How Google Plans to monetize Google Voice

We all know Google’s innovative way of making money via search advertisements. Except for the search revenue, Google is yet to find a revenue model for all of its different applications like gmail, gtalk, youtube, docs, picasa etc. The folks from the telecom world were left wondering how Google would monetize Google Voice services. So the puzzle is kind of unraveled via the patent application called “Ringback advertisement” . It was first noticed by unwire folks. Google has plans to make money via playing advertisements instead of the ringtone. These advertisements shall be played during call being setup, on hold and suspended.



The type of advertisement that shall be played is based on the calling party number. Based on the calling party number, the location of the user shall be retrieved. However, this might not be accurate if the subscriber is roaming national/international. Google plans to support playing advertisements for all kind of interface, IP, mobile, LAN, WAN etc. Advertiser shall be charged based on the length of time the audio advertisement is played. Different rates shall be applied for individual advertisers. If the voice call is made via web browser, then Google can provide more accurate advertisement based on combination of location and profile data.

I think it’s a great idea. The solution has its won drawbacks. I can tolerate ads popping up when iam browsing, but don’t think I would tolerate advertisements during a call. I would rather pay premium money to keep the advertisements away. That’s just me. Iam sure there are lot of folks that wont mind listening to advertisements for free calls. Also, this is not something new. There are quite a few companies that tried Advertisement based free call model. Iam not sure how successful these venture are. Having said that, Google is a different beast, if anyone can make it work, that would be Google.

Some highlights of the patent application:
• A computer-implemented method, comprising:receiving an indication of a telephone call being placed from a calling number;determining an audio advertisement to play; andplaying the audio advertisement prior to a called party answering the telephone call.
• The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving the audio advertisement from an advertiser.
• The method of claim 1, wherein determining an audio advertisement to play comprises:determining a location associated with a calling party; andidentifying the audio advertisement based on the location.
• The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining a length of time the audio advertisement is played; andcharging an advertiser associated with the audio advertisement the total time amount based on the length of time.
• A system, comprising:means for receiving an indication of a telephone call being placed from a calling number;means for determining an audio advertisement to play based on the calling number or the called number; andmeans for playing the audio advertisement based on the determining.

Let me know what you guys think of the solution.