Google TV’s uncertain future
Last year, Google surprised online video publishers with some stunning news: the company, which now generates over a quarter trillion dollars with advertising every year, effectively admitted that it isn’t very good at selling ads for its own smart TV platform, Google TV.
The issue at heart: Google has long required publishers to share a percentage of their ad inventory to be on Google TV. It’s a common industry practice. Companies like Roku or Vizio routinely sell a subset of the ad spots you see when you watch videos from third-party publishers on their smart TVs, and they pocket the money as compensation for operating their smart TV plat …