The New York Times has an excellent article (free registration required) recounting Google’s reluctant rise as an advertising powerhouse since it gave in to carrying advertising, albeit on its narrowly defined terms, back in 2000. With 6.1 billion dollars in ad revenue this year, Google is becoming a force to be reckoned with as the NYT says:
That is more advertising than is sold by any newspaper chain, magazine publisher or television network. By next year, Mr. Noto said, he expects Google to have advertising revenue of $9.5 billion. That would place it fourth among American media companies in total ad sales after Viacom, the News Corporation and the Walt Disney Company, but ahead of giants including NBC Universal and Time Warner.
By applying science to what has been a poorly understood art, Google has the potential to disrupt the very foundations of advertising. And they have the numbers to prove it: users click on Google ads on average 50 to 100% more than those on Yahoo or any other web page. On the other hand, they may just be headed for a gigantic backlash against their cold by the numbers style of advertising. Read below for additonal commentary…
