Google is launching another trial of print ads later this month, placing adverts for more than 100 of its web advertisers in 50 US newspapers including the New York Times, Boston Globe and the Washington Post.
The three-month trial follows last year's not-particularly-successful experiment with ads in print in magazines, but the newspaper scheme is reportedly not based on an auction system or on Google buying and then re-selling ad space.
Advertisers log in to their AdWords account and browse availability of types of ads, category and date range across the publications. Newspapers can select which ads to include based on the bid amount and the space they have available. This isn't likely to include high-value spots, but newspapers are hoping this will introduce a new group of advertisers.
Tom Phillips, Google's head of print operations and former Spy Magazine publisher, told the New York Times that print adds value that internet doesn't have: "It is a different browse-able reading medium."
Google is also working on an audio ads for radio stations that work in the same way after acquiring radio ad distributors dMarc in January.
Google will eventually charge a sales commission and revenue share model - with the majority going to publishers. This might not be enough to reverse the decline in old media advertising revenues, but it could be seen as a sweetener from Google to content companies.
