Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here.
Split Decision
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, charged Google’s digital ad business with antitrust violations on Wednesday, CNBC reports.
After a nearly two-year investigation, the commission found that Google’s end-to-end ad platform violates EU antitrust law. It pointed to Google’s dominance in the publisher ad server market and concerns that its ubiquity in all aspects of the programmatic supply chain has allowed the company to preference itself in open auctions going back to 2014.
The only way for Google to address these concerns is for the company to split up its ad business, according to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager. The commission did not specify which aspect of its ad business it wants Google to divest.
But don’t expect a breakup anytime soon. Google can still request a hearing to defend itself.
The EU’s lawsuit follows in the wake of a similar antitrust case brought against Google’s ad business earlier this year by the US Department of Justice. It remains to be seen whether Google can fend off challenges on both sides of the Atlantic, but one thing is certain: It’s going to make lots of ad dollars in the meantime.
Clean Up Your Act
Nielsen, in its struggle to survive as measurement alternatives crop up left and right, has launched a data clean room with Snowflake.
The first data set available to clients at launch is a sample of 35 million set-top boxes and smart TVs meant to represent national linear TV viewing in the US, Ad Age reports.
Nielsen’s new clean room will also underpin the company’s efforts to add big data to its panel measurement and currency with Nielsen ONE.
Media companies and measurement companies are pursuing clean room technology because they need to securely match their first-party data for targeting. Nielsen’s clean room venture comes as it works to transition from panel-based to impression-based measurement.
The clean room could be evidence that Nielsen is more open to collaboration.
Although Nielsen has refused to join the joint industry committee (JIC) for standardizing cross-platform measurement, Snowflake is also the clean room provider for OpenAP, the data activation platform that powers the JIC … so who knows.
Nielsen may be trying to collaborate or it may just be trying to rebuild its own kingdom.
Unclicking On Carbon Emissions
Ad exchange Sharethrough is automatically yanking carbon-intensive made-for-advertising (MFA) sites from its ad inventory and offering low-emission private marketplaces (PMPs) to advertisers on all DSPs for no additional fees starting July 1, MediaPost reports.
Sharethrough will work with programmatic company Jounce Media to create filters for weeding out offending sites.
Low-emission PMPs exclude media sites and apps with the highest emissions, which can reduce an ad campaign’s carbon footprint by between 20% and 30%.
(It should be noted, however, Sharethrough still appears willing to work with these bad actors; it’s just giving advertisers the ability not to run against them.)
This initiative is the latest in Sharethrough’s efforts to greenify the programmatic supply chain. The SSP uses sustainability startup Scope3’s Climate Shield product, which monitors and bars high-emissions ad inventory. Sharethrough also teamed up with Scope3 to offer GreenPMPs that measure emissions in the supply chain and earmark a portion of the CPM from ads that run through Sharethrough’s exchange for carbon offsets.
But Wait, There’s More!
Pixalate: Open programmatic CTV ad spend has slowed down for the first time in years. [Digiday]
NBCU named Wells Fargo as its preferred financial partner for NBCU Checkout so the bank’s customers get exclusive benefits when they make purchases. [B+C]
Hub Entertainment Research: Consumers are streaming more than ever – but relying on fewer apps to do so. [Nexttv]
Google’s been training its AI large-language model on YouTube. [The Information]
You’re Hired!
Steven Smith joins AccuWeather as CEO. Founder and outgoing CEO Joel Myers will step into the executive chairman position. [IT News Online]
