I was told before the meeting today that I would be “very surprised” at the cost of audio advertising program through Google, implying that the cost was a great deal more affordable that traditional radio schedules. Surprised I was! They wanted $20K to do a 4 week run.

Now, I am not suggesting that the ad cost per unit is inflated as they run the spots based on a CPM reach. However, I do know that I can run a 4 week radio campaign at a real radio station in a major market at significantly less than 20K.

Now there are many variables between their offering and any radio stations offerings and I am not really comparing apples to apples as the differences that get you to the end result are significant. However, as far as cost is concerned, Google’s audio ads are not affordable for the vast majority of those who are currently giving Google money for traffic and in the end that is more likely to be the demise of this excellent opportunity.