Google Drops Print Ads in the Latest Cut Backs

Posted Friday 23rd January 2009 by Tobias in SEM News.

Launched in November 2006, Google Print Ads was a media venture from Google Inc and 50 partner newspapers in an attempt to bring increased advertising revenue to the US publishing industry. Google Print Ads rapidly spread to over 800 publications and offered clients an opportunity to search publications using various criteria such as demographic, distribution and cost. Google announced this week that due to the product not creating the impact that Google and its business partners wanted, Google Print ads will be no more after February 28th.

This announcement comes one week after Google announced job cuts across the globe in recruitment and other applications not within their core focus of search and advertising. Google claims that these cut backs are to free resources to invest in new areas however the slowing down of recruitment is attributed to Google’s ‘coming of age’, by industry commentators. Certain applications where put to the block last year including Google’s interactive community Lively, accumulating evidence that Google is feeling the economic pinch.

Before pointing the recession stick at Google it is important to remember that print advertising has been on the decline over the last decade, ironically mainly due to more specific and cost effective media such as internet marketing, driven by Google itself. Although certain publishing groups reported they had made money through Google Print Ads, obviously the venture was not benefitting the ones that counted. So the sword of Damocles seems to sway over Google’s applications and many are asking what is next?

After has been a reported 8% drop in search advertising that affected Google’s share price by 4.5% and many believed this to be a taste of things to come. However figures published in their fourth quarter results show that Google has exceeded expectations with sales of USD 4.2 billion and earning USD 5.10 per share. This shows the current slowdown as a mature response to the economic downturn; a move back to their core business by curbing their fiercely innovative attitude. No doubt the cuts over the last quarter have helped their figures however Google still seems to be on the up.

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