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I’ve worked around the ad ecosystem for a long time as a media buying agency, then an ad network, then a publisher. I think this article is spot on. Few underst

I’ve worked around the ad ecosystem for a long time as a media buying agency, then an ad network, then a publisher. I think this article is spot on. Few understand the iron grasp Google has on the ecosystem. Soon they are changing the model to allow for fair competition, but thus far Google AdX has had a massive advantage by having the first and last price in every bid request. They get to see what other ad networks are paying for each request. They get to optimize their profits using data from users, publishers, ad exchanges, and advertisers, mostly because of the absolute monopoly Google DFP/Ad Manager has in the ad server market. If I were a regulator that would be my first stop.

cameronbrown 7y ago
If AdX was more open, how do you think the market would change?
- reilly3000 7y ago
  For starters that would revive the 3rd party ad server ecosystem, since currently the only way to access full AdX demand is to run DFP. It would put AdX on the same footing as others, meaning buying through Google wouldn't give buyers a price advantage. It would allow for privacy-centric ad networks on vetted, premium publishers to emerge. Maybe even header bidding could die, meaning front-end performance would increase 10X on many publisher sites (many header bidding stacks make 300-800 ajax calls in the first few seconds of page load!) which would eliminate the need for AMP. It would mean Google would have less influence over which publishers get to monetize their content. I could go on...