Google Getting Niche

With so many popular, general interest titles available online and on newsstands, new magazines are left trying to find ways to capture any semblance of an audience. Therefore, it’s left these publications with the strategy of becoming more target specific and niche—catering to a specific demographic that they know well.

Yet, as specific as these publications try to be, they still publish some articles and advertisements that don’t necessarily cater to their reader. So, to end all of this angst and frustration, corporation giant and super search engine Google has decided to step in.

Yup, that’s right. As recently as November 8, Google was granted the patent to produce its very own publication.

Well, sort of.

The patent, titled “Customization of Content and Advertisements in Publications,” will allow Google’s users to basically customize their own magazine off of content they see online. Specifically, the users will be allowed to reform the content based on what they like and want to read. Then, the final product will be returned in either a print or online form, with advertisements added by Google that they think will matter to this now, "super niche" reader.

Google, co-founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin and based in nearby Mountain View, has been around for roughly eleven years, offering us the world’s most popular search engine, as well as e-mail, news and videos. Now, it’s going to take a stab at media, already highlighting some of the flaws in current publications in a recent statement:

“Consumers may purchase a variety of publications in various forms, e.g., print form (e.g., newspapers, magazines, books, etc.), electronic form (e.g., electronic newspapers, electronic books ("e-Books"), electronic magazines, etc.), etc. The publishers define the content of such publications, and advertisers define which advertisements (ads) may be seen in the publications. Since consumers have no control over publication content or advertisements, they may purchase a publication that contains at least some content and advertisements that may be of no interest to them. Publishers often lack insight into the profiles of consumers who purchase their publications, and, accordingly, miss out on subscription and advertisement revenue due to a lack of personalized content and advertisements. Likewise, consumer targeting for advertisers is limited, and there is virtually no standardization for ad sizes (e.g., an ad that is supposed to be a full page may need to be reduced in size to fit within a publication). Accordingly, advertisers sometimes purchase sub-optimal or worthless ad space in an attempt to reach their target markets. Advertisers also have difficulty identifying new prospective market segments to target because they have limited insight into the desires and reactions of consumers.”

But as other sources have noted, this is still only a patent, and so far, no steps have been taken to set this idea in motion. However, if this thing gets rolling and catches momentum, what is the magazine industry going to do to counter this foe?


Only time will tell. For now, Google will continue being a mega search engine, and niche magazines will have to get more niche.