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Google Forays into Print Advertising
dotpavan writes "It's not that if Google farts, it makes headlines, but this move is a smart one, at least for a tech company which was primarily thought of a search-engine company. Yahoo News reports that Google has ventured into print ads (or offline ads as they are called there) by buying pages at PCMagazine and Maximum PC. More interesting is the website adsbygoogle.com which has these images, but the main page is not functional. "
[quote]More interesting is the website adsbygoogle.com which has these images, but the main page is not functional.[/quote] I don't see any images... anyone has a mirror?
It's good to see that they don't censor it for their group's interests as well, as other publications might. Yahoo are a great news source... I've used to homepage at news.yahoo.com before I discovered the news.bbc.co.uk homepage.
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Any company that can make people like us excited about what they do and what they have in the pipeline is going to be in the spotlight time and time again. What else do you expect from those who thrive on tech news and new techs.
It's not that if Google farts, it makes headlines,
You must be new here.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Google is smart enough to know that there are people out there that don't live and die by the internet. If they see ads for Google, they're more likely to go to a google site when they first encounter the internet. Its like AOL is such a brand name, that many first time internet users naturally just type "AOL" into their browser. Sure, those of us that use the internet all the time won't give a Google ad a second look (except to notice that you don't normally see Google print ads), but for newbs, your grandma that just got her first Linspire PC, etc., knowing where to start is great... and knowing you can start with Google is a great place to start...
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Additionally I don't really care about the news anyway. I come here for the discussion.
It's just the same way people think of TV and radio stations as entertainment companies, rather than using the programming to gain advertising dollars.
Here's how it can work to Google's advantage:
1) Google buys up a whole bunch of bulk, untargetted adspace. Since they're buying in bulk, they get a nice discount. Since its untargetted, it's also cheaper
2) Google then sorts all their bulk stuff by catagory/demographic. "Okay, we have X pages of 18-24 year old sports car drivers, X pages of 14 year old makeup girls, X pages of 65+ dental salve, etc...". Chances are, because of GoogleAds, they already have a good chunk of the market research done as to what demo fits where.
3) Now there are the companies who want to advertise. Normally, these companies pay big bucks to market researchers, who in turn tell the companies "This demographic likes your product, and this is where you should advertise it, because that advert space targets your demographic".
4) Google approaches these companies, and says "Hey, company Y. We know your demo is this (because of GoogleAds), and we have X pages worth of advertising that targets your demo (and we know that because of GoogleAds). If you want to buy some adpsace, let us know"
5) Now, Google can sell small chunks of advertising to those companies at a good price, because Google bought untargetted ads in bulk. Those companies in turn save a pretty penny, because they don't have to pay market researches to tell them WHERE to advertise. Also, they don't have to pay the adspace people directly. They save money there because they wouldn't have bought in bulk (more expensive), and would have bought targetted adspace (more expensive).
So, Google buys up ads cheap, and sells them for a reasonable price to companies, who in turn save money buy not having to pay both marketting and ad firms.
Profit? {shrug} I guess Google's stocks will tell.
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This already happens in the magazine publishing industry. Ad agencies can get the 12x or 11x contract rate, and fill the space with ads from different clients each month.
Ad brokerage is a great way for print media to guarantee revenue, while allowing smaller advertisers to get in print.
Howver, I don't think this is about cheaper, or easier. This is just Google diversifying how it delivers its services. They can offer a more complete portfolio of advertising solutions to their clients, similar to how many ad agencies manage ad strategies for their clients.
Don't be surprised to see Google getting into the television advertising brokerage market within the next few years.
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Google has the authority to ban any ad with which it disagrees, and some of their decisions (like "no gun ads") can be construed to have political overtones. Other stuff you can't advertise using Google includes: beer or hard alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and other weapons.
Google makes a great advertising service, but Google is not wholly libertarian in what it allows. I'm surprised that on Slashdot, a site I'd consider pretty libertarian in its own right, Google is so rarely criticized for its policies.
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