Google pitched their fork into the radio advertising market yesterday by agreeing to pay up to $1.2bn for a digital platform that will schedule and implement radio advertising airtime.

Google pitched their fork into the radio advertising market yesterday by agreeing to pay up to $1.2bn for a digital platform that will schedule and implement radio advertising airtime.

The acquisition of privately-owned American company, dMarc Broadcasting, looks to leverage the offering of their existing advertising platform, AdWords.

It works by offering AdWords users the option of radio advertising, allowing them to bypass traditional agencies and place their ads directly on digital radio.

According to The Independent, Google might pay an additional $1.14bn over three years, which would be a larger investment than the $1bn it paid last month for a 5% stake in AOL.

dMarc is managed by two brothers, Chad and Ryan Steelberg, who previously founded one of the first internet advertising companies acquired in 1999 for $500m.

Time Armstrong, vice president of advertising sales at Google said: We anticipate this acquisition will bring new ad dollars and accountability to radio by combining Google's expansive network of advertisers with dMarc's talented team and innovative radio advertising technology."

He added that the company was "committed to exploring new ways to extend targeted, measurable advertising to other forms of media."