Google's Radio Advertising Inventory Problem
MarketWatch reported on the 18th that Google was running into some issues related to ad inventory with their new radio offering:
Google Inc.'s nascent radio advertisement business, known as Google Audio, has run into an unexpected snag: it seems Google doesn't have access to enough radio airtime for would-be advertisers to thoroughly test out the initiative, an analyst said Monday.
Unexpected? Apparently, they didn't they read my November 8th post regarding a potential investment by Google in Clear Channel
where I wrote:
If Google launched a radio ad buying module for AdWords their biggest short-term problem would be a lack of Google sized ad inventory.
The predicted investment by Google in Clear Channel didn't happen, so the inventory problem hasn't been solved.
Google's size does have some limitations. I don't think Google will have any problem attractive advertisers to a radio advertising platform. In fact, it will likely open up radio advertising to a new audience of advertisers who have never use radio advertising in the past due to the high minimum ad buys (compared to online advertising). Google has two advertiser audiences to satisfy: established radio advertisers who won't switch to Google's platform if they can't make large ad buys and the hundreds of thousands of AdWords advertisers who are looking or additional advertising opportunities beyond online ads.
How will Google get the inventory?