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Google is being sued by a coalition of some of the largest European news companies, including Axel Springer and Schibsted Media, Reuters reports.
The suit itself is in a Dutch court, because apparently they have a reputation for rewarding antitrust damages claims.
A Google spokesperson says the lawsuit is “speculative and opportunistic.”
Which may be true, but can you blame them?
The opportunity to file this lawsuit exists because news ad revenue has been hosed while Google revenue skyrockets. Google’s overall ad revenue is up and up, according to its earnings report a month ago. However, one part of Google’s ad biz is down: the Google Network. Outside sites and publishers aren’t just getting less of Google’s growing ad spend pie; they’re flat out on the decline.
Also, Google earned $73.8 billion in profit in 2023 – not total revenue, mind, but profit. The European publishers are suing for 2.1 billion euros (or $2.3 billion).
“The media companies involved have incurred losses due to a less competitive market, which is a direct result of Google’s misconduct,” according to a statement by Geradin Partners and Stek, the law firms representing the publishers.
Eyes On IP
The TV industry is questioning the longevity of IP addresses for targeting and attribution. There are the obvious privacy rationales, which is why Apple and Google have focused on phasing them out. Plus, since IP addresses change, using them as IDs can be imprecise.
About 15% of IP addresses rotate during the life span of a typical TV ad campaign, according to a recent study from CIMM and Go Addressable, an initiative co-led by Comcast Advertising. And that discrepancy can throw off reach and frequency counts.
Hence why Comcast Advertising unveiled a new signal verification product during LiveRamp’s RampUp event this week. Built with ID resolution company Blockgraph, which is co-owned by Comcast, the product verifies whether log-level ad exposure data uploaded by clients actually delivered to a Comcast household based on IP addresses.
Comcast can verify this match because it sits on personal information from cable and broadband subscribers, including home addresses and phone numbers.
“Household subscriptions are some of the most accurate signals we have,” says Jon Watts, CIMM managing director, in a statement.
The same report was able to match 95% of addressable households via postal addresses, compared to 60% using IP addresses.
The Bouncing Snowball
Advertising and media hardly came up during Snowflake’s quarterly earnings report. That was a bit of a departure, since that segment was a highlight and focal point in the past couple of years.
But that’s not to say the company is taking its eye off the ad industry.
In fact, Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman announced that he’ll be stepping aside, to be replaced by Sridhar Ramaswamy.
If the name’s familiar, it’s likely because Ramaswamy led the Google Search and Ads business for the better part of a decade. Or perhaps you know Neeva, the search engine startup he founded shortly after departing Google, and which took aim at his former employer on the grounds that Google Search has been co-opted and mostly ruined by advertisers.
Neeva had a slim-to-nonexistent shot on the market – it would have needed tens of millions of subscribers paying for something they’ve only ever known as a free service.
Snowflake was lucky for the Neeva acqui-hire, Slootman told investors. (Snowflake paid $184 million for Ramaswamy’s startup.)
“This is not just about changing the guard,” he said. “This is also about positioning the company well for the challenges that are coming.”
But Wait, There’s More!
FreeWheel is testing a tool so advertisers can include biddable programmatic inventory in upfront buys. [Ad Age]
Essence Media is in talks to acquire Refinery29 from embattled publisher Vice. [WSJ]
The internet is searching for coffee now more than at any time ever – why? [GQ]
You’re Hired!
AdInMo appoints contextual tech vet as chief product and technology officer. [release]
SiriusXM hires Sarah van Mosel, former Stitcher and iHeartMedia exec, as SVP of podcast strategy. [Variety]
