Today’s Wall Street Journal summarized total ad spend in the U.S. by medium and detailed why Google Radio failed. I like occasionally to read about a Google “failure.” It makes me feel good when even a giant Internet behemoth, like Google, can taste the dust of defeat.
First, the ad spend. Despite the woes of the newspaper industry, it garnered the highest revenues of ALL advertising in 2008: over 34 billion dollars, nearly four billion more than its nearest rival, local TV at a mere $28.8 billion . One wonders why an industry still generating the highest advertising revenues in the United States can’t leverage its assets and create a storm. But, that’s another story.
To sum up the rest, Internet advertising grew to a dominating number three spot (only $23.4B), with cable TV networks not far behind ($21.4B), broadcast TV networks ($18B), radio–still a respectable $17.2B, consumer mags at $12.7B and mobile….Well, mobile didn’t show. Why? Because, despite the mobile industry’s massive percentage growth in the U.S. and overseas, it’s still a very tiny part of Aunt Maude’s blueberry pie.
Google’s foray into radio advertising flopped. Why, asked the press to the ebullient Chief Exec Mr. Schmidt: “…the radio effort failed because Google never came up with a good way to measure listener response.”
Huh? Google, the home of Webmaster tools, Google Analytics, CTR’s and such couldn’t measure response. Did anyone think of back-end measurement before launching Google’s radio ads?
Mobile, on the other hand, offers powerful, current and useful direct response advertising results–from mobile coupons to SMS shortcodes to to talk (yes, people still talk on their phones) to direct purchases (mCommerce) and more. Best yet, mobile devices are always in someone’s pocket or purse just like cash or a credit card. Mobile is the ultimate advertising vehicle.
Oh, you can listen to radio too on your mobile.
