Google's "Pay-Per-Call" model

Om Malik's been way out in front of the rest of the media in reporting on Google (NASD: GOOG).  I'm skeptical that they're trying to build a big, free, ad supported WiFi Network.  And I was somewhat Skeptical that they're trying to build a big consumer VOIP service to compete with Skype or Vonage, as some have alleged.  But now I think he's on to something.  If you'd been reading our new linkroll on the side, you would have seen this article about Google's seemingly quixotic decision to become a broker of print advertising.  But this is just one step to a broader plan:

Since the story first made the rounds, a few new developments. Google released Google Talk, its voice-enabled IM client based on Jabber platform. And earlier this week there was news that Google was experimenting with selling offline ads. Yannick Laclau, discovered something interesting in an article about AHS systems, the company featured in the Google experimental ads.

“It’s a lot of exposure for cheap,” he said, adding that Google is “doing a ton of tracking on this. They’re using their own 1-800 numbers on this, and it forwards to our line.” The Internet addresses of the online versions of the ads also redirect traffic through Google servers.

As I hinted earlier, this is a pay-per-call model that could be the “VoIP” play for Google. A lot of start-ups have already started mucking around with it. The leader in this space is Ingenio, which has a deal with AOL. The pay-per-call results on AOL Search show-up before Google results, because I am told they make more money for AOL. Another start-up that has jumped into the fray is Insider Pages, an Idea Lab company. Jupiter’s Gary Stein has some thoughts on this trend, as he tries to come-up with reasons for why Microsoft bought Teleo.

Presumably a caller is a better customer than a clicker, so this, of course, could be a pretty lucrative area for the company. 

It also helps solve another problem, which is that print ads (well, pretty much any offline ads) are notoriously difficult to measure for effectiveness.  Having multiple trackable VOIP phone numbers, could go a long way to solving this problem.  Once this data comes to light, there could be a major adjustment in the ad revenue for offline media.   Whether it's up or down is anyone's guess.  (Though somehow one gets that feeling that it's gonna be down).