Google UK targets radio industry
I have been eagerly awaiting Google’s first major announcement of the new year.
BUT, no big news right out of the 2007 gate, no attention getting news to take the spotlight away from CES or Macworld and no Google Audio Ads news to mark the one year anniversary yesterday of its acquisition of dMarc Boadcasting, the vehicle Google is using to make its radio move.
I have been "counting-down" Google's impending launch of its radio advertising product with exclusive, in-depth information and insider interviews, since I heard Google CEO Eric Schmidt talk of his vision for location-based delivery of highly targeted and personalized advertising via in-car radios last June, as I reviewed last weekend, asking “Google Radio: Will Audio Ads make money?”
Google has yet to formally launch its Google Radio Audio Ads product in the U.S. Nevertheless, Schmidt has expressed interest in the international radio advertising market.
Google is making inroads into the UK radio market; It has recruited Jonathan Gillespie, former head of radio at Omnicom's pooled buying unit Opera, BrandRepublic reports. Before Omnicom, Gillespie was at Virgin Radio and was awarded a radio fellowship by the RAB.
Mark Howe, managing director for sales at Google UK:
Jonathan is one of a series of senior hirings we are due to make over the following few months. We are actively looking to build our relationships with the agency community, something we have not had the opportunity to focus on recently, but is certainly one of our main priorities now.
Google Audio Ads U.S. is a main priority for Google. The countdown continues.