News story about the hiring of 1,000 personnel in the US by Google Inc. for the launch of its new 'Google Audio Ads' service, written by Grant Goddard in November 2006 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: GOOGLE INC. HIRES
1,000 STAFF IN US FOR LAUNCH
OF 'GOOGLE AUDIO ADS'
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
November 2006

2. News: Google Inc. Hires 1,000 Staff In US For Launch Of 'Google Audio Ads' page 2
©2006 Grant Goddard
Google Inc. is hiring around a thousand radio staff in the US, in advance of its
launch of the ‘Google Audio Ads’ service at the end of the year.
The automated online system will connect advertisers with radio stations,
reducing costs by cutting out the role of advertising agencies, sales houses
and local radio sales teams. The move follows Google’s US$102m acquisition
of dMarc Broadcasting earlier this year, providing it with software to make a
substantial entry into the radio market [see issue #748].
"Google is hiring salespeople in most major markets and they're hiring sales
people to sell radio. They're paying about 50% more than a typical radio sales
person might make," said Bill Figenshu, chief operating officer of Softwave
Media Exchange, a competitor to Google in online radio advertising.
Figenshu said that Google was purchasing US$1bn of advertising inventory
from Clear Channel, the US’ largest radio group.
RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank said: "We believe there's a
reasonable chance Google Audio is establishing critical mass in anticipation of
a major acquisition of prime inventory. Our sense from recent discussions with
industry players has been most radio operators are reluctant to offer prime
inventory to Google Audio.”
With Clear Channel Communications up for sale, the timing would be perfect
for Google to leverage an equity share of the company or a partnership in a
private equity bid.
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Google Hires 1,000 Radio Staff', #762, 15 November 2006]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk