When most people think of the Google brand, they get a warm fuzzy feeling. Indeed, Google is one of the top influential brands in the world, but not everyone feels butterflies in their tummy, when they think of Google.
In fact, when it comes to offline advertising channels, Google is finding that it’s brand is more of a hindrance, than help, when it comes to negotiating deals with radio, TV and newspaper markets. As the NYT highlights, many traditional ad channels are very cautious, if not fearful, that Google will enter their space and devalue the existing offering.
Many in the radio industry are determined to keep Google at arm’s length, suspicious that its technology-based approach will turn their business into a commodity and take away the relationships with advertisers that stations have spent years building.
Google appears to be having the most difficulty penetrating the radio industry – which is the one that should be the easiest – and hasn’t yet been able to sign any major stations to carry their audio ads. In fact, while Google may have signed up 900 stations in 200 markets, those signed aren’t the major players.
For instance, the list included 10 stations in the San Francisco Bay Area, but most were in outlying areas like Sonoma and Santa Rosa and have low ratings. None of the stations were in San Francisco, and Google’s top station in the area is ranked 18th in terms of audience share, according to Arbitron. Its top station in New York is ranked 27th. Google may have added more stations since the list was created last month.
More encouraging to Google are their efforts to branch into TV and newspaper. While not a runaway success at this stage, they’re at least finding high quality partners such as The Chicago Tribune and CBS, are showing interest.
So, where do you think Google will be the most successful?
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Via Search Engine Land.
