So says this article from AdAge:
After some early, limited and very manual experiments with newspapers and magazines over the past couple of years, Google began a serious alpha trial of its Print Ads system last November, letting more than 100 advertisers bid for space in more than 50 daily newspapers. Early results suggest Google is in newspapers’ $46 billion ad market to stay.
New York Times
“We were really hoping to generate incremental revenue from an advertiser base that we don’t usually get revenue from,” said Denise Warren, senior VP-chief advertising officer, New York Times Media Group. “And it’s worked.”At The Seattle Times, the test has already produced six-figure incremental ad revenue, said Mike Lemke, the paper’s senior VP-sales and marketing. “After the test, we think that it’s a viable new channel that meets the specific needs of certain advertisers who probably would not otherwise give our products a try, just because they’re either out of market or they don’t tend to use newspapers.”
It’s central to all the tests that Google has built relationships with exactly those advertisers, such as health-insurance provider eHealth.
I spoke to Google in connection with this piece and its newspaper test and got a similar impression. I was impressed with Google Print director Tom Phillips‘ candor and openness about the program. He seemed genuinely committed to helping newspapers gain new advertisers and he was forthcoming about allying traditional media concerns regarding Google’s market power.
