Margins Check: Google’s video ads, MySpace’s music ambitions, and more

Editor’s Note: Welcome to On the Margins, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week, the RCR Wireless News staff considers events in the wider business world and how they could affect the wireless industry.
–Google Inc. has begun testing video advertisements in its AdSense online ad program. The offering will give publishers the opportunity to serve contextually relevant video ads. The move comes as Google boosts its position in the wireless industry, and it stands to reason that the marriage of video and mobile will include a significant advertising component.
–Nintendo is readying a marketing push in the United States for its new “Wii Fit” video game. The effort comes as the Wii maker enjoys significant success against its video-game rivals Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp. As video-gaming companies look to expand their influence into the mobile world, it could behoove mobile players to invent links between cellphones and the wildly popular Wii.
–Rumors are swirling that MySpace plans to create an online music joint venture with the four biggest record companies, according to Reuters. Although MySpace has only dipped its toe into wireless so far, its potential move into the music business may well include a mobile component at launch or somewhere down the road.