Google, which a US federal court previously found to be a monopoly in the online advertising market, has proposed a strategy that it believes could restore a healthy competitive environment in the market and, most importantly, avoid the forced sale of the Ad Manager platform.
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Following the trial, Google said the court found that its advertising tools do not harm competitors; while it also disagrees that the Ad Manager platform harms competition, the company intends to appeal. However, having accepted the court’s right, Google proposed a strategy to restore a healthy competitive environment. This strategy includes, among other things, the following measures:
- Make bid amounts from the AdX ad exchange available to competitors in real time;
- Remove uniform pricing rules for ads and allow publishers to set different prices for different bidders;
- Commit to not using the “first look” and “last look” mechanisms when managing ads – they stopped working in Google Ad Manager several years ago;
- The company outlined the details of its strategy in a separate document.
The Justice Department’s proposal to force the sale of Ad Manager to Google was called beyond the scope of the court decision. The company emphasized that it is a convenient tool that helps publishers finance their work. Alienation of the platform, Google expressed concerns, threatens to increase costs and could disproportionately affect small businesses.