What’s on TV tonight? Google’s bringing live TV listings straight to Search

Google today revealed that it would soon be adding the feature to Search, allowing you to search for live TV listings without even having to turn on your TV.

To tell Google what’s at your disposal, you’ll be able to click on the small “Edit provider” button, which Google will use to offer personalized results. Presumably it will also include over-the-air TV channels. All this is in addition to the info for movies and TV that it already offers, with cast information, plot summaries, air dates, and trailers.

The move to offer information about TV shows and movies puts Google in direct competition with the likes of IMDb, which has long been a go-to for cast information and plot summaries.

“… coming soon, Google Search will have live TV listings,” said Daniel Alegre, president of global partnerships at Google, in a blog post. “So now when you’re looking for The Big Bang Theory, we’ll not only show you the apps and sites where you can find the latest episode, but also show which channel you can turn your TV to later in the evening or week to catch it live.”

As you can see, there’s no word yet on when the listings will be available through Search beyond “soon.”

Apart from the more user-based announcement, Google also gave an update on its ad platform, DoubleClick. According to Google, DoubleClick will be getting better at targeting demographics when it comes to live TV. Google will also be automating some of the work for choosing which ads to play during TV breaks, ensuring that “two automotive ads don’t appear in the same commercial break.” Who wants to see one car ad after the other? Not me!