Adwidgets

I’ve thought this idea was interesting for some time now – ads merging with widgets.

Online ads are getting smarter and more interactive. In other words, you can do more with an ad than just click on  it and go to another web page. It’s not that difficult to build more interactivity into the ad itself.

So, if a user is somewhat interested, they can learn more about the product or so some limited searching and interacting – without leaving the web page they are visiting. 

I wonder if these ads will be more successful, more annoying, or some mix of both.

Google is working on these smarter ads to be part of their burgeoning advertising empire.

Google Gadget Ads, which are being tested by a small, select group of Google AdWords advertisers, are being expanded to include more advertisers, according to Google. The company is hoping the new service will lead to people viewing more ads online. Google said Gadget Ads will allow advertisers to interact with users in new ways and hold users’ attention for longer time periods than regular ads. Advertisers will also be able to see how many users interact with the ads, as well as how they interacted with the ads, Google said.

Gadget Ads are small software applications, or widgets, that combine real-time data feeds, images and video with traditional advertising content, according to the statement. They can be developed using Flash, HTML or both, Google said. The ads look like small Web pages within a Web page, and users can also embed them into their blogs or iGoogle home pages. Gadget ads are built on an open system, so anyone can set up and run ads on the Google content network, Google said.

Google tries out interactive ad format.