Google branches out to newspaper adverts
Google is expanding its successful AdWords format into newspaper advertising, allowing online companies to buy space in newspapers.
The introduction of the new Google Print Ads, which is an expansion of Google AdWords, veers away from the auction format of the original advertising sales system.
AdWords allows online companies to bid for a slot in advertising space which appears alongside a specific word search or string of online word searches.
However, the new system allows companies to pick a newspaper online through Google and enter a bid for advertising space on any given page or day available.
Instead of offering to pay a set rate for the advertising space, however, the company then enters the amount it feels the space is worth, with the publisher either declining or accepting the offer.
The system has already been successful in the US, with over 600 titles included so far.
And one British newspaper chief told the Times: "It is an interesting development with the prospect of bringing new advertisers into our newspapers.
"If advertisers find it to be an effective channel, then there is the prospect to form direct relationships on a more normal basis."
