Just for the record. Yahoo!s acquisition for the rest of Right Media for $680 million is another reason why the Federal Trade Commission–and the Congress–must get a better understanding of the digital ad market. So-called “open exchanges” provide market power for companies such as Yahoo! and Google. The future of the interactive ad market will help determine diversity of content online (eventually on all platforms). The deal is part of the growing consolidation in the interactive ad market, something we formally complained to the FTC about in our filing last November (as part of CDD/PIRG privacy concerns). These exchanges ultimately are trading access to us, via our data. This acquisition–along with the penultimate merger between Google and Doubleclick–must undergo serious scrutiny from policymakers.
