谷歌广告价格下滑又怎么样？

    大家请冷静，谷歌（Google）活得好好的。

    上周三，随着谷歌发布了第一季度财务。如果只是通过媒体的报道，大家可能认为全球最大的搜索巨头谷歌或许陷入了麻烦。谷歌今年第一季度的营收入为154亿美元，高于去年同期的129.5亿美元；同时盈利34.5亿美元，也略高于去年同期。

    但是这两组数据还是没有达到华尔街的预期，有一部分原因是由于谷歌的在线广告收入正在下降【本季度谷歌的平均“每次点击定价”（CPC）降低了9%】，而谷歌最大的财源就是在线广告收入。谷歌的股价因此也产生了波动，同时媒体纷纷称谷歌的财务季报“令人失望”。这一切似乎更加证明了谷歌正在经历“增长的阵痛”，或曰“衰落”。

    究竟是什么导致谷歌的在线广告收入降低了？主要原因是消费者从台式电脑向移动设备的迅速转变。据纽约数字营销研究机构eMarketer的数据，今年全球智能手机用户人数还将增长22%，达到17.5亿人，到2016年将达20.3亿，2017年将达到22.8亿。

    谷歌等高度依赖在线广告收入的大型网络公司已经非常擅于打造针对台式电脑的广告，但到了移动时代，他们却尚未掌握做好移动广告的诀窍。他们显然已经看到了移动市场快速增长的潜力，但是还没有找到最好的办法在移动平台上发挥自己的优势。谷歌的业务总监尼科什•阿罗拉在上周三的收益电话会议上也承认了这个事实。

    不过阿罗拉很乐观，他认为移动广告的定价最终将超过传统电脑广告的定价。他在收益电话会议上表示：“从中长期看来，移动广告的定价一定会超过电脑广告的定价。”他同时还提到了一些移动设备上独有的工具，比如在移动设备时代，在GPS技术的帮助下，可以根据用户的地理位置更加精确地打广告。

    对于谷歌来说，现实是，一旦有人弄明白怎样在小屏幕的智能手机上以最好的方式向用户打广告，谷歌同其它任何公司相比，肯定将是最容易从移动广告中受益的一个——可能只有Facebook是个例外。另外，尽管谷歌的CPC定价有所下降，但其它网络公司也遭遇了同样的问题，而且有些公司面临的问题要远比谷歌严重。根据数字营销公司Ignition One统计，今年第一季度，移动搜索广告的平均CPC定价下跌了35%，相比之下，谷歌的CPC定价只小幅下跌了9%。

    截止上周三股市收盘，谷歌股价当日实际上升了1个百分点，并没有下降。

    从传统台式电脑向移动平台的转，可能给了谷歌充分的理由进一步开发其它收入流。比如谷歌的“其它”收入来源——YouTube、Android和Chrome等，目前为谷歌贡献的收益可能刚刚超过10%，但这个数字比去年同期攀升了48%，达到15.5亿美元。同时它也可以刺激谷歌避免做出没有效果的投资，比如谷歌今年一月同意将两年前以1200万美元收购的摩托罗拉智能手机部门以291万美元的价格卖给联想。

    但是在可见的将来，谷歌最大的收益来源仍将是广告收入。

    高德纳研究公司的副总裁安德鲁•弗兰克认为，考虑到谷歌已经在在线广告领域占据了统治地位，“我认为他们仍然必须要坚持发展移动广告。”弗兰克还认为，今天较低的移动广告价格只是暂时现象，“它们未来只会继续上涨。”(财富中文网)

    译者：朴成奎

    Simmer down, folks. Google is doing just fine.

    Judging from media coverage this Wednesday following Google's (GOOG) first-quarter results, you'd be forgiven for thinking the world's largest Internet search provider is in hot water. Google reported first-quarter revenues of $15.4 billion, up from $12.95 billion the same period last year, while earnings came in at $3.45 billion, also up slightly from last year.

    But those numbers fell short of Wall Street's targets, based in part on the ongoing decline of Google's revenue from online ads, which account for the lion's share of company earnings. (The average "cost per click," or CPC, for instance, declined 9% this quarter.) That, in turn, caused Google's share price to fluctuate and set the media buzzing with talk of "disappointing" financial results, and more proof that Google is experiencing "growing pains," or is experiencing a "slump."

    The culprit behind lower ad prices?The rapid, tumultuous shift from desktop to mobile. According to New York-based digital marketing research firm eMarketer, the number of smartphone users worldwide will grow 22% to 1.75 billion this year, rising to 2.03 billion in 2015 and 2.28 billion the year after.

    Businesses like Google that rely heavily on ad revenue already have desktop ads down to a science, but mobile advertising, which has cropped up in recent years, has remained tricky. They certainly see the potential in the rapidly growing mobile market, but haven't yet figured out the best way to use mobile to their advantage -- a reality Nikesh Arora, Google's chief business officer, acknowledged during Wednesday's earnings call.

    Arora is bullish, arguing that mobile ad pricing will eventually surpass that of the desktop: "In the medium- to long-term, mobile pricing has to be better than desktop pricing," Arora said during the call, referring to mobile-unique tools, such as more accurate targeting of ads based on a user's location, thanks to GPS technology.

    The reality for Google is that, despite a rocky transition, it more than any other company -- with the possible exception of Facebook (FB) -- stands to benefit from mobile advertising once everyone figures out the best way to engage with users on smaller screens. Besides, while Google's CPC pricing is suffering, so is everyone else's, and some are faring much worse. According to digital marketing company Ignition One, the average CPC for search advertising on mobile plunged 35% during the first quarter of this year, compared with Google's more modest 9% decline.

    As for Wand after the market closed Wednesday, Google shares actually ended up almost 1% for the day and not down, as some outlets had suggested.

    The transition to mobile might give Google reason to further develop other revenue streams. For instance, the company's "other" revenue source -- a business segment that includes YouTube, Android, and Chrome -- may account for just over 10% of current revenues, but it also climbed 48% year over year to $1.55 billion. The shift could also spur the company to duck out of investments that aren't panning out, as Google did when it agreed this January to sell the Motorola smartphone unit to Lenovo for $2.91 million after purchasing it for over $12 million less than two years prior.

    But for the foreseeable future, Google's massive revenue driver will remain advertising.

    Given Google's already dominant position in the space, "I think they have to stay the course when it comes to the mobile advertising," explained Andrew Frank, vice president at Gartner Research. And like Arora, Frank predicts today's lower mobile ad prices are a temporary deal: "They can only go up," he added.