le sued by USA Today publisher over fears of falling advertising revenue
Google is accused of unfairly dominating the digital advertising industry, resulting in a significant decline in advertising revenues for publishers.
Gannett, publisher of USA Today is suing Google for “deceptive business practices” as well as violating antitrust laws and consumer protection laws in the United States.
Why it matters: The latest of a series of lawsuits where Google is accused of breaking antitrust laws. These cases may force Google to make major changes, such as divesting its advertising business. This could lead to greater transparency, better campaign control, and improved innovation.
What’s happening? Today, Gannett filed in New York a federal suit against Google. The company released a statement saying:
- Google controls 90% of the publisher ad server market, which is used by publishers to sell ad space. Google controls 60% of the ad exchange market, which runs auctions between advertisers bidding for advertising space on publisher’s websites.
Gannett, the U.S.’s largest newspaper publisher, is heavily dependent on digital advertising revenue to survive.
What did Gannett say? Mike Reed, Gannett’s CEO, released a press release explaining the impact Google’s alleged illegal practice has had on news publishers.
- Google’s practices are causing local news to be reduced and even disappear altogether. Publishers cannot invest in newsrooms without fair and free competition for digital advertising space.
What has Google said about the allegations? Dan Taylor, vice-president of Google Ads has denied all allegations.
- These claims are false. Gannett, for example, uses Google Ad Manager, one of many competing advertising services. When publishers use Google tools they retain the majority of their revenue. “We’ll demonstrate to the court that our advertising products help publishers fund content online and benefit them”
Has it happened before? Google has been charged with breaking the European Union antitrust laws only last week. The European Commission concluded that after a two-year probe, “mandatory divestment” was the only solution to the problem. Behavioral changes were not effective.
Nine U.S. States (Michigan Nebraska Arizona Illinois Minnesota New Hampshire North Carolina Washington West Virginia and West Virginia) also joined forces earlier this year to bring a lawsuit similar against Google.
States claimed that Google’s advertising business was in violation of antitrust laws. They urged Google, to rectify the situation, to split up its Ad Manager Suite, claiming that it was abusing its dominance in online advertising. Google denied the allegations and requested that the case be dismissed.
Google was accused in 2020 of violating antitrust laws to maintain its dominant position as a search engine. The trial for this case will take place in September.
But. We expect that this will be the most challenging year in digital advertising with the lowest growth rate since recent memory. It is debatable how much of this can be attributed to Google and how much can be attributed to other economic factors.
Deeper dive: You can read Gannett’s full statement here.
The post Google sued USA Today publisher over fears of falling advertising revenue first appeared on Search Engine Land.