Google poised to beat British television for UK ad revenue
The Financial Times reports that Google's UK ad revenue will exceed that of Britain's Channel 4 and, within 18 months, those of the market-leading ITV1.
How much are we talking about? More than £900 million (approximately $1.78 billion) inBy 2008 Google will be the top media company in Britain. 2006 and maybe as much as £1.63 billion ($3.1 billion) within 18 months.
The CEO of Channel 4 was the FT's source on Google's beating his company. The article goes on:
On current trends, Google UK would still lag behind the ITV group as a whole, once the broadcaster’s digital channel and interactive services were included. But that analysis does not include future revenue from Google’s recent acquisition of YouTube, the video website.
Moreover, the race is only Google's to lose, Dominic Proctor, of MindShare Worldwide, told the paper.
With the integration of the dMarc Broadcasting, which is the basis for AdSense podcasting ad insertion services rumored to be announced by the end of the year, Google will take a huge scoop of audio and video revenues.
But, and it is important to remember, that paid search ads are complemented by display advertising and traditional broadcast ads. Search doesn't necessarily replace these other forms of advertising. Search does open many more doors to creators of marketing messages.
Watch out for even bigger changes when upstart marketers start regularly winning accounts away from major ad agencies.
For now, though, it's enough to note that by 2008 Google will be the top media company in Britain.