Comments on: Google Chases the Declining Print Ad Business http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/ The (r)Eevolution of Media Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:58:31 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Last Minute Ad Club » Transition from old to new media trends affects the ad market http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-27843 Last Minute Ad Club » Transition from old to new media trends affects the ad market Sat, 04 Nov 2006 16:02:03 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-27843 [...] As linked to before in lastminuteadclub.com, some bloggers (link to: http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/ ) believe print media does not lend itself to the online auction process. Just to recap, they argue it is difficult for the auction process to work properly as advertisers are neither comfortable with the lack of control in ad placement, and sellers can simply throw in additional pages for ads and dilute the process.  ………….. [...] [...] As linked to before in lastminuteadclub.com, some bloggers (link to: http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/ ) believe print media does not lend itself to the online auction process. Just to recap, they argue it is difficult for the auction process to work properly as advertisers are neither comfortable with the lack of control in ad placement, and sellers can simply throw in additional pages for ads and dilute the process.  ………….. [...]

]]> By: Last Minute Ad Club » http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-23018 Last Minute Ad Club » Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:58:38 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-23018 [...] In late 2005, Google was betting that it could translate its success in online sales to the print world. The company started buying pages in magazines, which it then cut up into smaller pieces and sold them to advertisers. The experiment started out with technology magazines, but by early 2006, Google was testing the waters in a wider range of magazines and some newspapers. Following its online ad model, Google held online auctions so advertisers could buy space in magazines, without the need of an intermediary agency. But, just as with the ads in cyberspace, it’s not an open auction where everyone can see how much was paid. Instead, the advertisers would enter a bid saying what is the maximum amount they would be willing to pay for a certain space on a page. In the end, despite all the press and nervous advertising agency executives, the plan didn’t work as well as Google hoped. In December 2005, Business Week analyzed Google’s program, and concluded that “advertisers haven’t warmed up to the program.” Most of the advertisers interviewed said they were disappointed by the response their ads generated.  As several bloggers were quick to point out, it’s much more difficult to measure the effectiveness of a print ad. It’s not instantaneous like it is online. In a conference call with executives in late May, 2006, a senior vice president at Google said their experiment to auction off space in print media had been a disappointment. October 19th 2006 Posted to history, Google, Print [...] [...] In late 2005, Google was betting that it could translate its success in online sales to the print world. The company started buying pages in magazines, which it then cut up into smaller pieces and sold them to advertisers. The experiment started out with technology magazines, but by early 2006, Google was testing the waters in a wider range of magazines and some newspapers. Following its online ad model, Google held online auctions so advertisers could buy space in magazines, without the need of an intermediary agency. But, just as with the ads in cyberspace, it’s not an open auction where everyone can see how much was paid. Instead, the advertisers would enter a bid saying what is the maximum amount they would be willing to pay for a certain space on a page. In the end, despite all the press and nervous advertising agency executives, the plan didn’t work as well as Google hoped. In December 2005, Business Week analyzed Google’s program, and concluded that “advertisers haven’t warmed up to the program.” Most of the advertisers interviewed said they were disappointed by the response their ads generated.  As several bloggers were quick to point out, it’s much more difficult to measure the effectiveness of a print ad. It’s not instantaneous like it is online. In a conference call with executives in late May, 2006, a senior vice president at Google said their experiment to auction off space in print media had been a disappointment. October 19th 2006 Posted to history, Google, Print [...]

]]> By: Publishing 2.0 » Google Reality Check http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-4044 Publishing 2.0 » Google Reality Check Thu, 01 Jun 2006 10:53:16 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-4044 [...] News flash: Google is indeed fallible — and vulnerable. I predicted on several occasions (here, here, and here) that Google’s Print Ad program was less than promising (to put it kindly), and sure enough: GOOGLE’S RECENT FORAY INTO PRINT advertising fell short of the company’s expectations, a company executive said Wednesday. Speaking on a conference call with investors and the media, Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s senior vice president for product management, said the venture to auction off print ads in magazines, which launched in February, has been one of the biggest disappointments in the last six months. [...] [...] News flash: Google is indeed fallible — and vulnerable. I predicted on several occasions (here, here, and here) that Google’s Print Ad program was less than promising (to put it kindly), and sure enough: GOOGLE’S RECENT FORAY INTO PRINT advertising fell short of the company’s expectations, a company executive said Wednesday. Speaking on a conference call with investors and the media, Jonathan Rosenberg, Google’s senior vice president for product management, said the venture to auction off print ads in magazines, which launched in February, has been one of the biggest disappointments in the last six months. [...]

]]> By: Geoffrey Hoffman http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1865 Geoffrey Hoffman Thu, 30 Mar 2006 14:35:51 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-1865 It's reassuring to know that you can't make yourself an overnight success in the print advertising business even with $90B in the bank. Is it a suprise to anyone reading that an ad for virus protection failed in Budget Living? A cheap ad is still wasted money if you fail to reach your target audience, run the wrong creative, fail to compel the reader to take action, etc. Our <a href="http://www.stgmediacorp.com/" rel="nofollow">accountable print advertising agency</a> has been closely watching Google attempt - and fail - to do what we've been doing for years: <strong>successfully turning a healthy ROI in print advertising</strong>. It's not only possible, it's what we do all day long. <strong>We solved the print advertising accountability problem over a year ago.</strong> Our <a href="http://www.printad.info" rel="nofollow">PrintAd.info</a> service provides online-style real-time response and conversion tracking for every print ad we place. The more publisher's ad revenues drop, the more power that smart media buyers have to negotiate lower rates for their clients, which pushes print ad ROI even higher. Google's inability to successfully execute a print media advertising program - right out of the gate - simply gives credibility to companies like ours that figured out long ago what Google's just in the process of learning. Don't take it from me... the <a href="http://www.magazine.org/" rel="nofollow">MPA</a> offers a very compelling <a href="http://www.magazine.org/Advertising_and_PIB/Ad_Trends_and_Magazine_Handbook/" rel="nofollow">report</a> showing the importance of print, especially to complement a campaign on TV. It’s reassuring to know that you can’t make yourself an overnight success in the print advertising business even with $90B in the bank. Is it a suprise to anyone reading that an ad for virus protection failed in Budget Living? A cheap ad is still wasted money if you fail to reach your target audience, run the wrong creative, fail to compel the reader to take action, etc.

Our accountable print advertising agency has been closely watching Google attempt – and fail – to do what we’ve been doing for years: successfully turning a healthy ROI in print advertising. It’s not only possible, it’s what we do all day long.

We solved the print advertising accountability problem over a year ago. Our PrintAd.info service provides online-style real-time response and conversion tracking for every print ad we place.

The more publisher’s ad revenues drop, the more power that smart media buyers have to negotiate lower rates for their clients, which pushes print ad ROI even higher. Google’s inability to successfully execute a print media advertising program – right out of the gate – simply gives credibility to companies like ours that figured out long ago what Google’s just in the process of learning.

Don’t take it from me… the MPA offers a very compelling report showing the importance of print, especially to complement a campaign on TV.

]]> By: Google Print Ads A Failure http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1838 Google Print Ads A Failure Wed, 29 Mar 2006 15:19:57 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-1838 <!--%kramer-ref-pre%-->[...] Lots of articles this weekend about how Google's print advertising program, where the Goog buys up ad space in magazines and parcels out portions of it to high bidders, didn't attract the interest Google was hoping for. According to Business Week, CoffeeCup Software wound up getting three ads in Martha Stewart Living, a total of $177,000 worth of ad space, for $4,000 apiece. What a steal! Also, the article says: Several more advertisers spoke with BusinessWeek following the story's publication, echoing similar sentiments. Carl D. Haugen, president of BluePenguin Software, spent $3,000 on an ad through Google, which ran in the November issue of Budget Living magazine. Haugen offered a 20% discount on its antispyware software to Budget Living readers, so he could better track the ad's performance. Over one month later, the ad had only generated $181.37 in sales, says Haugen. Now, when I wrote about this in February, I said: I bid on ¼ page ads in every tech publication on the list, on the off chance the bids are actually low. I might bid higher, but I doubt it, unless people want to take up a collection. I guess we could test if print advertising is actually at all useful. The Publishing 2.0 blog said they "have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google". Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my statement about seeing if print ads were actually useful might have been pretty accurate as well. Keep in mind, I use to be involved with selling newspaper advertising, and I never thought the advertisers were getting their money's worth. Was the bowling place getting thousands of dollars worth of new business because of some ads on our pages? I didn't think so. My suggestion to Google: Cut back. Restart the program with much smaller inventory, sell it in a Million Dollar Homepage style, block by block, and don't add more inventory until you're making a profit on what you've got. This is a market that needs time to grow. Even if it does very little business for the next few years, it can work eventually, if you're smarter about it. Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") | Digg | Yahoo! My Web Technorati: Google Print AdsView All Articles by Nathan Weinberg Receive Our Daily Email of Breaking eBusiness News About the Author: Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines. Visit the InsideGoogle blog. More blog_talk_blog_talk Articles Contact WebProNews [...]<!--%kramer-ref-post%--> [...] Lots of articles this weekend about how Google’s print advertising program, where the Goog buys up ad space in magazines and parcels out portions of it to high bidders, didn’t attract the interest Google was hoping for. According to Business Week, CoffeeCup Software wound up getting three ads in Martha Stewart Living, a total of $177,000 worth of ad space, for $4,000 apiece. What a steal! Also, the article says: Several more advertisers spoke with BusinessWeek following the story’s publication, echoing similar sentiments. Carl D. Haugen, president of BluePenguin Software, spent $3,000 on an ad through Google, which ran in the November issue of Budget Living magazine. Haugen offered a 20% discount on its antispyware software to Budget Living readers, so he could better track the ad’s performance. Over one month later, the ad had only generated $181.37 in sales, says Haugen. Now, when I wrote about this in February, I said: I bid on ¼ page ads in every tech publication on the list, on the off chance the bids are actually low. I might bid higher, but I doubt it, unless people want to take up a collection. I guess we could test if print advertising is actually at all useful. The Publishing 2.0 blog said they “have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google”. Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my statement about seeing if print ads were actually useful might have been pretty accurate as well. Keep in mind, I use to be involved with selling newspaper advertising, and I never thought the advertisers were getting their money’s worth. Was the bowling place getting thousands of dollars worth of new business because of some ads on our pages? I didn’t think so. My suggestion to Google: Cut back. Restart the program with much smaller inventory, sell it in a Million Dollar Homepage style, block by block, and don’t add more inventory until you’re making a profit on what you’ve got. This is a market that needs time to grow. Even if it does very little business for the next few years, it can work eventually, if you’re smarter about it. Add to document.write(”Del.icio.us”) | Digg | Yahoo! My Web Technorati: Google Print AdsView All Articles by Nathan Weinberg Receive Our Daily Email of Breaking eBusiness News About the Author: Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines. Visit the InsideGoogle blog. More blog_talk_blog_talk Articles Contact WebProNews [...]

]]> By: » Google Print Ads A Failure » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1790 » Google Print Ads A Failure » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel Mon, 27 Mar 2006 18:02:19 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-1790 [...] The Publishing 2.0 blog said they “have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google”. Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my statement about seeing if print ads were actually useful might have been pretty accurate as well. [...] [...] The Publishing 2.0 blog said they “have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google”. Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my statement about seeing if print ads were actually useful might have been pretty accurate as well. [...]

]]> By: Publishing 2.0 » The Coming Search Advertising Crash http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1282 Publishing 2.0 » The Coming Search Advertising Crash Thu, 09 Mar 2006 15:54:24 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-1282 [...] Google and Its Watchers Don’t Get Print Advertising Google Tilts at Offline Advertising ROI Google Chases the Declining Print Ad Business [...] [...] Google and Its Watchers Don’t Get Print Advertising Google Tilts at Offline Advertising ROI Google Chases the Declining Print Ad Business [...]

]]> By: Scott Karp http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-565 Scott Karp Thu, 09 Feb 2006 20:25:45 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-565 Nathan, if you get the ad for $30, there will be plenty of "loss" but not a whole lot of "luck" -- I can't imagine that a print ad would be an efficient or effective means of driving traffic to your blog or any online destination -- or that it would be efficient or effective in any of the ways that Google's online ads are both efficient and effective. That said, I think you're experiment is certainly worthwhile for keeping an eye on this whole thing -- what I found comical is that I could imagine you getting the ad for $30 -- and that it still wouldn't be worth it! I'd tell your readers to save their money. You've probably "overbid" for the media value as it is. Nathan, if you get the ad for $30, there will be plenty of “loss” but not a whole lot of “luck” — I can’t imagine that a print ad would be an efficient or effective means of driving traffic to your blog or any online destination — or that it would be efficient or effective in any of the ways that Google’s online ads are both efficient and effective.

That said, I think you’re experiment is certainly worthwhile for keeping an eye on this whole thing — what I found comical is that I could imagine you getting the ad for $30 — and that it still wouldn’t be worth it! I’d tell your readers to save their money. You’ve probably “overbid” for the media value as it is.

]]> By: Nathan Weinberg http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-564 Nathan Weinberg Thu, 09 Feb 2006 20:16:50 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-564 Scott, the purpose of bidding $30 on a $15,000 ad is, just in case Google's program fails and it can't find buyers for ad space, some lucky loser could walk away with a huge bargain. Now who doesn't want to be a lucky loser? And as for my comment about print advertising being useful, what I meant was whether or not a quarter page ad in any magazine is ever going to be useful for a blog. I have real doubts that such an ad would bring in enough visitors to be noticeable. If my readers want to help me get my bid up to a reasonable amount, I'm willing to experiment, but I anticipate that no amount of print advertising would be anything but a big waste of money. Scott, the purpose of bidding $30 on a $15,000 ad is, just in case Google’s program fails and it can’t find buyers for ad space, some lucky loser could walk away with a huge bargain. Now who doesn’t want to be a lucky loser?

And as for my comment about print advertising being useful, what I meant was whether or not a quarter page ad in any magazine is ever going to be useful for a blog. I have real doubts that such an ad would bring in enough visitors to be noticeable. If my readers want to help me get my bid up to a reasonable amount, I’m willing to experiment, but I anticipate that no amount of print advertising would be anything but a big waste of money.

]]> By: Yahoo to offer incentives for search? - Best of the Blogosphere http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-626 Yahoo to offer incentives for search? - Best of the Blogosphere Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-626 <!--%kramer-pre%-->BMW from Search Index - unwittingYahoo! pagará por utilizar su buscador - Blogueando.com - ¡Actualidad. Ahora con Podcast! <a class="cosmoslinks" href="http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/">Google Chases the Declining Print Ad Business - Pu...</a> ON YAHOO! PAYING SEARCH USERS - *michael parekh on IT*Yahoo devient pathétique - Intercommunication<!--%kramer-post%--> BMW from Search Index – unwittingYahoo! pagará por utilizar su buscador – Blogueando.com – ¡Actualidad. Ahora con Podcast! Google Chases the Declining Print Ad Business – Pu… ON YAHOO! PAYING SEARCH USERS – *michael parekh on IT*Yahoo devient pathétique – Intercommunication

]]> By: i love google http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-1916 i love google Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-1916 <!--%kramer-pre%-->on ¼ page ads in every tech publication on the list, on the off chance the bids are actually low. I might bid higher, but I doubt it, unless people want to take up a collection. I guess we could test if print advertising is actually at all useful.The Publishing 2.0 blog said they “have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google”. Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my<!--%kramer-post%--> on ¼ page ads in every tech publication on the list, on the off chance the bids are actually low. I might bid higher, but I doubt it, unless people want to take up a collection. I guess we could test if print advertising is actually at all useful.The Publishing 2.0 blog said they “have to scratch my head when I heard things like this from Inside Google”. Heh. Looks like I was right. The ads did go for far below what they normally cost, at a level I could have afforded, just like I predicted might happen. And my

]]> By: Trackback | Yahoo to offer incentives for using search engine? | CNET News.com http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-2009 Trackback | Yahoo to offer incentives for using search engine? | CNET News.com Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-2009 <!--%kramer-pre%-->Publishing 2.0 » Google Chases the Declining Print Business [pingback] - r those who have been frothing over my Google/Orwell comments, here’s some more red meat — this morning’s tech.memeorandum might has well have been the Google News Daily, with the headline about<!--%kramer-post%--> Publishing 2.0 » Google Chases the Declining Print Business [pingback] – r those who have been frothing over my Google/Orwell comments, here’s some more red meat — this morning’s tech.memeorandum might has well have been the Google News Daily, with the headline about

]]> By: tech.memeorandum @ 1:20 PM ET, February 9, 2006 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/comment-page-1/#comment-2746 tech.memeorandum @ 1:20 PM ET, February 9, 2006 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 +0000 http://publishing2.com/2006/02/09/google-chases-the-declining-print-business/#comment-2746 <!--%kramer-pre%--> Discussion:Publishing 2.0, InsideGoogle, Search Engine Lowdown, Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Roundtable, Rex Hammock's Weblog, Screenwerk, Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab and Coolz0r<!--%kramer-post%--> Discussion:Publishing 2.0, InsideGoogle, Search Engine Lowdown, Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Roundtable, Rex Hammock’s Weblog, Screenwerk, Bubblegeneration Strategy Lab and Coolz0r

]]>