News Corp would have lost $9 billion in 2017 by ditching Google ads, ex-exec testified By Reuters
by Jody Godoy
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (Reuters) – News Corp (NASDAQ: ) in 2017 estimated it would have lost at least $9 billion in ad revenue that year if it had moved away from the giant Google (NASDAQ: ) advertising machine, and the media group is arrested. Big Tech, a former News Corp executive testified on Tuesday.
“I felt like they were holding us back,” Stephanie Layser said on the second day of Google's antitrust trial in Virginia.
Google frustrated publishers by introducing features that benefited them more than they did, said Layser, who worked in advertising technology at News Corp from 2017 to 2022. However, almost no one in the industry has used anything else, because Google's publisher ad server is tied to Google. exchange of advertisements, he said.
The case is expected to last several weeks, where the US Department of Justice wants to show that Google controls the markets for publishers' servers, advertisers' ad networks and ad exchanges that link the two.
NewsCorp documents shown at trial estimated that in 2016, the publisher made $83.3 million from ads sold directly through ad technology tools. More than half of those purchases came through Google's ad exchange, with $18.4 million coming from Google ad advertisers.
The publisher estimated that about half of that, or $9 million, was exclusive to Google and would be lost in any switch to another brand.
When he left, about 70-80% of News Corp's ads flowed through Google's ad exchange, Layser said.
Google said the case is based on an outdated view of the industry, and that major publishers use an average of six different platforms to sell ads on more than 80 such services.
In the trial, prosecutors want to show Google the advanced positions used in the technology for publishers and advertisers to prevent them from using other tools and reduced bids placed on competitors' products.
Layser was the second whistleblower witness to testify at the trial. Tim Wolfe, Gannett's chief marketing officer, testified Monday that the company has used Google's publisher server for about 13 years, and that there are no other viable options.
Google adtech rivals such as Trade Desk (NASDAQ: ), Comcast (NASDAQ: ) and PubMatic are on the list of potential witnesses, as are more than two dozen Google employees and executives.
If US District Judge Leonie Brinkema finds that Google violated the law, she will consider a request by prosecutors to make Google at least sell through Google Ad Manager, a platform that combines the company's publisher server and ad exchange.
