Yahoo to Google: It's OUR $12 billion local advertising
Google may be at its fourth small scale “test” at trying to diversify into offline print advertising, but “underdog” Yahoo is out of the newspaper gate and running, online.
In Google $ 48 billion Print Ads test: fourth time’s the charm? I discuss how Google:
Tried three ways to make its magazine and newspaper advertising efforts work.
In "Google’s '1 percent'" I put forth how all of Google’s diversification efforts—print, radio, Google Video, Google Checkout—are underachieving:
Google’s search juggernaut and Wall Street triumph lead many to believe it is inevitable that Google will succeed in all that it undertakes. By Google’s own acknowledgment, however, its diversification efforts to date are underwhelming:
‘Revenues realized through the Google Publications Ads Program, our radio advertising efforts, Google Video and Google Checkout were not material in any of the periods presented,’ Google CEO Eric Schmidt, November 8, 2006, Form 10-Q.
Yahoo, in the meantime, is partnering with seven newspaper groups (176 newspapers in 38 states), with a combined daily print circulation of 12 million and 58 million monthly Web visitors, to jointly monetize content, advertising and technology, according to New York Times reports:
Newspaper companies will begin posting their employment classified ads on Yahoo’s classified jobs site, HotJobs, and start using HotJobs technology to run their own online career ads...
partnership will be extended as newspapers begin displaying their news articles and local ads on Yahoo’s online network...
Yahoo, in turn, will make available local event listings, maps, search technology and other content and tools on the newspapers’ Web sites. Yahoo will also use its technology to help newspaper sell online ads.
Hilary Schneider, Yahoo senior vice president for marketplaces, oversees the Yahoo autos, real estate and jobs properties, representing the leading classifieds categories. She believes:
There is significant opportunity to materially grow local advertising.
Yahoo pegs the local and classified ad opportunity at more than $12 billion by 2010.
I heard Greg Coleman, Executive Vice President, Global Media Sales, Yahoo, discuss the appeal of the local ad opportunity at a recent industry conference, as I report in ““Can Yahoo or Google make money in local?”:Local ad dollars are three times that of national ad dollars.
In “Google wants $10 billion local ad spend” I underscore Google’s desire for the local ad dollars. Sheryl Sandberg, VP Global Online Sales & Operations:
As people do more local search on Google, we provide greater opportunity for local advertisers. In that area we think the market is widely under penetrated, it sounds surprising to a lot of us, but even in the United States, arguably the most developed market in the world for ecommerce less than 50% of businesses even have a Web site, or let alone advertisers, so we think there is tremendous opportunity to bring those people online and bring them into our advertising product.
In “Can Google win in Local?” I put forth Google’s efforts to “bring those people online.”
Yahoo is also very much determined to “bring them into our advertising product.”
I will be covering the Kelsey Group’s Interactive Local Media Conference next week in Philadelphia:
STAY TUNED FOR MUCH MORE ON THE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BATTLE FOR LOCAL!