With the recent foray into radio advertising through the acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting, their hopes of succeeding in print publications seems to have gotten off with a disappointing start.
According to BusinessWeek:
In February, Google (GOOG) auctioned off ad space it had purchased in about two dozen magazines, from Martha Stewart Living to Road & Track. The auction — the latest twist in a six-month experiment with buying and reselling print ads — was open to thousands of advertisers. However, Google was forced to extend the auction by several days to lure more buyers.
In one auction, the CEO of CoffeeCup Software wound up paying $4,000 for each of three half-page ads in Martha Stewart Living which is regularly priced in the rate card at more than $59,000.
Previously in its first trial purchasing and reselling ad space in a handful of magazines, BusinessWeek’s analysis discovered 8 of 10 participating advertisers were disappointed with the results and probably wouldn’t buy print ads through Google again.