COLOGNE, Germany — If “data is the new oil” when it comes to advertising, Google is sitting on a geyser – but it’s happy to let customers tap rivals’ supply lines, too.

Ben Barokas, GM for Marketplace Development,  sees the emerging digital ad landscape this way, he tells Beet.TV in this video interview: “Every advertiser has its own unique data set – that is the advantage that every individual party in the ecosystem must leverage in order to get ahead.

“Google has a lot of data that comes from search and display, and helps empower publishers and advertisers to use their own individual data with our (advertising technology) stack and with other (companies’) stacks.”

Barokas hints Google is readying an announcement: “(We are) looking at interesting opportunities in IPTV and set-top box advertisements that I’m sure you’ll hear about in the coming days, weeks and months.”

We spoke to Barokas at an industry dinner in Cologne on Tuesday evening hosted by Civolution and Beet.TV.