Experts told Reuters that a landmark lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department against Alphabet's Google over its dominance of advertising technology could benefit competitors and websites that sell ad space, but the future of advertisers is uncertain. On Tuesday, the complaint filed by the Justice Department against Google called for the company to get rid of Google Ad Manager, a set of tools that included one that allowed websites to sell ad space and another that served as an ad marketplace and automatically matched advertisers with publishers. According to Neil Begley of Moody's Investors Service, if the Justice Department's lawsuit is successful, "advertisers and publishers could have more leverage with more options with expanding players – and consequently more competition." According to Brian Mandelbaum, chief executive of ad tech company Attain, Apple, which is steadily expanding its nascent advertising business and promoting it as privacy-focused, could be a winner if Google ads become less effective. Executives in the advertising industry claim that Google gains valuable insight into an ad's efficacy by placing ads on websites it does not own. He stated that Apple has "an ability to be a new dominant force" in advertising due to its ownership of phone data, Safari web browser, and App Store app distribution. Paul Bannister, chief strategy officer at CafeMedia, which assists small and medium-sized publishers in selling ad space, stated that Google's competitors in ad technology are increasingly developing products that serve both publishers, such as news websites, who sell ad space, and advertisers, who buy ads, as Google currently does. According to Bannister, competitors like Xandr, which is owned by Microsoft and will continue to work with both sides of the ad-buying ecosystem, would benefit from Google's forced divestment of the tools that serve publishers. According to Mandelbaum, publishers will have greater transparency regarding the prices at which they can sell ad space and may ultimately pay less in fees as a result. Paul Gallant, managing director at Cowen Washington Research Group, stated that the lawsuit could be "the beginning of serious business model changes for Google" if it is successful. He said that Google could lose important data that helps it target ads to relevant customers as a result of the divested assets. According to Nikhil Lai, a senior analyst at the research company Forrester, advertisers may notice a decrease in the effectiveness of their Google ads if Google loses access to data signals. The government has pursued dominant companies in court at least twice, with significant outcomes. An agreement to dismantle AT&T was reached in 1982 as a result of a 1974 lawsuit. Numerous advancements in telecommunications have been attributed to that breakup. In 1998, Microsoft was the target of a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to restrain the company from expanding its dominant operating system to the internet browser. The dispute is credited with paving the way for other internet innovators, including Google itself, despite the fact that the lawsuit settled.
Experts told Reuters that a landmark lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department against Alphabet’s Google over its dominance of advertising technology could benefit competitors and websites that sell ad space, but the future of advertisers is uncertain.
On Tuesday, the complaint filed by the Justice Department against Google called for the company to get rid of Google Ad Manager, a set of tools that included one that allowed websites to sell ad space and another that served as an ad marketplace and automatically matched advertisers with publishers.
According to Neil Begley of Moody’s Investors Service, if the Justice Department’s lawsuit is successful, “advertisers and publishers could have more leverage with more options with expanding players – and consequently more competition.”
According to Brian Mandelbaum, chief executive of ad tech company Attain, Apple, which is steadily expanding its nascent advertising business and promoting it as privacy-focused, could be a winner if Google ads become less effective.
Executives in the advertising industry claim that Google gains valuable insight into an ad’s efficacy by placing ads on websites it does not own.
He stated that Apple has “an ability to be a new dominant force” in advertising due to its ownership of phone data, Safari web browser, and App Store app distribution.
Paul Bannister, chief strategy officer at CafeMedia, which assists small and medium-sized publishers in selling ad space, stated that Google’s competitors in ad technology are increasingly developing products that serve both publishers, such as news websites, who sell ad space, and advertisers, who buy ads, as Google currently does.
According to Bannister, competitors like Xandr, which is owned by Microsoft and will continue to work with both sides of the ad-buying ecosystem, would benefit from Google’s forced divestment of the tools that serve publishers.
According to Mandelbaum, publishers will have greater transparency regarding the prices at which they can sell ad space and may ultimately pay less in fees as a result.
Paul Gallant, managing director at Cowen Washington Research Group, stated that the lawsuit could be “the beginning of serious business model changes for Google” if it is successful.
He said that Google could lose important data that helps it target ads to relevant customers as a result of the divested assets.
According to Nikhil Lai, a senior analyst at the research company Forrester, advertisers may notice a decrease in the effectiveness of their Google ads if Google loses access to data signals.
The government has pursued dominant companies in court at least twice, with significant outcomes. An agreement to dismantle AT&T was reached in 1982 as a result of a 1974 lawsuit. Numerous advancements in telecommunications have been attributed to that breakup.
In 1998, Microsoft was the target of a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to restrain the company from expanding its dominant operating system to the internet browser. The dispute is credited with paving the way for other internet innovators, including Google itself, despite the fact that the lawsuit settled.
