> plaster every last inch of our globe with ads

Google doesn't put ads in a new places, but delivers better ads where there always has been a lot of them anyway. It delivers ads on the web, and tests ads for magazines, radio and TV. It's not like Google invades ads-free zones...

Give them some time :) Their online office suite might be partly ad-financed in the future (you type something in Google Docs and a related ad shows next to it), and they might also add ads to Google Books one of these days. If we drift off into sci-fi, we might see this culiminate into talking AdSense walls (using speech-to-text processing to match whatever people close to them talk about, to deliver product ads right in their private homes).

But what I was getting at is something else: usually, we see Google first organize some information, and *then* stick ads on it (web search organizes web pages, Gmail organizes emails, Google Docs organizes your text files, Google Groups the Usenet, Google Earth makes maps accessible etc.). But with their radio, print and TV ad efforts, it seems this doesn't fit into the core mission, to organize information (well, unless you define ads themselves as information).

<<they might also add ads to Google Books one of these days>>

there are ads

[x] plaster every last inch of our globe with ads

Yet most people seem to keep thinking it's the other one. Why don't they see that the purpose of #1 is just to create an effective billboard for #2? I'd modify #2 to read like this as a statement to why Google is successful.

[x] plaster every last inch of our globe with ads *intelligently and efficiently*

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Philipp, the keyword isn't "organize" it's "relevance." Organizing a mountain of information or content is irrelevant if you're looking for something specific. All the search engines that came before Google lost because they were trying to organize the Internet. PageRank is the solution to the fact that when you want to find something, you could care less about how the related subject is structured, all that matters is getting a page that is most relevant to your search term. AdSense piggybacks on this with the idea that if Google can serve up an extremely relevant page, then they can probably serve up an extremely relevant ad. The trick with old media is figuring out how to measure ad effectiveness. It's one thing to be able to serve up say a relevant sportscar ad during a football game but it's something else entirely to determine how effective the ad was without a feedback system like clicks.

I live in Concord. What am I looking for?

While it might be more of a stretch, putting ads in all sorts of mediums does make useful information more accessible. That would consider the ads to be information.

Ads surely are information, but are they useful? To most intelligent Google users, I'd say not. Ok, I don't live in USA, but here in Croatia we also have localized GAds sometimes. And there was not a single instance in which I found any of them useful. Not that I didn't try.

The thing is, if it is relevant and useful to you, it will already be in the regular results. And even if not now, it will be "on the limit". Algorithm will be fixed, nobody would say it doesn't need fixing because "you can always click an ad" (not even Google). Ads seem just like temporary patches [which might be the reason of Google's perceived slowness in the webmaster community;].

> To most intelligent Google users, I'd say not.

I was perfectly sure that I never click on Google Ads... but then Google started to log my clicks on ads in Search History, and you know what? For example in February I clicked on 10 ads... It's one click every three days...

Googles got a slot on the new channel called Current TV

http://www.current.tv/google

"Google Current airs every half hour on Current TV and provides a look at what the world is searching for on Google. From hybrid cars to human-animal hybrids, from Paris riots to Paris Hilton photos, your searches guide our stories. There's nothing like it on television."

>> they might also add ads to Google Books one of these days
>
> there are ads

You're right, there's ads on partner books, though not on library books (well, not if you ask Google).

"Does Google display ads on library books?

No, there are currently no ads on library books."
http://books.google.com/googlebooks/common.html

Response to several comments: Although Google cannot currently gauge the efficacy of ad tests on DirectTV, set top integration solutions from AppleTV, xBox 360, and Amazonunbox will inject new life and possibilities into televsion advertisements. As YouTube attempts to forge partnerships with traditional media – Google is positioned to emerge as a primary network in the 21st century home media experience.

Concerning plastering the world with ads – Google needs abundant and diverse revenue streams for continued growth.

Philipp said:
> usually, we see Google first organize some
> information, and *then* stick ads on it

You shouldn't confuse "mission" with "key priorities".

Google's core mission remain to organize the world's information and make it available, however they need funding to carry out their mission. In the midst of developing their search engine, Google has also developed (and continues to develop) brilliant technology to deliver targeted and relevant ads. "Ad technology" is (along with "Search technology") one of their two key corporate priorities (the "70%" of Eric Schmidt).
They are now simply leveraging this technology and seek to apply it to *all* markets that might benefit from it. This in itself will provide some of the funding (or right now, all of the funding) for them to carry out their initial mission.

Dish Network is already delivering ads, simply their methods of ad selection and placement are a lot less refined than what Google is offering.