It appears that Google has killed their radio star with the announcement that it is to shut its radio advertising business, putting 40 jobs at risk. Google's Audio Ads and Radio Automation services were launched in 2006 after a $102 million acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting and the company had used substantial resources to invest in and develop the products and to try and produce adequate returns.
Google will now focus more on online audio advertising and phase out their broadcast radio products. They plan to sell their Radio Automation business, which includes software for automating radio programming and ads, and will close the Audio Ads and AdSense for Audio products. As for the current employees working on these products, Google says that it will try and find other roles within the company for the majority but that up to 40 may be laid off.
On the product blog, Google VP of product management Susan Wojcicki said: "We have always accepted that if you take risks not all of them will pay off. Deciding to close products is never easy, but we will continue to focus on advertising products that provide measurability for advertisers, and are relevant and useful for users, listeners and viewers."
This announcement follows the news last month that another of Google's offline advertising ventures, Google Print Ads, is also to be killed off. However, the news isn't all doom and gloom as Google say they will continue to invest in and improve their television advertising product.
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