Google to Begin Selling Video Ads

After moving from simple text links to graphical ads, Google is taking the next step forward: video. The search giant on Tuesday will begin selling video space to its advertisers in hopes to increase the number of clients and boost ad revenues. The video ads will not appear on Google's own pages, however, only on those of its AdSense partners.

Google is betting the move to video will attract companies who primarily advertise on television and want to use the Web to spread their brand image. The option to purchase video space will appear as part of Google's standard AdWords system. Analysts speculate that the move is a first step in Google placing it ads in Web video clips and eventually on TV, as the company has already experimented with magazine ads.