’s Tim Coller, via TheVerge, that merging the web and out-of-home ad industries would be a straightforward process. This trial is designed to show the companies involved what they need to change in order to make it easier to combine the two.