This morning, I discovered an important clarification to the upcoming Google Audio Ads platform. Google's advertising system, formerly known as dMarc Broadcasting, will initially be selling remnant air time.
The fact is that Google Audio Ads sells 100 percent remnant ads, in other words, ads that are placed less than one week before air time.
Who else is in this market?
There are a handful of outfits, including SWMX, the current industry leading ad-selling platform.
SWMX is a radio and television advertising company that has relationships with over 1,500 radio stations and sells only 30 percent remnant ads and 70 percent upfront. While Google sells exclusively remnant ads, SWMX is able to offer prime ad placement upfront, meaning that the ads are purchased a week before they air, thereby making the price tag of those ads more expensive.
Google may face significant competition in radio advertising sales from SWMX that has access to more partner stations and a larger advertising inventory and lower set-up costs, according to a recent Bear Stearns research note.
However...
Google does have several competitive advantages, that I'd like to highlight.
First, they focus on the user. Google's current customer-base is in the hundreds of thousands (estimated) and are ripe for the picking. Given that the Audio Ads uses a similar graphical interface and delivers the same experience to the advertiser, Google should receive a good response with a relatively low learning curve.
Secondly, Google has massive reach. When they are ready, they can place their own ads, educating advertisers about the benefits of the Google Audio Ads program and how they can profit from it.
I remember in the early days of AdWords that they included $100.00 advertising credits in popular business magazines such as Business 2.0 and Fast Company that encouraged potential advertisers to login to the Google system. A repeat strategy will prove successful if executed with the same degree of precision and simplicity.
Finally, the third competitive advantage is cost-savings. This low-cost form of radio advertising will deliver a better ROI (return on investment).
For those businesses who already do radio advertising, this is a great solution, and for those who wish they could advertise on the radio but don't know where to start, Google Audio Ads is the solution.
Where will advertisers have their commercials produced? Well, Voices.com of course.
Next time, we'll explore how advertisers can use the tools available at Voices.com to produce professional recorded audio ads.
Technorati tags: google | google audio ads | audio ads | audio adsense
