A Google clone highlights growing fears about the search engine, plus pre-roll makes a comeback, and the Olympics leave us wondering if there's really any gold for advertisers.

If you're a consumer, it's hard not to love Google. After all, the search giant brings you everything you want in the time it takes to click your mouse, and most of it is free. But a new startup launched this week that highlights growing concerns among interactive professionals over Google's ever-expanding empire.

Known as "Google Minus Google," the new startup promises the exact same Google experience but without results from Google-owned properties like YouTube and Knol.

According to Timo Paloheimo, the creator of Google Minus Google, the idea for the search engine came about after reading an article about the possibility of Google becoming a media company. What's interesting is that Paloheimo's creation comes on the heels of news that top agencies -- many of which preferred to remain anonymous -- expressed concern that Google was quickly building toward a monopoly in online advertising.

So are fears of Google justified? According to Aaron Wall, founder of SEOBook.com, the answer is slightly more nuanced than one would expect.

"I think if you're an online publisher, it is impossible to succeed long-term while ignoring Google as a competitive threat," Wall says. "In most cases, though, I would be more worried about Google partnering with a competitor than I am worried about Google competing directly."

For its part, Google has long maintained that its search results are neutral, and the company has consistently said that it wants to improve relations with ad agencies.

A makeover for pre-roll?
For those watching the exploding video market, there was some interesting news regarding a much-maligned ad format: pre-roll.

For some time now, pre-roll has been regarded as a traditional media solution for a digital problem -- and a poor solution at that. But according to new numbers from Jupiter, only 5 percent of audiences are believed to navigate away from video content because of pre-roll, which means that running a 30-second spot before internet video may in fact be a sound method of advertising.

But as always, there's a catch. Not all pre-roll is created equally, according to Jason Glickman, CEO of Tremor Media, who says pre-roll works, but only when done properly.

"Much of the disconnect and negative opinion on pre-roll is a result of poorly executed campaigns that may not enforce frequency caps and involve longer ads delivered before short-form UGC content," Glickman explains. "As a format itself, pre-roll is not bad. It's actually the most effective video ad format in terms of brand awareness and advertiser impact. However, a 30-second pre-roll ad in front of a 20-second user-generated video without any caps is a terrible user experience."

According to a recent Tremor Media study, completion rates for videos with pre-roll tend to be about 80 percent. That's good news for Tremor and the sites in its network, which mostly focus on brand-safe, high-quality content. But for YouTube, online video's 800-pound gorilla -- the prospect of monetizing the content with pre-roll -- may be a little more daunting given the proliferation of amateur videos on the site. Perhaps that's why YouTube recently announced a mobile ad play, although right now that looks a lot like wishful thinking.

A real golden goose?
NBC hasn't been bashful when it comes to touting the success of the Beijing Olympics, and now it seems rival ESPN is interested in siphoning off some of that integrated marketing gold for 2014 and 2016.

But whether NBC, which made a point of pushing Olympic content across all media channels, has managed to excite advertisers about the possibility of reaching audiences via television, web and phone, remains uncertain.

Chris Matyszczyk, a columnist for CNET, blasted NBC's decision to micro-manage content to boost primetime ratings. According to Matyszczyk, NBC's coverage has unnecessarily favored television over digital, and that has prompted some advertisers to quietly buy space on non-NBC websites. 

As for the games themselves, Peter Shankman, who keeps his finger on the pulse of all media through his HARO service, wasn't so sure the games were really the kind of "hit" advertisers demand of a world-class event.

"On [the] one hand, I'm seeing people talk about it, but by 'it,' I mean [Michael] Phelps," Shankman says. "And [with] the online video clips that I've seen, nothing [has] gone viral to the point where I've seen anything of note that I've thought worth commenting on. This isn't a Mia Hamm takes her shirt off moment, as far as I can tell."

Michael Estrin is deputy editor at iMediaConnection.