HUGE Internet Secret Revealed!
Monday, May 31st, 2010
- It’s Everywhere!
The Internet is filled with secrets. Who killed JFK, cheats & hacks, how to extend your penis size by 12 inches or discover your long lost lineage connecting you to the Royal Court of Louis XIV. So it goes without saying when Google this week finally released it’s revenue sharing agreements with other Non-Google sites & properties a lot people attentively listened.
Google revealed that it’s partners get 68% of revenue for ads placed alongside articles/partner content. For on-site complimentary partner search, Google offered it’s partners 51%. These generous percentages have been in place between 2003 & 2005 respectively. Financially impressive numbers flow along with the figures. The numbers show hefty profits for Google to the tune of over $7 Billion dollars, which compliments the $15.7 Billion dollars it made off of it’s own sites and services.
Sharing this long held secret also showed that Google is starting to become more expressive & social in the way it deals with the outside world. It is demystifying itself , it is moving away from a monolithic giant…slowly but surely.
I remember for a long time Agencies, especially Media Agencies saw Google as an industry killer. I never shared that belief. There are many reasons I did not believe this, but for the purpose of this post I will stick to culture/outlook. One reason I personally was not afraid of Google: they were just to focused on building, on complete automation and it was a company that was driven & populated by Engineers immersed in an insular culture. Google has always felt a little impersonal, this despite it’s best efforts to deliver increasingly more and more social tools, gadgets and platforms. Additions like Youtube and the attempts to become more socially relevant through platforms like Wave have been big catalysts for change within Google (externally the jury is out on Wave). With these changes have come new people and new ways of thinking. These additions, are helping balance a culture born out of automated ad systems and the cold an impersonal world of Search that was embedded deep into Google’s DNA.
As someone who deals with Google and watches Googles tact’s and movements very carefully, I think that this is a continuing sign of change @ Google. A change that will make the company even stronger (not without growing pains). A change that will empower a new relationship with Media Agencies and hopefully better services and functionality for consumers.
Only time will tell.
