Google Discontinues Newspaper Print Ads Program
Amidst the inauguration, the release of Facebook Grader, and again more inauguration coverage – Google announced yesterday that they were discontinuing their Print Ads program.
Google started Print Ads in November 2006 and had relationships with over 800 newspapers. The program allowed Google’s ad clients to place offline ads.
About the continued demise of newspapers, Google said “We believe fair and accurate journalism and timely news are critical ingredients to a healthy democracy. We remain dedicated to working with publishers to develop new ways for them to earn money, distribute and aggregate content and attract new readers online.”
From a business standpoint, Google is a publicly traded company and must seek to make as much money as they can for investors. On the Print Ads blog yesterday they said “… as we grow, it is important that we focus on products that can benefit the most people and solve the most important problems. By moving resources away from projects that aren’t having the impact we want, we can refocus our efforts on those that will delight millions of users.”
Google said they would continue to place ads through the end of March.
From a local (Minneapolis) standpoint, the move comes just a week after the Star Tribune filed for bankruptcy. The revenue of the newspaper fell from $119 million in ’04 to $28 million in ’08. As much as I love the Internet, it’s tough to watch newspapers continue to fall.
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