Slashdot Mirror
Google To Buy Radio Advertising Firm
M3rk1n_Muffl3y writes "According to the BBC Google is buying US radio advertising firm dMarc Broadcasting for an upfront payment of $102m (£58m), rising to a possible $1.14bn by 2009. Interestingly it comes soon after Robert X. Cringely's prediction that Google will soon expand into targetted TV adverts. It looks we are finally beginning to see Google's transition to mainstream media."
I had to stop advertising on the radio last year -- it was declining returns. On my last (contractually required) run of ads, I paid over US$800 per customer earned. Considering I only profited about US$100 per year off of my average customer, radio was a dead form of advertising. This is on a 50,000 watt station in a major metropolitan area. My neighbors in business who kept their ads running this year only do so out of contractual obligation (5 year contracts offered almost 50% discounts). Almost everyone else still advertising on that station is the next batch of businesses ready to fail. The ad-sales people are that convincing.
Google is probably stupid to get into this business. I don't listen to the radio anymore, and I doubt many kids half my age do anymore either -- the iPod is that strong. The frequencies used for public broadcast radio seem wasted to me -- I'd rather see them deregulated and offered for another WiFi band. More WiFi means more access to streamed content as I need it. Hell, I stream MP3s to my PDA already via my Bluetooth-enabled EDGE-bandwidth cell phone (150kbps low latency all over Chicagoland).
So what does Google know that I don't? I'm sure a lot, but I can't see them being right in this situation. Maybe they're ahead of where radio will be in 10 years -- is it possible we'll see the large radio cartels end their regime, replaced with smaller stations all over the place? Could Google perform real time contextual advertising on 5000 watt stations, targeting listenes better?
Google's advertising engines don't work well on pages with too much variety it content. I see 50,000 watt stations having the same problem -- they're targeting too many different customers (and seemingly targeting them with the same generic content on 8 different stations).
How do Google's ads translate to those without sight? Radio only works as an audio mechanism, so Google's visible advertising campaign won't work here, either.
I can see Google's future in buying a company like Clear Channel -- they own most of the billboard advertising in Chicagoland, and they are also advertising in nightclub bathrooms and on the doors of toilets in office buildings. Google can find a way to digitize these ads. Is it possible that dMarc Broadcasting does more than radio (like Clear Channel)?
If it is just radio ads, I don't see it. Wasted bandwidth for a product that can't keep up with what the current customer base needs.
I was listening to an episode of This Week in Tech the other day and Leo kept mentioning someone's theory that Google's true goal is to get AdSense everywhere. This move just seems to back up that claim.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
"Google's transition to mainstream media"
No, we are seeing Google's transition to ALL media.
Think what you will of such things.
Actually, you make a very valid point (maybe without realizing it).
The radio ad-sales people are some of the best I've ever met -- in every market I've been in. Is Google buying up this aggressive sales company in order to accumulate the best sales minds and personalities to use to sell AdWords and other tools to advertisers?
If you can't hire them away, buy their bosses out.
"Hell, I stream MP3s to my PDA already via my Bluetooth-enabled EDGE-bandwidth cell phone (150kbps low latency all over Chicagoland)."
Clearly, you're in touch with the same reality that all other US citizens inhabit.
Granted, not as many people listen to radio nowdays. But it's not completely dead. It's still everywhere, and everyone has access to it. Believe it or not, even having a broadband connection at home puts you in the minority, buddy.
Han shot first.
It gains the general mistrust and status of any other huge corporation. I love google, it's my gateway to the internet. I've always joked that Google==Research when doing assignments. I find it exciting and I really am happy for those involved in the immense success of Google, but on the other hand I can't help thinking that maybe it's getting too big now.
To suggest that the internet isn't mainstream only means that someone is showing their age.
Watching the Nightly News is simply a chance for me to discuss the day's events with other people. I've already read all the 'big' stories of the day by 6/7 o'clock and I usually get more details to boot.
The newspaper does a bit better, as they can dedicate more space to details and they have much more local information, but even then, I'd still rather scan two or three online articles to get a variety of viewpoints.
Because of the internet, I get a much better idea of what's really going on.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Click here to visit local "bathhouses" in your area!
Google tried getting into the glossy advertising business and didn't do so well.Magazines are more than willing to sell advert space to Google, but if you RTFA I linked, few of the advertisers are finding it to be worth their money.
I suspect it is a matter of finding the right format before this takes off. Maybe Google needs to group complementary products together, or simply put fewer small ads per page.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Anyone who spends enough money on Google ads can tell you the first name of their sales rep at Google. You know, the person who helps you fine tune for AdSense keywords, and offers you swell deals. How about if that person, who is already also helping you with localized ad placement through AdSense, could guarantee you some airtime in your local market, as well? Or, how about making sure that people sitting in their cubes at work listening to the radio and typing in some regionally interesting search term ("pizza delivery Sterling, VA") could be shown normal AdSense ads that, for the window of time that Joe's Pizza is running broadcast ads in that ZIP code, give extra weight to his AdSense ads for localized search?
Come on, folks, there's more to this than meets the eye. And don't forget the side-band stuff that handles traditional pager traffic, too. That can be used for all sorts of exotic ad-related things.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Actually dMarc is actually a good fit for Google. What dMarc's RevenueSuite does for commercial broadcasters is offer an automated way to fill unsold inventory. At the end of the day the Sales office at a radio station will close the ad logs, and the RevenueSuite software will schedule their client's ads into any unsold spaces in the logs.
There's no work for the station staff, and everyone makes a few extra bucks.
That's really not dissimilar to what Adsense does.
Three Squirrels
It does make sense if you think about the fact that Google is probably accruing much better statistics about what people actually want (via Google Local searches) without having to rely on guestimations and shaky demographic statistics.
When Sam's Autobody opens in South San Francisco and wants to advertise, here's how the scenarios would play out:
Traditional radio logic:
Google radio logic: