4 ms·
It's not weird at all, they're paying to reduce friction for users to use their product. It's no different than Coca-Cola working ceaselessly to make sure Coke
by radicaldreamer 3y ago
It's not weird at all, they're paying to reduce friction for users to use their product.
It's no different than Coca-Cola working ceaselessly to make sure Coke is available in popular places -- and in the case of Coca-Cola, literally everywhere on the planet.
- ethbr1 3y agoIt's different though, because the Google revenue machine relies on having "sufficient" market share (particularly in Search and Maps). Fall below that line, whatever it is, and their ability to generate revenue looks very different. So it'd be more like if people stopped wanting Coke if it fell below 40% market share. A closer analogy would be the price Coke could charge third parties to be co-stocked in Coke machines.
- jldugger 3y agoAre you arguing that it's non-linear? Because I'm pretty sure Firefox is paid based on a tiny 3% slice of market share.
- ethbr1 3y agoFirefox search revenue is more about keeping it alive and Chrome out of anti-trust crosshairs.
- jacquesm 3y agoFirefox isn't paid based on market share, they are paid to exist. It's a figleaf and it costs Google about 0.2% of their annual turnover. Compared to being broken up or fined that's much cheaper for Google.
- jldugger 3y agoOkay, then why did Yahoo outbid Google for placement?
- ethbr1 3y agoDoesn't that support the claim that Google doesn't actually care about ads on Firefox? Just that someone is paying them enough?
- jldugger 3y agoOr it signals that Google limits bids to what's profitable, and Yahoo outbid them. Which would suggest it does care, but only up to a limit. I don't know offhand how the contracts work, if there's a minimum traffic sent clause, or any other direct tie in to user behavior, or if this is a lump sum auction "give us a billion dollars and we'll make you default for a year" scenario. Either way, I expect Google would scale the amount they pay based on traffic sent. Happy to read details from anyone who has them =) But my question is: why did Yahoo outbid them? Yahoo doesn't need a fig leaf at all.
- ana_winters 3y ago[dead]