Google spends $5m on Superbowl ad

Google aired its first ever TV ad to promote Google search during last night’s Superbowl.

The internet giant ran a 53-second ad, which was previously available on its video-sharing site YouTube, called Parisian Love.

It involved a person searching for a variety of things including restaurants and translations in Paris.

The ad is thought to have cost Google around $5 million (£3.2 million) to broadcast.  It is the first time the company has promoted its core search engine on TV.

Google’s chief Eric Schmidt said: “We didn’t set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search.  Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it’s had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.”

The TV ad will run alongside Google’s current outdoor and print campaign for Chrome.

Both ads come as Google attempts to retain its place as the most-used online search engine amid talks of proposed search deal between Yahoo! and Microsoft’s Bing.

Bing increased its share of the US search market from 10.3% to 10.7% between November and December last year, and by joining forces with Yahoo!, it would secure a 30% combined market share.  However, Google still leads the industry with a 65% share.