News Corp considered exiting Google’s ad products in 2017 — but decided against it after deciding it would cost the company at least $9 million in lost revenue, a former executive at The Post publisher testified Tuesday. .
Google maintained a stranglehold on digital advertising despite offering tools that were “slow and slow” and ignoring requests to add new features, said Stephanie Layser, who worked as an ad technology executive at News Corp from 2017 to in 2022.
Despite the problems, Google’s control of the market meant it was essentially the only service publishers used for ad deals, according to Layser, who testified during the second day of the Justice Department’s antitrust case targeting the online advertising empire.
“I felt like we were being held hostage,” Layser said.
Since 2016, News Corp earned $83.3 million in ads that were sold through digital ad technology tools, according to court documents in the non-jury trial.
Most of the deals used Google’s ad exchange, generating $18.4 million in revenue from advertisers active on the platform, the data showed.
While exploring a possible exit, News Corp estimated that roughly half of the $18.4 million was spent by advertisers that were exclusive to the Google network, according to documents discussed during the trial.
That meant the news giant would lose more than $9 million if it divested from Google.
Between 70% and 80% of News Corp’s ad deals were done through Google’s tools until the end of Layser’s tenure with the company in 2022, she added.
Layser’s testimony comes a day after opening arguments in which the Justice Department accused Google of maintaining a “trifecta of monopolies” by controlling ad tools used by both publishers who sell ads and advertisers who buy space — as well as from advertising. exchange that connects the two.
The DOJ complaint alleged that Google uses its dominance of online advertising technology to take as much as 35 cents from every dollar that flows through its systems.
Google’s defense team, led by Kamala Harris counsel Karen Dunn, has argued that the DOJ’s case is built on a misunderstanding of how the digital ad market works — and that any government intervention risks causing major damage to businesses that rely on its services.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema will have sole discretion over the outcome of the trial. The trial is expected to last about four weeks.
The feds want Brinkema to force a breakup of Google’s ad tech empire, including the removal of its Ad Manager tool.
By postal wire
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