Print and Radio Are Lovin’ Google

Great piece over on Advertising Age about Google’s effort to help small and medium-size advertisers buy offline media. The target for such companies-newspaper space and radio spots.

Newspapers Like What They See
Both The Seattle Times and The New York Times have had success today. The benefit? Getting advertisers who wouldn’t normally pursue advertising with such large, established media companies due to their size and their inability to access such companies.

Google has flipped this model on its head. The Seattle Times has already generated six-figure incremental ad revenue. Meanwhile, EHealth spent $100,000 in 12 markets.

Radio Joining the Club
As the article points out, 900 radio stations have already signed on due to the ability to change creative on the fly and getting real time billing.

For example,

Google says its radio-sales product can tie back to return on investment: If a piece of creative seems more effective in Kansas City than in St. Louis, advertisers can adjust in real time.

What Next?
So will TV join the party? They’d be lying if they said they weren’t considering it. Clearly, if Google’s model can work with the remnant inventory of Newspapers and Radio, then Cable and its overwhelming amount of inventory seem to be next.

To me, TV seems like an entirely different beast and facing less challenging issues than the newspaper or radio industries. Therefore, I don’t see this appealing to the networks or the cable networks with strong ad sales teams. However, I have to think there are ads at there that are more effective than another Guthy-Renker infomercial…if there are, you can bet Google will find them and sell them to big and small companies alike.

Tags: Google, advertising, newspapers, radio, Seattle Times, New York Times, TV

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