Google Ad Chief's Screen Dreams

Philipp Schindler Has Big Plans to Move the Internet Giant Farther Into Linear Television Territory.

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Philipp Schindler has been Google’s ad chief for years, but few would know it. Having hailed from Germany, Schindler spent a good portion of his 11 years at Google running its European business before quietly ascending to global chief business officer 13 months ago. Now, for the first time in this role, he sat down with Adweek as he prepares to take the stage on Monday to address the industry at Advertising Week.

Schindler predicts his three favorite “revolutions”—mobile, video and programmatic—will be so common that by 2020 “we will actually look back and laugh that we called them revolutions.”

Per Google, two-thirds of smartphone users say they turn to their devices to learn about a product or service after seeing a television commercial. With that in mind, the 45-year-old exec and his team will unveil to the Advertising Week audience a platform that allows brands to see how YouTube ads compare to TV spots for smartphone searches. Google data will show how its YouTube videos outperform linear TV by two times. “We’re the prime time for the mobile world,” Schindler proclaimed.

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