Radio Tunes Out Google in Rare Miss for Web Titan from the Wall Street Journal has some excellent history on why Google Radio ultimately failed earlier this year. I'll quote the story early on, but the Wall Street Journal piece is excellent, on its own. A look at what went wrong shows that Google misjudged the capacity of its technology to work beyond the Web, and underestimated the human side of the business. Radio stations refused to turn over airtime to a computer algorithm that set prices far lower than their own rates. Big advertisers steered clear. The key issues outlined in t [...]

Related Topics: Google: Audio Ads | Google: Business Issues

Maybe that headline overreaches a little but not entirely. For those that have been wondering whether Google's GrandCentral acquisition, which the company made in mid 2007 and thereafter seemed to neglect, would suffer the same fate as Dodgeball or Jaiku . . . wonder no more. Using the GrandCentral infrastructure, and currently only available to existing GrandCentral users, Google is announcing a wide range of new services under the banner of Google Voice. These services include -- get ready -- "free calling" and "low-priced international calls" among a range of other things. It woul [...]

Related Topics: Features: Analysis | Google: Audio Ads | Google: Business Issues | Google: General | Google: Maps & Local | Google: Mobile | Google: Other | Top News

Google continues to pull back the reins on some of its product and service offerings, today announcing that they're shutting down Google Audio Ads and Google Radio Automation. In a post on the Google Traditional Media blog, Google's Susan Wojcicki explains the service wasn't as successful as they hoped: In 2006, we launched Google Audio Ads and Google Radio Automation to create a new revenue stream for broadcast radio, produce more relevant advertising for listeners and streamline the buying and selling of radio ads. While we've devoted substantial resources to developing these products [...]

Related Topics: Google: Audio Ads | Google: Business Issues | Top News

The Inside AdWords blog announced Clear Channel's inventory of about 1700 AM and FM stations are now available for purchase at Google Audio Ads. For more about the ads, see our Google Audio Ads archive. [...]

Related Topics: Google: Audio Ads

Like many agencies and advertisers, we’ve been dragging our feet before trying Google’s relatively new advertising options. My rationale has been that search (or PPC) advertising is inherently better than the traditional advertising media: print, radio and TV. PPC advertising has been trouncing traditional media due largely to the fact that efficiency and accountability are “built in.” The auction model (almost) guarantees that ad spending will be no higher than necessary to remain competitive. But it’s the built-in accountability – the ability to monitor and adjust for optimal [...]

Related Topics: Google: Audio Ads | Google: Print Ads & AdSense For Newspapers | Google: TV