Google Audio Ads will get a public test by the end of the year, allowing advertisers to buy radio spots online the same way they currently use Google AdWords for online search, Reuters reports. Earlier this week, Google announced plans to test an auction system for newspaper ads. Google’s radio plans — the public ones, anyway — began with the company’s acquisition last January of dMarc Broadcasting for $102 million cash in an earn-out deal that could cost more than $1.136 billion over three years. Google said then the goal was a new distribution radio ad distribution channel and has spent the intervening months setting that up.
As part of that, Google has been busy hiring a sales force. Google reportedly is paying about 50 percent more than a typical radio sales person might make, an exec from one competitor told Reuters. The same exec said he’s been told Google is on the verge of a $1 billion radio ad inventory deal with Clear Channels. No comment from Google on that. Thinking out loud here a little — if such a deal is in the works, it could be structured similarly to the one that guarantees MySpace $900 million over a period of time.
Update: WSJ: “The initiative would really take off if a big radio operator like Clear Channel Communications Inc. or CBS Corp.’s radio division got involved. Rumors, stoked by an analyst report last week from RBC Capital Markets, are rife in the radio industry that one of them will soon cut a deal with Google, potentially selling not just remnant advertising but a percentage of regular-inventory spots. Clear Channel could not be reached for comment. CBS and Google declined to comment.”
Related: Google Acquires dMarc Radio Ad Firm For $102 Million; AdWords Comes To Radio
Subscriber content
?
Subscriber content comes from Gigaom Research, bridging the gap between breaking news and long-tail research. Visit any of our reports to learn more and subscribe.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Comments have been disabled for this post