So, Is Google Bigger Than TV?

"Let's not kid ourselves, Google is the most impressive and important development in the history of marketing since the invention of television. And I'm not overstating it," said John Battelle last week.  Now he may not be completely impartial but he's got a point.  Which is amazing not least because TV is an industry whereas Google is a single company.  A few figures make the point.  In the UK, it looks like more will be spent on web advertising than on TV ads next year.  And a good chunk of that will be Search revenues of which Google will trouser the lion's share - £1.75bn this year alone.  Or look at the the four main ad groups plying their TV trade.  IPG, WPP, Omnicom and Publicis are together are worth about $40bn currently - by market caps.  Whereas Google is worth more than four times that amount at $180bn.  And Google's revenues continue to grow at 40 per cent while the Big Four Agencies are happy with single figure growth.  Innovation wise ITV brings back Sir Trevor McDonald while Google tries to rewire the industry's business model by sucking it into the AdWords programme.  The only company with anything like the firepower to compete is Microsoft with a market cap that dwarfs even that of Brin & Page Inc - at $282bn.  However, in recent weeks we have seen that even Ballmer & Co has struggled to get to grips with the online media market that Google currently rules.