Hearst-Argyle Television first became pals with Google in June, when it put dedicated channels on YouTube. Now it’s expanding the relationship, as Hearst-Argyle becomes the first TV industry entity to (re)sell Google AdWords.
Hearst-Argyle “will use its Web sales force to provide marketers in its 26 local markets access to Google AdWords,” according to a formal statement. Revenue should be shared, and on the whole, the deal should be pretty beneficial for both companies. There’s more than one way to view the arrangement, however.
“It’s Hearst-Argyle’s second deal with Google in its ongoing bid to prove it is not–repeat not–just a doomed owner of network-affiliated stations at a time when the networks are increasingly offering primetime TV directly to consumers,” writes Michael Learmonth.
As for the future, he points out, “We’ll see how far this new-old media trust goes. Will Hearst-Argyle hand over some of its ad inventory to be auctioned off on Google TV? We doubt it.”
In any event, this may deserve yet another minor mark in the history books as Google continues to branch out in just about every way possible.
Tags: Google, Hearst-Argyle Television, AdWords
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As much as this can be a minor mark in the history, I think that it is going to grow to something that we can’t really predict at the moment, because everybody would start laughing and saying that it won’t happen.