DoubleClick For Publishers

Reorienting the ad auction so that ad servers bid into Prebid lets publishers access demand from Google AdX without also having to use Google’s ad server.

Given how much the market has changed since the Google trial began, and the wiggle room in the ruling itself, publishers aren’t expecting much relief from the court’s behavioral remedies.

GAM’s dinner with ad agencies sparked speculation that Google is preparing to spin off its bundled SSP and ad server as a remedy to its ad tech monopoly. But Google says it’s just part of the trend of SSPs going direct to buyers.

If the court ultimately orders Google to spin off AdX or DFP, the result would be a fundamental rebalancing of power across the digital advertising supply chain. For marketers, the implications are just as significant.

More competition between SSPs and ad servers should be a boon for publishers in the long term. But publishers will feel some growing pains if there is a sudden disruption in Google’s ad payouts or if their ad server fees increase.

Google and the DOJ were given roughly 90 minutes apiece to present their closing arguments, and Judge Brinkema could interrupt and ask questions throughout. She had some great ones.

A lot has already been said and cited during the Google ad tech antitrust trial, with more to come. Here are a few of the most notable quotables from the first two weeks.

Publishers were encouraged to see the DOJ highlight Google’s stranglehold on the ad server market and its attempts to weaken header bidding.

Someone will eventually need to make a Netflix-style documentary about the Google ad tech antitrust trial happening in Virginia. (And can we call it “You’ve Been Ad Served?”)

More than one antitrust regulator is circling around Google. On Friday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority published a statement of objection to Google’s ad tech practices.

Department of Justice lawyers have interviewed numerous buy- and sell-side companies since kicking off an antitrust probe of Google’s business practices roughly a year ago. “They know their shit now,” said one ad tech executive who’s had multiple calls and exchanged a flurry of emails with DOJ attorneys since October. “The early calls were about […]

Google disclosed how it will help publishers obtain tracking consent from users during a call last week with the IAB Europe GDPR Transparency and Consent steering committee, and its approach could spell trouble for media and ad tech companies. The consent gathering tool, called “Funding Choices,” is in beta with some DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) […]

Supply-side platforms (SSPs) such as OpenX, Rubicon Project and PubMatic are under heavy pressure to increase value for publishers who pay a premium to use their technologies. “The fact that SSPs are positioned on the sell side after much of the transaction value has been extracted by other intermediaries puts more pressure on their margins […]

After years of courting the demand side with all sorts of tools aimed at marketers, small businesses and media buyers, Google is paying a little more attention to its publisher partners on the supply side. The latest offering is Audience Extension from DoubleClick For Publishers and was announced by Google’s Neal Mohan at yesterday’s Ad […]