“Google Maps Has Become an Eyesore § Comments”, 2023-08-07 (; backlinks):
I worked on Google Maps monetization, and then on Maps itself.
Monetization was a dismal failure. I don’t know how well they’re doing now, but Maps was a gigantic money-loser, forever. I’d be a little surprised if it didn’t still lose money, but maybe less. I don’t what those “pin ads” cost, but I’d bet it’s way less than a search ad.
If you don’t believe that, that’s fine. “What about indirect revenue?” you ask? Google consciously does not want to estimate that, because such a document could be discovered in patent litigation. As it is, there are tons of patent lawsuits about Maps, and the damage claims always tried to get at Ads revenue, because Maps revenue was nil.
Caveat: I could be way out of date here. I’ve been retired a while now.
As for the UX: “ens—ttification” and big-company bureaucracy describe it pretty well.
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