Even as Yahoo pushes hard to fully partner with newspapers online, Google has taken a different tack, offering to sell advertising for newspapers….in print. The Google Print Ads program began in June 2005 with magazines to decidedly mixed results. It moved to include 100 newspapers in late 2006.
Speaking at the NAA Marketing conference in Las Vegas last week, Google Director of Print Ads Tom Phillips, a publishing and Internet veteran who has run Disney’s Go.com (and StarWave), DejaNews and Spy Magazine, says newspapers shouldn’t abandon their print efforts for the greener pastures of online. “Remember where ninety-three percent of your revenue comes from,” says Phillips. “Don’t forget your core business.”
Phillips says Google’s intent is to introduce newspapers to “the hundreds of thousands of advertisers that are not buying newspapers now. Our goal is to bring more revenues to our partners. We (the print ads program) only survive if the print business thrives. We think we can help turn the table.”
This is interesting, Google seeing value in offline advertising. Many folks think that print is dead, and I for one disagree. I agree with Google saying to “stick to your core”, but newspapers are too enamoured with the Internet now and think they can outsmart local portals. Good luck with that, and take Google’s advice.