As Google launches analytics for TV and radio ads, the industry moves closer to a state of integration. MIVA's marketing and communications director explains.

Google took its foray into TV advertising a step further earlier this month by announcing that it was adding TV-based metrics to its analytics product.

Now, advertisers running TV ads through AdWords can use Google Analytics to track impressions and CPM rates. They can also layer the metrics from their TV campaigns on top of existing web statistics to see if TV spots are delivering any uplift on page impressions. These TV analytics will sit alongside radio based metrics, which Google also added to its platform earlier in the year.

This integrated proposition is by no means an exact science. It doesn't, for example, take into account the impact of other offline campaigns that may be running, and it also assumes that all TV and radio ads are designed to drive traffic to advertisers' websites. However, what it does do is give insight into how analytics services will develop in the future.

Our industry still suffers from something of a silo approach when it comes to developing, measuring and optimizing marketing campaigns, so this integration appears to be a step in the right direction.

In a previous piece, I talked about the benefits of integrating SEO and PPC, but the addition of radio and now TV takes analytics beyond the online world, and that is what piqued my interest.

With radio, TV and online now measurable through one interface, we're surely just a hop, skip and a jump away from fully integrated analytics. And in today's always-on world, where sustained and constantly optimized campaigns are part and parcel of marketing strategies, real-time cross-channel analytics are definitely a good thing.

The notion of integrating cross-channel analytics through one technology platform brings to mind the great CRM debacle of yesteryear, where many companies ploughed millions into expensive database systems but never quite managed to effectively unlock the value of that data.

There's a subtle difference, however, in that integrated analytics are primarily geared towards highlighting how marketers can shift advertising dollars to the most efficient channel, while the goals of CRM systems are to underpin seamless, integrated sales and marketing based on specific customer behavior.

Never the twain shall meet? Hardly. Just look at how closely Google is aligning itself with Salesforce.com. There have been two announcements of strategic alliances between the two companies in the past year alone, with another expected at Salesforce's developer event later this month.

The developments we're seeing within the analytics space are totally logical and a natural progression. They move analytics beyond campaign management and optimization and closer to the strategic heart of the overall sales and marketing process. Analytics platforms of tomorrow will no longer be simply the domain of SEM agencies, they'll be on the radar of the CMOs too. The old debate of whether marketing is an art or science will, it appears, keep on raging.

Alex Vlasto is marketing and communications director for MIVA.