Google has announced the expansion of Google Print Ads. From today Google has expanded their newspaper advertising base from 50 papers to 225 newspapers representing 32 of the top 35 DMAs with a combined circulation of 30million readers.
The lineup of newspaper companies participating is impressive; companies include E.W. Scripps, Freedom Communications, Hearst Newspapers, GateHouse Media, Gannett, MediaNews Group, The New York Times, The Seattle Times Company, Tribune Publishing, and The Washington Post.
Google Print Ads is also now available to all United States-based advertisers who currently have a Google AdWords account.
The emphasis is mine. I logged into my Adwords account to see how the new feature worked from an advertisers perspective to find that it’s not available to me, or the billions of other people living outside of the United States. The thing I can’t work out is why? Why is print any different to online in terms of placing ads targeted at American consumers? It would take less than 5 minutes to place an ad directly with most of the newspapers in the Google Print Ads program from just about anywhere in the world; anyone with an Adwords account worldwide can already target American consumers through online ads, so why can’t the rest of us place print ads as well?
it’s all about national security
maybe because Australia is a former penal colony?
no offense to you penal-spawn down there. tee hee
when your buyers and sellers are 99% Us ; its ok.
- I wont be mad that I cant by space in a uk paper when it happends
Fourth post
what a waste of a post. I could think of any number of reasons why they may not want to allow international customers to participate immediately. You should stop writing for TechCrunch — it really is bringing down the entire blog in quality.
I agree with the point above.
Jesus, Andy! The whole post wasn’t just about the US-only aspect of the service. Relax mate.
Nice post, interesting to see their traditional marketing exposure going up like 400%…
There is always a tricky way to boost income!
As sickanimations notes,
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the non-American part wasn’t the entire point of the post, but given that our entire reader base isn’t Amercian it’s a point that was worth throwing in, particularly given that Google usually is the most globally inclusive company with their offerings (don’t even start me on how bad Yahoo is
what is it that keeps the newspapers alive? they get their copy from reuters, their ads from google/yahoo…what do they have left? the obit page?
stick a fork in this industry
It makes little sense … I run a website from the UK, maybe I want to get some American Newspaper Readers to my site? I have the money and an Adwords account … why not?
Wouldn’t the value-added for the post be if you were to find out the answer to your question and tell us?
The headline and half the body of text including the concluding statement was about the non-American angle, so I don’t think it is accurate to beg off Andy and Andrew’s criticism.
Michael
last paragraph only and yes, I sent an email to Google asking them that very question, if I get a response (and hardly anyone ever gets a response from Google, or if they do it takes weeks) I’ll run it. As for brushing off Andy’s comment: it’s one thing to criticize the content, it’s another to call on me to stop writing for TechCrunch. I’m always happy to engage in constructive debate, however if people want to personalize it by attacking me because they are unable to put together a decent argument without sinking to that level, I’ve got no interest in playing nice in return.
Bob
my thoughts exactly, and all the Adwords ads I run are charged in US dollars as well. The even more stupid thing is that its “American based”; what if you’re an American in Toronto or Vancouver marketing exclusively to the US market, why should you be excluded, particularly if your money is as good as someone just across the border and you already have an Adwords account?
Perhaps this is just part of the roll out process and others will eventually be able to participate. Need Custom Software Development?
I just love the whole concept of an online company moving into the offline world. Nowdays, we only usually see the opposite. It’s refreshing to know that the online world can facilitate life offline and change the way we live.
Cheers,
Aidan
http://www.MappingTheWeb.com
If there isn’t a law that prohibits it, maybe it’s a business operations move wherein they want to limit the number of advertisers and build their business processes from there (financial accounting perspective, account reps, stats, etc.).
Pilot roll-out strategy happens all the time.
Duncan, stop whining you annoying little turd.
Your posts suck and I have no idea why you are employed by TC.
Do us all a favor and rent a server in the US so you can log in remotely, bypass geoip and stop winging.
I think the answer is that placing “print ads” is more complicated and more labour intensive than you might think, In some countries the agency has to provide proof that the ad was actually published, on the correct date.
Google might just be about to turn the whole sedate “Print ads” industry upside down. Watch this space…