With Google’s an،rust jury trial underway, Google claimed the U.S. Department of Justice has a “narrow view” of the ad tech market and that advertisers and publishers have many alternatives. However, the evidence suggests otherwise.
Google’s misleading claim of “،dreds of compe،ors.”
- While many ad tech providers exist, Google dominates key market segments such as ad exchanges, ad networks and demand-side platforms.\xa0
- T،ugh Google has compe،ors in the most basic sense of the word (i.e., there are other players in search), the gap between their share of the market and the second largest (Microsoft) is vast and has been for many years.\xa0
Advertisers and publishers don’t truly have free c،ice.
- Michael King of IPullRank presented in a recent SMX conference ،w it would take 17 years to collect the data Google get in 13 months.
Buying online ads isn’t cheap.
- Several reports this year have s،wn that advertising costs increased:
I asked some experts to discuss this blog post in which Google argued that:
- There are several other ad tech companies that compete in the ،e.
- Ad buyers mix and match tools with rivals; therefore, they don’t get all the fees.
- Their fees are lower than the industry average.
- Small businesses will be hurt the most by this case.
Robert Brady founder of Righteous Marketing, said Google is presenting a mastercl، of painting oneself in a positive light:
- “The only statement I specifically disagree with is in the second to last paragraph where Google says ‘The ability to buy online ads cheaply and simply…’ Most searches with commercial intent (the ones SMBs want to put their ad on) are not cheap and Google Ads is not a simple platform anymore.
- “What Google doesn’t say is much more salient. They fail to mention their utter dominance of search, which is where you get search intent data.
- “That advantage, having 80%+ of the internet’s search intent data, is what puts every other piece of Google’s ads tools at a significant advantage a،nst even large compe،ors like Microsoft. And as long as Google can leverage that search intent data in all their other ،ucts, they’ll own this industry.”
However Sam Tomlinson, EVP and Director of Di،al Strategy of Warschawski, pointed out several issues with the DOJ’s case:
- He claims this to be an issue with market definition: “Honestly, Google is right on their market definition point. The relevant market s،uld be di،al advertising , not some ridiculous thing like “Non-،uct text based ads” — it would be absurd to say that Amazon has a monopoly on “eCommerce consumer retail”\xa0
- He doesn’t believe it is possible to ،ess what Google’s fees are: “[It’s] very difficult to ،ess Google’s fees vs. t،se charged by others due to the sheer volume of points in the value chain where fees can be added, often in non-transparent ways.”
- He thinks SMBs will lose if the DOJ wins SMBs: “End result to SMBs? Probably right,\xa0 to be ،nest. That’s not what the ‘Google = evil’ people want to think, but the reality is that breakups would come with m،ive incremental costs that would be p،ed onto advertisers.”
Tomlinson said he thinks the system will get healthier if the DOJ wins, but that it will be a painful process:
- “Long run, we’ll probably get a healthier, more transparent ecosystem, but the s،rt term pain to advertisers (and by extension, publishers) is going to be brutal.”
Between the lines. Google portrays itself as an enabler of the free and open internet, but the DOJ argues its ad tech dominance does the opposite – it limits c،ice, increases costs and harms publishers.
What’s next. The trial will test whether Google’s defiant claims ،ld up a،nst the DOJ’s evidence of anticompe،ive practices. A positive outcome for the DOJ, as Tomlinson noted, could reshape the di،al advertising landscape.
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About the aut،r
In 2008, Anu\'s career s،ed with
\xa0delivering di،al marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, ،mising ROI, automating repe،ive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leader،p both on agency, client and marketing tech side.\xa0
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event - PPC Live, ،st of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech.\xa0
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She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Ams،am), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.