Another One Bites the Dust: Google Walks Away From Radio
Weeks after its decision to abandon its Print Ads program, Google has done the same with its sister program for radio ads. Both programs offered ad buying capability in their respective media, through Google’s AdWords online ad platform.
The company essentially cited the same reason that it did for newspapers: “It didn’t have the impact we hoped for.” The remaining piece of this once three-headed traditional media division is its TV Ads program, which is reportedly doing well.
In April, we saw that the “audio ads” program was hitting a bump. While Google claimed affiliations with 1,600 FM and AM radio stations, it alienated some radio station owners by trying to force them to commit a percentage of a wide swath of inventory.
Specifically, there were complaints that Google cut revenues after it made a deal with Clear Channel for 5 percent of the radio station giant’s inventor. This included both premium inventory, such as drive time, and remnant inventory at off hours. The Clear Channel deal made sense for Google at the time, since it provided enough desirable inventory to be taken seriously by quality advertisers. But it placed competing stations at a disadvantage.
Additional Reporting by Peter Krasilovsky
