Google, Fairfax join forces in advertising partnership

Fairfax Media will join forces with tech giant Google in a partnership that is the first of its kind in the world to streamline advertising and develop digital media products.

The partnership will allow a portion of the day-to-day advertising of Fairfax's Australian Metro Publishing business to be booked using Google's real-time digital platform for advertisers and media buyers. This allows bookings to be automated by computers.

This programmatic platform enables clients to make bookings based on the specific audiences they hope to target, with advertisements then served to different mastheads and verticals as appropriate, through to specific requests such as booking home page banners for a certain time period.

The new approach still allows advertisers and media buyers to work with Fairfax directly across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, WAtoday, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, and lifestyle properties.

Fairfax’s managing director of Australian Metro Publishing, Chris Janz, said the partnership was about playing to the strengths of Fairfax and not trying to “be everything to everyone”.

The commercial details of the arrangement were not disclosed.

“Google clearly are the global experts on programmatic and automatic trading and programmatic is moving so far beyond cheap, ordinary inventory to actually being a more efficient way to buying and selling media,” Mr Janz said. Read more