Internal Google documents released during the ongoing antitrust trial against the tech giant have shed light on the company’s efforts to maintain its dominance in the digital advertising industry through exclusivity deals and tying its ad-tech businesses together.
Marketing Brew reports that on day seven of the Google antitrust trial saw the release of a tranche of internal Google communications that the DOJ claims reinforce its argument that the company unfairly tied its ad-tech businesses together to maintain a monopoly on the industry. The documents revealed that Google employees were aware that the company’s publisher ad exchange, AdX, heavily relied on exclusive access to Google’s advertisers to maintain its dominance in the market.
In an internal memo weighing the benefits of opening up ad inventory to third parties, Google employees expressed concern that if AdX lost exclusivity to Google’s advertisers, “many publishers would terminate their AdX relationship in favor of their preferred vendors.” This revelation underscores the importance of advertiser exclusivity in Google’s strategy to maintain its market position. Internal emails previously revealed at the trial show that crushing competition was vitally important to Google executives.
Further evidence presented in court showed that Google’s own buy-side tools were