Category: Doubleclick

American Antitrust Institute warns FTC about Google and Doubleclick merger

The AAI sent a report entitled “Google Acquisition of Doubleclick: Antitrust Implications” to the FTC today (November 6, 2007). They noted that “[P]ublicly available information suggests that Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick, which is presently being considered by the Federal Trade Commission and European Commission, raises serious competitive issues under several different antitrust theories. In this white paper, we present some background and brief analysis of the principal competitive considerations under U.S. antitrust law.”

Here’s are some key excerpts (our italics):


“The integration of search, contextual, and display advertising, even if it offers efficiency benefits, may have exclusionary effects if advertisers using rival search engines or advertiser tools cannot replicate the benefits of such integration. For example, post-merger, advertisers using DART for Advertisers or other DART advertiser tools may be unable to get the same quality of access to data and reporting on their search or other campaigns with non-Google search engines or ad networks as they can with Google search or AdSense. Moreover, advertisers that use non-DART advertiser tools may be unable to get the same quality of access to data and reporting on their Google search or AdSense campaigns that is available to advertisers using DART’s advertiser tools. In these cases, Google’s dominant position in search (and contextual) advertising will be further entrenched, and DoubleClick’s leading position in advertiser tools will be cemented. As a result, the lessening of competition in the search market and advertiser tools market may outweigh whatever efficiency benefit may result from integration…Based on the information presented here, AAI believes there is a good argument that Google and DoubleClick are horizontal competitors in two relevant markets. The first is the market for distributing online advertising space of third party (non-search) web sites, where Google’s AdSense is the market leader. The second is the market for publisher ad serving tools, where DoubleClick’s DART for Publishers is the dominant product. While the competition between Google and DoubleClick in these markets may be more potential than actual, the two companies are perhaps uniquely positioned to capture significant market share in each other’s markets. If the evidence confirms that these markets are concentrated and that entry is otherwise difficult, as appears to be the case, then the merger presents a relatively straightforward case for challenge under the horizontal and non-horizontal merger guidelines. We see little in the way of merger specific efficiencies that would offset the loss of competition…If foreclosure were the only issue, it might be resolved by placing conditions on the merger, even though there are costs involved in enforcing a regulatory decree. But unless the horizontal concerns are rebutted, AAI believes that the prudent course is for the FTC to block the merger.”

UK trade magazine reports on Google’s “sheer dominance.”

key excerpts from New Media Age, 11/1/07. “NMA Report – Competition.” Greg Brooks. Sub. required:
“One of the biggest problems facing search engines is Google’s sheer dominance of the sector. How have the latest moves from Yahoo! and Microsoft affected this?

Google’s domination of the UK paid-search market has gone unbroken since AdWords burst onto the scene in 2000. Advertisers would like nothing better than to see some healthy competition for their search budgets. But six months since Yahoo! introduced Panama, and over a year since Microsoft launched AdCenter in the UK, Google’s grip is tighter than ever…
“Google’s lead in terms of volume continues to grow, as the latest statistics from Hitwise show (see graph). Agencies say it’s the only must-have for clients…

The emergence of Panama is a strong indication that a competitive market is driving improvements to relevancy and forecasting. But it remains to be seen if anyone can challenge Google’s position,” says Michael Stroud, head of online marketing at Lloyds TSB…

Daniel Kerzner, regional director for north-west Europe at Starwood Hotels, adds, “Google remains a solid, reliable volume driver for us. Its dominance is a potential threat to business, however, if it continues to exploit its lone position in the marketplace”…

…the figures don’t make a pretty picture for Google’s rivals. Hitwise data for September 2007 shows that Google handled 85.2% of all searches in the month, with Yahoo! on 4.91% combined, Microsoft own-brand search commanding 3.95% of search, and Ask.com down to 3.55%…

“AdCenter has tried to leapfrog Google with more targeting features to drive efficiency, but has left basics like attracting more customers behind,” says Paul Bongers, head of paid search at BT, which uses Zed to plan and buy its search campaigns. “You can have the greatest search engine in the world, but if the customers aren’t there it won’t matter…
So far the new features haven’t enabled Yahoo! and MSN to gain on Google, which has actually increased its dominance of UK searches

BBC Signs up with Doubleclick: Privacy out the window, along with Beeb staff?

It’s interesting to watch the tandem work of Google and Doubleclick, even prior to the proposed merger. Doubleclick was just signed-up by the BBC to handle its forthcoming interactive display paid advertising on BBC.com (the Beeb better explain to all its users what will happen with those digital crumpets placed on their computers–I mean cookies, pixels, and other digital spy techniques). Here’s how NMA magazine [sub required] reports it: “BBC Worldwide has appointed DoubleClick to handle display ads on BBC.com, following last week’s green light to allow advertising on the international site... It will also be responsible for the pre-roll advertising on BBC.com through its existing BBC World deal. DoubleClick will work with BBC Worldwide’s internal sales team…The ads will only be served to users outside of the UK…” (Doubleclick already works with the BBC, handling ads for BBC World and the Beeb’s magazine).

Last March, the BBC signed a deal with Google’s YouTube, calling it a “ground-breaking partnership.” Meanwhile, the BBC is drastically cutting staff and reducing news budgets, as it faces reduced public funding. The reduction in funds for the world’s premier public service programmer–and the staff cuts–is a story unto itself–which we will eventually address. But the BBC should not be permitted to endorse a business model for online marketing where its users–even if not UK citizens and residents—are tagged, tracked, targeted, and sold to the highest behavioral targeting bidder. Unless safeguards are imposed, online advertising could have an adverse impact on the diversity and integrity of the news. This deal should also behoove the BBC news staff to launch a major investigation into the Google and Doubleclick merger, inc. how such a merger will impact public affairs programming.

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Google Becomes a member of the Nielsen "family." Threats to our Privacy as we watch TV

Few readers may recall when Norman Lear’s “Mary Hartman” realized that she and her fellow patients at a psychiatric facility watched a Nielsen ratings-connected TV set. Lear’s critique that the TV rating system that has determined success for the TV business is deeply flawed and–frankly, crazy– is still true. But Google (and Doubleclick’s) move to monitor and analyze our viewing on TV and other platforms is just as insane–if we want to protect our privacy. “Google has been reporting millions of second-by-second data points to its TV Ads clients,” explains MediaDaily News. “Ultimately, Google expects TV’s interactive capabilities to improve to the point that it is generating the same kind of immediacy and backchannel as the Internet.” [from an interview with Mike Steib, director of Google TV Ads].

We doubt cable and DBS subscribers recognize that they are now involuntary members of the Nielsen/Google data tracking combine. Here’s how Multichannel News reports on the deal: “By combining Nielsen demographic data with aggregated set-top box data, Google plans to provide advertisers and agencies with comprehensive information…We have millions of set-top boxes that belong to EchoStar from which EchoStar is pulling data and is providing it to us for the Google TV Ad system: It’s a lot of data points,” Steib said…Advertisers can better understand exactly how their ad is performing and make near real-time changes to their TV advertising campaigns to deliver better ads to viewers, according to Google.

“One of the things we haven’t been able to provide to our advertisers to date, when we report back the very next day the impressions that they’ve received from the set-top boxes, we have not yet reported demographics and audience composition,” he said. “We are now going to be able to make that information available to our advertisers”…Google and Nielsen claim that as a result of their new partnership, this is the first time that advertisers and agencies will have such a level of detailed measurement available in a single place and at such a large scale.”

We hope Congress and the FTC will step in to prevent the entire TV viewing population from becoming involuntary drafted into the Nielsen/Google data collection, profiling, and targeting system.

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Privacy, Antitrust, and the GoogleClick Deal: Addressing the Consumer Harms

As the debate grows over Google’s growing threats to consumer privacy, we want to point to an important paper given to FTC today. It’s by Peter Swire, who is a professor and senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. The full document can be accessed here. Here’s a key excerpt from “Protecting Consumers: Privacy Matters in Antitrust Analysis.” Peter Swire. Center for American Progress. 10/19/2007.

“The proposed merger may illustrate one such effect on quality. Currently, an individual using search at Google and clicking on the occasional ad has one or more cookies set by Google. (Individuals may also use one or more fully-identified products of Google’s, such as through Gmail.) Google has much less information, however, about where the individual goes after leaving the Google sites. Google often has “deep” information about an individual’s actions, such as detailed information about search terms. Currently, DoubleClick sets one or more cookies on an individual’s computers, and receives detailed information about which sites the person visits while surfing. DoubleClick has “broad” information about an individual’s actions, with its leading ability to pinpoint where a person surfs.

If the merger is approved, then individuals using the market leader in search may face a search product that has both “deep” and “broad” collection of information. For the many millions of individuals with high privacy preferences, this may be a significant reduction in the quality of the search product—search previously was conducted without the combined deep and broad tracking, and now the combination will exist. I am not in a position to quantify the harm to consumers from such a reduction in quality.”

Google & DoubleClick Mobile [plus Jaiku]=a Dart to Privacy

DoubleClick is promoting, via full-page ads in the U.K. trades, its new DoubleClick Mobile service “Introducing a new way to serve ads on small screens,” touts the copy. It goes on to say that online marketers can “[U]se Doubleclick Mobile to sell and managage mobile advertising with the same team and tools you use for your display and rich media business.” Here’s what DC’s “Mobile Overview” tells marketers [excerpt]: “As you engage your audience on the mobile platform you have the opportunity to take control of your revenue and operations with DoubleClick Mobile. You can capture more dollars from your mobile content by adding dynamically served mobile display ads and destination offers…Just as online banners are uploaded into DART, mobile banners and mobile companion jump pages are uploaded into and served by DART. Mobile specific targeting criteria can be set within the DART interface, including content, device and capability targeting…DoubleClick Mobile helps you deliver ads to mobile devices worry-free through our database of over 3,000 handsets indetifying each device’s unique screen size and capabilities…”

On its website, DC says that its Mobile service allows marketers to “[S]et mobile-specific targeting criteria for dynamically served mobile display ads, including content, device and capability targeting.” In the UK, DC explains that: “DoubleClick Mobile tracks impressions, third party impressions, clicks and jump page conversions. Tracking mechanisms meet the unique requirements for mobile delivery, and care has been taken to ensure compliance with network operators.”

Pixelating Privacy: Here’s what ClickZ said about the new DC mobile service: “DoubleClick Mobile aims to bring “a lot of heavy iron” [said DC VP Ari Paparo] to the developing marketplace for ads on handsets. The product is capable of pairing ads with content…In addition to standard mobile display ads, it supports ad formats such as combination ads and roadblocks. Through pixel-based ad tracking, agencies and other third parties can access campaign performance data through their own campaign reporting systems.”

Finally, we think Google’s new acquisitions (such as Zingku] in the mobile area bear examining, esp. for privacy implications. Google also just bought Jaiku, a Finnish company. Here’s how Jaiku describes its service: “Jaiku’s main goal is to bring people closer together by enabling them to share their activity streams. An activity stream is a log of everyday things as they happen: your status messages, recommendations, events you’re attending, photos you’ve taken – anything you post directly to Jaiku or add using Web feeds. We offer a way to connect with the people you care about by sharing your activities with them on the Web, IM, and SMS – as well as through a slew of cool third-party applications built by other developers using our API.

The most powerful instrument of social peripheral vision is your mobile phone. We’ve put in a special effort to create Jaiku Mobile, a live phonebook that displays the activity streams, availability, and location of your Jaiku contacts right in your phone contact list. We modestly believe it is the best solution out there for seeing what your friends are up to.”

The future is now calling. Will we act to protect our privacy?

European Commission & Privacy Authorities Should Investigate Behavioral Targeting & Privacy Threats

As US and EU policymakers and privacy advocates gather for a discussion of the 1998 EU Data Directive and the subsequent “safe harbor” deal with the U.S., it’s time the EU recognize that they are overlooking new threats from online marketing. Anyone who follows online advertising in Europe knows that advanced forms of targeted interactive marketing and data collection is being pioneered in places like the U.K. While the Article 29 Working Groups has, fortunately, expanded its investigation on related issues, esp. IP address retention, it’s time EU-based privacy officials cracked down on behavioral targeting [BT]. Here is an excerpt from a recent online marketing trade article that illustrates how quickly BT is now part of everyday life in the EU:

“Behavioural targeting has come a long way in the U.S. in the past four years, but the rapid growth across Europe (and even in South Africa), is proving that a technology can be seamlessly integrated at the local, national and international levels without batting an eye…A major advantage that the European market has parlayed into behavioural targeting success is the clear identification of which categories behavioural targeting responds to the most positively, and then the clear understanding of how to make those categories successful…So, where is behavioural targeting going next in Europe? Recently we have seen behavioural targeting successfully implemented in The Netherlands (with Telegraaf Media Groep), one of the largest media companies in Portugal (Cofina) is in implementation and a major publisher in the Scandinavian
market is about to implement the technology. This expansion out across Europe into new markets is a direct result of the success seen in the U.K. and other markets and shows that behavioural targeting is just hitting its stride.

From: The past, present and future of behavioural targeting. Jeremy Mason. imediaconnection. Oct. 9, 2007.

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Doubleclick’s Data Capture Cookies Reach 100-plus million Net users a Month

We wanted to place this stat on our record. ComScore did a report in June 2007 where it examined [my italics] a “a passive first-party unique identifier cookie for a major Web property (Yahoo!) and a passive third-party unique identifier cookie for a major ad server (DoubleClick). Each cookie is believed to be representative of cookies delivered to the U.S. Internet population and each reaches well in excess of 100 million Internet users per month. These two cookies were selected to maximize reach across the Internet user base to provide as complete a view as possible of consumers’ overall cookie management behavior. The study is based on activity observed within approximately 400,000 home computers during the month of December 2006. This sample was statistically weighted to represent the U.S. home Internet user population along key geo-demographic variables.”

Clearly, Doubleclick gathers tremendous amounts of user data and is considered the standard for testing usage behavior across the Internet platform. Its merging with Google poses serious threats to consumer privacy, whether cookies are crumbled or not.

source: comScore Cookie Deletion Study.

The Hidden Power of Doubleclick’s Databases

Here’s an excerpt from a new trade story. We think it’s relevant to the Google merger review, including the issue of data access and privacy. “excerpt: “Well, it turns out that the “raw” numbers we are using aren’t really raw. They look “raw” to us because 99.99% of the agency people do not have access to (or even want to look at) the raw raw. The raw raw is what the insiders would call log files. They are usually sitting with adservers (DoubleClick, Atlas, etc) and in their databases. Yes, you heard me right. There are databases, humongous ones that collect and compile cookie-level information. And there are database experts, lots of them. We do not see them, because they are not agency people. They work for adservers and sit behind the shields of adserver’s account reps. So in the end we are very much like a database marketing operation, except that in our case database and marketing are siloed in two different organizations.”

from: “The Magic Window.” Chen Wang. Online Metrics Insider. Oct. 12, 2007.

Doubleclick at the Brand Summit: Glimpse of Ad-enmeshed editorial future

There was an interesting exchange at a recent imedia Brand Summit event, which you can witness on this video at approximately 7:12 minutes. Chris Young, Doubleclick’s EVP for “Rich Media & Emerging Division” (I kid you not. That’s his job title) asked a question of speaker Sean Finnegan. Finnegan is the CEO of OMG Digital, a new Omnicom global division advancing interactive marketing. Finnegan was touting a viral campaign to drive (literally) young folks from bars directly into `were open all night’ McDonalds. Doubleclick’s Young reflected on the work his company and other major online marketers are doing to create an “embedded relationship, friendship, with the consumer.” He cited the trend among Doubleclick’s clients to develop “long-form webisodic content, creating a series.”

Finnegan’s reply was very telling–and should serve as another wake-up call for all those who care about the further merging of editorial content and advertising. He explained that agencies are “merging the digital groups with the entertainment marketing groups,” expanding what they had been previously doing with such approaches as “plot integration.” Interactive advertising, marketing, big brands, and editorial content all intertwined is the basic business model for much of the new media world. That’s why we should address now–before it’s too late–what the rules, safeguards and alternatives should be.

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