Google is pulling the plug on its Google Audio Ads and Adsense for Audio products, and is looking to sell off its Google Radio Automation software business. The moves come less than a month after the company decided to stop selling print ads, another experiment to expand beyond Web advertising that went nowhere. Google expects to lay off as many as 40 people as a result of exiting the broadcast radio advertising business. We’ve added teh number to our Layoff Tracker.
It also marks the failure of Google’s $102 million acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting two years ago, which formed the basis of these businesses. The dMarc deal could have been worth as much as $1.13 billion if the business hit certain milestones. But radio stations and the companies that own them never gave Google the advertising inventory it needed to make it a real business, despite Google’s outright attempts to buy market share.
You’ve got to wonder whether dMarc would have made more inroads on its own had it not sold to Google. As it was, fear of Google’s growing power no doubt played a role in the lack of cooperation from the radio industry. And in this environment, even Google can’t fund money-losing projects forever. So it decided to take its marbles and go home, staying in the audio ad business only as it applies to streaming audio on the Internet. Google says it will still continue to pursue its dreams of serving better TV ads, but it is not clear Google is making much progress on that front either.
Google does one thing that generates revenue: they sell clicks. This idea was ill-conceived from day one.
You can’t spell “the” correctly.
You got it alllll wrong dude!! it’s a top secret code that points to a signal that you could read if you had special glasses on.. get with it maan!
I didn’t know people still listened to the radio..
In India radio field is growing in all sections. People prefer to buy inbuilt FMs receiver mobiles.
I liked the move initially and from a media buyers’ standpoint the UI and booking process was really slick. (Although they could’ve used additonal analytical information like Frequency for example.) I agree the amount of inventory and # of stations was severely lacking. Radio is really hurting right now and needs all the help it can get. It’s a shame that it didn’t work out.
Did I really read that? Better than 102M? That made me laugh so hard that I think I just shot a lung across the room.
google looking more like a one trick pony
addense aka adspam network
G results aka garbled cyberfat
organize the worlds info? ever wonder why G does not offer a rolodex style discovery system? a little uniform structure is the first step to organizing anything. this pony appears more like a mule everyday.
RealityLocator.com – be yourself
One thing is certain: your “locator” spam is not the answer either.
maybe you need to listen to what others have to say.
http://www.back...ments?q=locator
I am curious to see if this means Google will close its office in Irvine, CA who’s main focus was the Audio Ads.
Hey schonfeld, where are you guys???
http://tinyurl.com/cwebshare
Everybody in socal is at twiistup. Open bar!!!
I’m already back home. I don’t wanna waste any time there instead of coding. I scored a Sun Microsystems shot glass and laser pen.
http://picasawe...150700500132610
As an investor in JAVA, I must say I was very happy with their small business offering. They did a REALLY good job tonight.
Selling clicks was ill conceived? I think a 115 Billion market cap would say otherwise. I do believe CPC will eventually be taken over by CPA in years to come. Saying it was ill conceived though, just isn’t true. No offense.
apparently Google is garnering a “TIGER” like image, that the rest of the industry would definitely repel… They got to do something about this, for sure. Go into silence perhaps for a few years….
Microsoft in the mean time has acquired FARECAST, and some more adding to their live search….hmmm. Interesting ploy
I have not listened to radio since the 1980s. I watch mostly cable TV now.
I still don’t understand how the advertisers calculate ROI from radio/tv/print ads. Using a url with a tracking code is a way, but still they can’t have details stats of potential customers like they do from online ads.
Google, just focus of on search. It’s not gonna let you down in the near future.
“But radio stations and the companies that own them never gave Google the advertising inventory it needed to make it a real business”
Have you ever bought radio advertising?
I have. I paid $5000 CASH for a half month campaign on a loser little radio station. It produced ZERO customers.
What works with internet advertising DOES NOT work with radio. Radio requires massive budgets over long time spans with the perfectly right demographic.
You can SEO to people that aren’t perfectly in your group and win. You can’t do that with radio. You need consulting. It’s not DIY. this was a losing scenario from the beginning.
So is spotrunner.
The radio ads I got were years ago and not related to any internet website. They were related to software development services back in 2006.
You’re the moron for choosing that avenue to sell software development services.
What was your USP and offer? I’ve worked with folks that were amazed at the effectiveness of radio. Ratings Schmatings. It’s the offer, USP and creativity in any medium that turns prospects into customers.
Please tell me you didn’t include “For all of your software development needs” in your commercial. This line is used by 100s of attorneys, insurance agents and auto dealers everyday. To be honest I’ve never meant anyone with an insurance need or legal need. But I’ve met tons of people that needed disability insurance, wanted to save money on their auto insurance premium or needed help protecting their assets.
Not every idea spawns massive profits, that’s just part of the game. The key is knowing when to cut your losses and go home. It appears google knows where this boundary lies. Like the first comment, the premise was flawed from the start to me; but I figured google knew what it was doing. Maybe I should be a consultant for them. I’m surprised google hasn’t led the way in internet security more since they want to spy on everyone, justaskgemalto is getting that market it seems.
We looked into the radio and print ads and were never really compelled to test the platforms out.
First I have to aggree that google retreat from the best they could ,however rather then called them doing backward step behind, I rather said that this google doing something like retreat aside as expantions,trying to look for other bushes to cut and planting some brands awareness inside,
Google is failing to find an additional business.
Only great companies can re-invent themselves, like:
HP, IBM, Apple, Nokia, Samsung, …
Google goes for experimenting things in marketing arena, but fails in few of its plan that are not regularly attracted by visitors and live examples of it are Radio, printing ads.
come and see
Where is the radio industry going? First Sirius, XM are in financial trouble. Now Google wants nothing to do with radio. Also Liberty Media might invest into Sirius and XM. Liberty has the money, they sold millions of shares it held in online media company IAC/Interactive Corp. Liberty is enjoying the big garage sale that is going on. May the strong survive.
I made $1b dollar last month with radio and TV ads.
Congrats on your 1b last month. You should contact Mark Cuban, he could use your help. He is looking for a company that can turn a profit in 90 days. You should work together.
So, I’m assuming that pay per click isn’t working for them as they thought it might.
Regardless, I have a sneaking feeling that if they really wanted to invest in something of merit it would be digital security as it progresses.
There are already so many effective companies out there though.
http://www.justaskgemalto.com
I may be a conspirator but I think they did this to give the advertising industry an olive branch.
The Ad Industry has been hot after Google since MSFT drummed up the monopoly rhetoric for the Yahoo! deal.
Having used all of these services, I am disappointed they have been cut. The team for radio was the Adwords crew so I am having a hard time being convinced costs were out of line.
Google’s play with these other media forms was making agencies and creative houses obsolete. You can create, schedule and buy from a web browser.
The corporate user could have one person doing what 2 or more agencies were getting. Gone were a media buying agency and a creative agency.
This was revolutionary stuff. This overturned an inefficient business into a smart easy to use service.
Erik I think you could dig around you might find some brokering here from the Ad Council, Erik Schmidt, the public ad agencies and media companies.
Google was increasing their market share of F500 companies budgets to the detriment of these companies. MSFT was the sponsor for a group scrum on Google.