Google ad tech antitrust trial

Every week, we publish an original comic creation inspired by trends in the online advertising industry. These are the stories – and the highly specific double entendres – behind AdExchanger’s top 10 comics of 2024.

As the ad industry awaits Judge Leonie Brinkema’s decision in US v. Google (ad tech edition), get up to speed quick with AdExchanger’s in-depth coverage.

Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint shares insights from inside the courtroom during closing arguments in US v. Google, ad tech antitrust edition. Plus: We noodle potential remedies in the search antitrust case against Google.

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 Google breakup could lead to a more fragmented market, with multiple smaller entities competing for ad space. This will almost certainly result in increased competition and higher ad rates for publishers.

If you’re trying to read more than 1,000 pages of legal documents about the US v. Google ad tech antitrust case on Election Day, you’ve come to the right place.

If the DOJ wins its ad tech antitrust case against Google, it shouldn’t force a breakup, says Arete Research’s Richard Kramer, who proposes this novel solution instead: Google should spin out its network business into a public interest corporation with no hidden fees.

The catalyst for Google’s future success – regardless of any legal ruling – is its YouTube strategy. Opening YouTube’s ad inventory to outside demand will increase its value.

Google isn’t perfect. But it offers convenient, cost-effective advertising tools that millions of small businesses use to find customers, grow and succeed. If the DOJ breaks up the company, it will also break those tools.

A web crime ring that sold Facebook account service tickets collapses in dramatic fashion; how US antitrust precedent could inform the DOJ/Google ad tech trial; and more publishers turn to paywalls as the open web shuts its gates.

Chrome Privacy Sandbox adds support for deal IDs and extends Protected Audiences’ lifespan to 90 days; Google’s ad tech antitrust trial could open YouTube to DSPs other than DV360; and former Kubient CEO charged in accounting fraud scheme.

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

Two of the EU’s biggest Big Tech antagonists are set to resign; a GAM breakup could usher in post-ad-server programmatic; and how Google kept Prebid separate from the IAB Tech Lab.