US lawsuit against Google could benefit Apple and others
A
landmark
lawsuit
by
the
US
Justice
Department
against
Google
over
its
dominance
of
advertising
technology
could
help
rivals
and
websites
that
sell
ad
space,
but
leaves
an
uncertain
future
for
the
advertisers
themselves,
experts
told
Reuters.
The
Justice
Department’s
complaint
against
Google
this
week
called
for
the
company
to
divest
Google
Ad
Manager,
a
suite
of
tools
including
one
that
lets
websites
put
ad
space
up
for
a
sale
and
another
that
served
as
an
ad
marketplace
that
automatically
matched
advertisers
with
those
publishers.
If
the
Justice
Department
lawsuit
succeeds,
“advertisers
and
publishers
could
have
more
leverage
with
more
options
with
expanding
players
–
and
consequently
more
competition,”
said
Neil
Begley
of
Moody’s
Investors
Service.
Apple,
which
is
steadily
growing
its
nascent
advertising
business
and
promoting
it
as
privacy-focused,
could
be
a
winner
if
Google
ads
become
less
effective,
said
Brian
Mandelbaum,
chief
executive
of
marketing
firm
Attain.
Ad
industry
executives
say
Google’s
business
in
placing
ads
on
websites
it
does
not
own
gives
Google
valuable
information
on
an
ad’s
effectiveness.
Apple
has
“an
ability
to
be
a
new
dominant
force,”
in
advertising
because
Apple
has
data
through
its
ownership
of
phones,
its
Safari
web
browser
and
the
distribution
of
apps
through
the
App
Store,
he
said.
Google’s
competitors
in
ad
tech
are
increasingly
creating
products
that
serve
both
the
publishers
like
news
websites,
which
sell
ad
space,
and
advertisers
who
buy
ads,
like
Google
currently
does,
said
Paul
Bannister,
chief
strategy
officer
at
CafeMedia,
which
helps
small
and
medium-sized
publishers
sell
ad
space.
If
Google
is
forced
to
divest
the
tools
that
serve
publishers,
it
would
benefit
competitors
like
Xandr,
which
is
owned
by
Microsoft,
that
will
still
work
with
both
sides
of
the
ad-buying
ecosystem,
Bannister
said.
With
more
options
besides
Google,
publishers
will
have
more
transparency
over
how
much
they
can
sell
ad
space
for,
and
could
end
up
paying
less
in
fees,
Mandelbaum
said.
If
successful,
the
lawsuit
could
be
“the
beginning
of
serious
business
model
changes
for
Google,”
said
Paul
Gallant,
managing
director
at
Cowen
Washington
Research
Group.
The
divested
assets
could
result
in
Google
losing
key
data
that
helps
target
ads
to
relevant
consumers,
he
said.
If
Google
loses
access
to
data
signals,
advertisers
could
see
their
Google
ads
become
less
effective,
said
Nikhil
Lai,
senior
analyst
at
research
firm
Forrester.
At
least
twice
before,
the
government
has
filed
lawsuits
against
dominant
companies
with
far-reaching
results.
A
lawsuit
breaking
up
AT&T,
filed
in
1974,
resulted
in
an
agreement
in
1982
to
break
up
the
company.
That
breakup
has
been
credited
with
a
host
of
innovations
in
telephony.
The
Justice
Department’s
lawsuit
against
Microsoft,
filed
in
1998,
reined
in
the
company
at
a
time
when
it
was
seeking
to
extend
its
dominant
operating
system
to
the
internet
browser.
While
the
lawsuit
settled,
the
fight
is
credited
with
opening
the
way
for
other
internet
innovators,
like
Google
itself.
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