2006 is shaping up to be an incredibly rewarding year financially for the search engine from Mountain View. Most of us are aware of the Google/YouTube purchase, but that’s not what Google owes this year’s success to.
According to MarketWatch, Google is in a position to “pocket 25% of all U.S. online ad spending in a calendar year,” making them the first company to ever control such an amount. This means of the $16+ billion spent on online advertising in 2006, Google is set to make a cool $4 billion.
The article goes on to reveal Google’s 2006 ad revenue will be almost double the amount of their closest competitor, Yahoo. Last year, both companies made almost equal amounts in ad money, but this year, Google has demonstrated an unprecedented level dominance. What are the reasons for Google’s success? A quote from the Marketwatch report provides some clues:
That’s because Google’s markedly better than Yahoo and other rivals at squeezing more revenue for itself from the advertising it serves up, eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman said during a Monday interview. Also, Google’s reputation as the online ad leader makes it more of a first choice for businesses trying out online advertising for the first time.
Reports like these raise fundamental questions about Google – are they a search engine specializing in marketing or are they a marketing company specializing in search? When you consider the way they have conducted business this year, more and more they are looking like a marketing company that’s really good at providing search services.
Chris Richardson
Staff Writer | Murdok
