For Google’s ad tech division, it’s lawsuits all the way down.
On Monday, PubMatic became the second sell-side platform to file a follow-on antitrust lawsuit against Google. It accuses the massive corporation of illegally monopolizing the ad tech market, which was decided in a suit earlier this year, as well as specifically impeding PubMatic’s ability to compete on a level playing field.
Although PubMatic’s filing is a few pages shorter than the lawsuit filed by OpenX in early August, it similarly requests a jury trial to decide on compensatory financial damages, which it anticipates will “reach into the billions.”
Both lawsuits were filed to the same Virginia court that found Google guilty of monopolistic business practices in two Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust cases, regarding the search advertising and publisher ad tech markets, respectively.
Losing independence
PubMatic’s argument is familiar to those who followed the DOJ’s initial complaint against Google’s sell-side ad tech monopoly, which Judge Leonie Brinkema decided in April.
Among other things, the SSP alleges that Google bought its way “into markets that PubMatic helped create” by quickly acquiring competitors and partners, namely DoubleClick, Admeld and Invite Media (which, with PubMatic, conducted the first real-time bidding transaction in 2008).
Google’s anticompetitive tactics and subsequent market dominance led to higher costs for advertisers, reduced ad revenue for publishers and “fewer independent voices online,” PubMatic alleges.
“We’ve been competing on a tilted playing field where greed superseded innovation and coercion blocked transparency,” PubMatic Co-Founder and CEO Rajeev Goel wrote in a blog post on Monday. “These practices have diverted billions in ad revenue away from independent platforms like ours and the publishers we support.”
PubMatic did not provide additional comment beyond pointing AdExchanger to its press release, Q+A website and Goel’s blog post.
More to come?
The timing of PubMatic’s lawsuit is also interesting, given that one remedies phase for a Google monopoly case just ended and another is set to begin.
As part of the upcoming remedies phase for Judge Brinkema’s April decision, the Department of Justice has recommended punishments ranging from Google giving its AdX bid data to competitors to completely spinning off or selling its publisher ad tech unit.
In the meantime, expect other SSP competitors to (literally) follow suit with more litigation.
On the heels of OpenX’s announcement, Magnite hinted in its latest earnings call that it, too, might take legal action against Google. And while not an SSP per se, the publisher People Inc. also filed a lawsuit against Google at the end of August.
And yes, People Inc. is requesting a jury trial, too.
