(13 February 2009 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Internet giant Google has announced that it is set to terminate its three-year-old radio advertising business by May-end. The move may lead to the axing of upto 40 people from the company.

Google ventured into the radio business in 2006 by acquiring dMarc radio and broadcasting technology company. Its aim was to target broadcast radio advertising and automate programming.

Google VP - product management Susan Wojcicki wrote in a company blog, "While we have devoted substantial resources to developing these products and learned a lot along the way, we have not had the impact we hoped for. So we have decided to exit the broadcast radio business."

Wojcicki also mentioned that Google will try to deploy some of the technology for audio streamed on the internet. The company will also put its radio-automation business, which automates radio programming, up for sale.

“We will use our technology to create internet-based solutions that will deliver relevant ads for online streaming audio,” Wojcicki said. “We are dedicating a team of people at Google to explore how we can best add value for advertisers, broadcasters and listeners in this emerging advertising space.”

Advertisers will be able to use Google Audio Ads till 31 May after which Google will concentrate on television advertising and online video sharing.