Google is on its way to becoming the world's biggest advertising agency, which involves not just selling ads online but in newspapers and magazines, and on TV. Now it's going to run an alpha test with 100 advertisers and 50 US newspapers, with a system that could be launched next year. The New York Times says:
Google's plan will give the publishing business a high-tech twist: the company will expand its computer system, which already auctions off advertisements on millions of Web sites, to take bids for newspaper ads as well. Hoping to reach out to a new crop of customers, such as small businesses and online retailers, many of the largest newspaper companies, including Gannett, the Tribune Company, The New York Times Company, the Washington Post Company and Hearst, have agreed to try the system in a three-month test set to start later this month.
Business Week has more details of how the system will work, and notes:
Comments from other media executives suggest that Googlephobia is abating somewhat. Google appears to have decided "they'd like to keep [publishers] well-fed rather than eat us," said Jack Kliger, CEO of Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. and chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America.
