Google Moving Strongly Into Radio Advertising

AvgGatsby writes to let us know about Google's move into radio. The company is hiring "scores" of radio sales people in major markets and is offering them 50% above prevailing salaries. From the article: "Google spokesman Michael Mayzel said this week that the company will begin a public test of Google Audio Ads by the end of the year. Advertisers will be able to go online and sign up for targeted radio ads using the same AdWords system they use to buy Web search ads. It made a clear move into radio in January when it agreed to pay more than $1 billion, depending on performance, for dMarc Broadcasting Inc., which connects advertisers to radio stations through an automated advertising system. It's all part of what Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt has said is an investment in radio advertising that could grow over time to include up to 1,000 Google employees — not just in ad sales, but also in engineering and operations."

Comments

Skynet

[User 956]

So at what point does Google become self-aware?

Re:Skynet

[0racle]

When it does don't you think it might be ashamed about what its become? Going from the best search technology to just another ad agency.

Re:Skynet

[EraserMouseMan]

It never will become ashamed. Google always knew what they wanted. It's the slashdotters that will have the mental crisis when they realize that Google uses them and their benevolent open sourceness to build Google's mega-money-making machine.

Go ahead. Supress my opinion.

Re:Skynet

[foobsr]

Go ahead. Supress my opinion.

I won't.

CC.

Re:Skynet

[Lord_Dweomer]

Going from the best search technology to just another ad agency.

Sorry, hate to nitpick here, but they are most certainly not an ad agency. I work in advertising (at an ad agency) and what Google has become (and has been for most of its life) is a media property with a sales force. Just like ClearChannel et. al.

And for anybody who thinks "ooo, they're paying 50% above prevailing salaries!" you need to gain a basic understanding of how this industry works. Their sales force gets a commission. Anybody in ad sales worth their salt is going to wait and see how in-demand this radio venture of theirs is before they jump ship because frankly, media reps get a crappy salary. The money is really made in the commission. So if this bombs, yeah, they might be making a bit more base from their salary, but they'll be screwed from commission.

Of course, I'm sure that won't stop all of the sexy sexy media girls (fortunately a very true industry stereotype) from trying to work there. Can't wait to do business with them!

Actually, there was a Google Ad Sales office directly below mine in Chicago here before it closed, and they had some very cute girls working there....but I have to tell you that the Google backpacks don't look as sexy on them as you think they would.

Wow... some competition for ClearChannel?!

[chroot_james]

That would be fantastic! Electronic billboards would be great too. They could feed the ads straight off Google's wireless networks. Or even be the way to make money off the wireless networks. I'd like to see google processing tv shows and placing ads by relevance there too. I also wouldn't mind if they'd weight the ad as more relevant if it's funnier...

Luckily, I don't listen to radio

[Anonymous Coward]

Since I bought my first MP3 player (tiny 20G Archos Gmini) I stopped listening to radio. Don't miss it even a tiny little bit.

Ads will rot your brain!

I think I've heard one!

[MBCook]

Are you worried about... mesothelioma?

Then just go to Google.com and type it in! Once you've clicked search, use one of the handy ads on the side of the page. </announcer_voice>

<legal_note>I'm the Google hive mind and I've approved this advertisement.</legal_note>

Re:Tag trolling?

[DaveM753]

I noticed that, too. I think it's a trap.

Re:The REAL Google has finally stood up

[havenskate]

I dunno where you've been... Google has always been an advertising company. Search has always simply been their most successful delivery of ads alongside adwords on publisher sites.

I think you're missing the point completely. 1) companies have to make money. 2) Google has done a lot for search and has maintained their simple webpage as they promised. 3) profit -- and you yell EVIL!... sigh.

Speech recognition software?

[burndive]

The best way to target advertisments would be to listen to the radio stations and advertise products based on what's discussed--at least for talk radio. That's pretty much what they already do with web pages, only those are much easier for a computer to read.

Can Google do radio better?

[QuantumFTL]

Is there some reason that Google would excel at radio stuff? I mean, sure, they already distribute a lot of ads and why not have a radio presence, but it's not like they have the giant platform that is Google Search to spout better, more targetted ads through. Isn't it much more difficult to target Radio ads properly?

Is there something that I'm missing that Google can really ad to the equation here? Or is this yet another example of a great company moving away from a core competency and expanding towards just being mediocre?