Google has floated its first US television advertisements, a campaign to promote its Web browser Chrome, which has captured just a tiny share of a market dominated by Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Google became the dominant search engine on the Web without having to advertise but it has been forced to take a different approach to build up market share for Chrome.
On Friday, Google said it would run its first ad Google Chrome, a silent 30-second spot produced in Japan, over the weekend.
"We designed a Google TV Ads campaign which we hope will raise awareness of our browser, and also help us better understand how television can supplement our other online media campaigns," Google said in a post on the company blog.
"We're excited to see how this test goes and what impact television might have on creating more awareness of Google Chrome," it added.
Google launched Chrome in September but it has failed to enjoy the spectacular success of its search engine.
Chrome is currently the fourth-ranking Web browser with a market share of 1.4 percent, according to Web research firm Net Applications.
Internet Explorer is number one with 66.1 percent followed by Firefox's Mozilla with 22.5 percent and Apple's Safari with 8.2 percent.
(c) 2009 AFP
