Advertising Roundup: Google Wants to Boost Brand, Gawker Braces for Slow Sales, and More

Google looking into advertising itself — Google, a company that has long snubbed traditional offline advertising, has been talking to Madison Avenue ad agencies about ways to promote its brand. The move makes sense: Despite Google’s constant flow of new products, revenue growth slowed to 39 percent in the second quarter, down from 58 percent last year. [Source: AdFreak; WSJ]

Yahoo and Google delay ad deal — In a shift for the two Web companies, Yahoo and Google have decided not to plow ahead with their search advertising partnership as the DOJ pursues an ongoing antitrust review. [Source: MarketWatch]

Gawker Media slashing staff in preparation for ad slump — Publisher Nick Denton cites a gloomy ad forecast as the reason why he’s laying off 19 of his 133 editorial staffers at Gawker Media — even though ad sales are up 30 percent from a year earlier. [Source: Industry Standard]

New radio metrics go live next week — Arbitron’s new Portable People Meter, designed to more accurately measure the size of radio audiences, will go live next Wednesday, despite some controversy. Spanish-language and black stations complain that the new system undercounts listeners, which in turn hurts ad sales and cuts into revenue. [Source: Media Life magazine]