That’s the prediction of Google Audio national director of sales Drew Hilles tells Inside Radio “Our main goal is to draw new advertisers to radio” and when they do that’ll put pressure on inventory and result in higher rates for all buyers. The onetime CBS Radio exec says “our goal is to raise rates” and return the sector to double-digit growth. He says one way they help preserve a station’s rate card integrity is by allowing buyers to pick markets — but not individual stations. And Hilles says “stations have control of the throttle of how much of the inventory they open up or not.” Hilles says Google is working to attract some of its existing 100,000 advertisers who have found radio too tough to buy. Hilles says what attracts them is the “more Googley way” they sell radio that affords buyers more accountability and trackability. Google says “a large amount” of the advertisers are new to radio. [INISIDE RADIO]

Looks like Google’s plans to reinvent the way radio ads are bought has hit a rough spot. Online Media Daily reports Chad and Ryan Steelberg, the founders of dMark, an automated radio ad placement company purchased by Google in January 2006, have left the company.

The brothers resigned amid reports of growing tension between dMarc, the company they founded, and Google over differing approaches to radio ad sales. There was also said to be tension over the limited remuneration dMarc could expect under the performance-based terms of its original deal with Google.