A couple of days ago I said I wanted to know more about Google's Audio Ads.  But I didn't want to hear it from Google or its PR department.  I wanted to hear something from actual people who are using the system.  Low and behold I stumbled across a post from Marketing Pilgrim that has just what I was looking for:

Terry Reeves has commented on Google’s Audio Ads pilot, first reported back in December. Terry spoke with a Google rep and was shocked to learn that a 4-week run of radio ads would cost $20,000.

The post then goes on to quote Terry Reeves on the experience of talking to a Google Audio Ads representative only to find out about the extraordinarily high price of being a "beta tester" for the service.  $20,000 is a lot.  Especially for a "do-it-yourself" service.  If Google was creating the ads for people that'd be one thing.  But they're just the distributor.

Truth be told, I know nothing about radio advertising.  But I'm fairly certain that I could walk into any of the radio stations here in town and run an ad for less than $20,000.  How do I know this?  Because I hear radio ads all of the time that I'm pretty sure come from companies that don't have $20,000 to spend.

Typically, participants in a beta program don't pay regular prices.  Right?  So can we assume that $20,000 is actually cheaper than the final product?  Regardless, that's a heckuva lot of money to ask someone to plunk down on a system that hasn't even gone public yet.  Maybe that means Google has some impressive numbers to pitch to prospects.  Who knows.

I'd be curious to find out from anyone who has done radio advertising what the cost comparison here is.