A rádio está desvalorizada (e a Google quer resolver)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says radio is “greatly undermonetized.” He predicts a breakout year for his company and radio as USA Today reports. “Look at the time people spend listening to radio, vs. the money currently being spent to advertise on radio — it’s out of whack.”

«When CEO Eric Schmidt joined Google from Novell in 2001, it was an unprofitable but up-and-coming search engine. Now, Google (GOOG) has surpassed Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) as the world's most-visited website. It just announced a record $1 billion in quarterly profit, virtually all from those little 10-words-or-less text ads that appear near search results. And the company is looking to expand its advertising empire. Google says it will spend $3.1 billion to acquire DoubleClick, an online company strong in display ads, an area in which Google has been weak. It also made an alliance with the nation's largest radio broadcaster, Clear Channel, to let Google advertisers buy radio ads directly from the Web. USA TODAY's Jefferson Graham sat down with Schmidt to discuss the new directions and perceptions that Google is now unstoppable. These are edited excerpts:

Q: You say this will be a "breakout" year for Google and radio. Why? A:  Radio is greatly undermonetized. Look at the time people spend listening to radio, vs. the money currently being spent to advertise on radio — it's out of whack. Radio can be so much bigger.

Q: Why do you think your network of advertisers, who specialize in online text ads, are ready to move to audio advertising? A: We have enough inventory. We got into radio when we bought (radio company) dMarc Broadcasting, but they had remnants (unsold ads offered at last-minute discounts), which is stuff people didn't want. That's a good business, but not a great business. What we needed was prime-time slots, and that's what Clear Channel offers us.» (fonte: «Schmidt says he didn't grasp the power of Google at first», USA Today)