"After five years of trying to sell ads on television using the automated buying system that works so well for its signature search ads, Google has finally given up," reports Robert Hof at Forbes.com.

The article continues, "The shutdown is clearly a disappointment for Google, yet another sign that its math-driven advertising systems don’t readily translate to traditional advertising. Back in 2009, the company shut down radio and print ad efforts for lack of interest."

Hof adds, "In a blog post this afternoon [Thursday, Aug. 30, 2012] from Shishir Mehrotra, VP of YouTube and video, the ad giant said it will shunt the group’s staff to other projects: ‘Video is increasingly going digital and users are now watching across numerous devices. So we’ve made the hard decision to close our TV Ads product over the next few months and move the team to other areas at Google. We’ll be doubling down on video solutions for our clients (like YouTube, AdWords for Video, and ad serving tools for web video publishers). We also see opportunities to help users access web content on their TV screens, through products like Google TV.’ "