The Google Empire strikes back

Google continued to expand its advertising empire on Monday with a deal to sell on-air ads for US radio giant Clear Channel.

Google said it has a multi-year agreement to sell a guaranteed portion of the 30-second advertising spots available on Clear Channel's more than 675 AM/FM stations. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Google planned to focus on wooing advertisers that advertise online but not on radio.

"This is a true win-win," said Clear Channel chief executive John Hogan.

"Clear Channel Radio gets access to an entirely new group of advertisers within a new and complementary sales channel, and Google adds another option for its existing customers."

The Mountain View, California-based Internet search powerhouse already provides text ads to Clear Channel's radio-station websites.

The enhanced alliance comes as Google works to strengthen its money-making online search advertising business and extend its ad-targeting prowess beyond the boundaries of the Internet.

Google, which already handles 30 percent of the world's online advertising, is pushing ahead with new ad formats for television, cell phones, video, newspapers and radio.

Analysts believe Google staged a costly coup on Friday when it closed a deal to buy online advertising specialty company DoubleClick for 3.1 billion US dollars in cash.

Google outbid US rival Microsoft for DoubleClick, which promises to improve Google's ability to target and delivery display and video advertising online, according to analysts.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Technology/Google-ad-empire-grows-with-Clear-Channel-Radio-deal/2007/04/17/1176696781297.html