Google is offering $340 million in free ads for coronavirus help package

Google Offers $340 Million Advertising Credits

Google is offering $340 million in free ads for small businesses as part of coronavirus help package

• Google said it is increasing a previous ad grant to $250 million in ads to help the World Health Organization.
• It has created a $200 million fund that will support NGOs and financial institutions globally.
• The company said it will work with Magid Glove & Safety, with the goal of ramping up production of 2-3 million face masks in the coming weeks.

Google is offering $340 million in ad credits to small and midsize businesses with active Google ad accounts as part of an $800 million coronavirus response package, the company announced Friday.

“As the coronavirus outbreak continues to worsen around the world, it’s taking a devastating toll on lives and communities,” said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a blog post Friday. “To help address some of these challenges, today we’re announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.”

 

As part of the package, the company is also donating the following:

• A $200 million investment fund that will help NGOs and financial institutions provide small businesses with capital
• $250 million in advertising grants to help the World Health Organization and government agencies offer information on how to prevent the spread of COVID-19
• $20 million in Google Cloud credits for academic institutions and researchers
• Unspecified financial support to help increase production capacity for lifesaving equipment, including face masks and ventilators.

The announcement comes as Silicon Valley tech giants like Apple, Salesforce and Facebook fund relief for the economic disparity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Google’s sister company, Verily, this week ramped up drive-thru coronavirus testing with 1,000 Google volunteers as a part of an effort to screen and test people with symptoms, CNBC reported Thursday. Google launched a separate informational site a week ago.

Pichai said that employees from across Alphabet are “bringing engineering, supply chain and healthcare expertise to facilitate increased production of ventilators, working with equipment manufacturers, distributors and the government in this effort.”

In addition to the commitments, the company said Friday that it has increased the gift match Google offers every employee annually to $10,000 from $7,500.

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Google announced it was offering ad credits to advertisers. The free ad credits will be available for use

$340 Million Ad Credits to SMBs

Google pledged to disburse $340 million dollars in credits to SMBs (Small and Medium Size Businesses).

These ad credits will begin to show in Google Ads accounts during the course of the next few months.

Ad Credits are for Existing Advertisers Only

Ad credits are only available to advertisers who have been active during the past year, with a Google Support page saying that it’s available to advertisers who have been active since the beginning of 2019.

This is what the support page announced:

“SMBs who have been active advertisers since January 1, 2019 will see a credit notification appear in their Google Ads account in the coming months.”

That means that small businesses who open a new Google Ads account will not be eligible for a credits.

There is no word of how much the ad credits will be issued to each advertiser.

Google Ad Credits Expire

The Google Ad Credits must be used this year. They will not be carried over to next year.

The ad credits will be available for use until the end of 2020. That means they will not be available for use in 2021. The ad credits must be used in 2020.

Where Can Google Ad Credits Be Used?

Google Ad credits will work across all of Google’s advertising channels.

According to Google:

“These ad credits will be applicable across the Google Ads platform including Search, Display, and YouTube as well as all campaign types.”

When Will Ad Credits Be Available?

According to Google the ad credits will not be available immediately. Google explained that this is an announcement and that the follow through is being worked on right now. The Google support page indicated that the notifications of ad credits will be made in the “coming months.”

 

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