Google is often accused of anti-competitive practices, and FairSearch.org is broadening its membership as a result. They have now added adMarketplace, an ad net that delivers pay-per-click inventory to marketers and the Paris-based online shopping platform Twenga, and the online marketing tool provider ShopCity.com.
The group has launched an ad campaign this work that is designed to show how much control over what Google has online. Running in print and online in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, the ads mock Google’s new “Good to Know” Web safety campaign.
“Google has a monopoly on the search business, but the question is how they leverage the search business to monopolize their other businesses,” said James Hill, CEO of adMarketplace. “We have agencies that are dying for an alternative.”
Hill pointed to tactics Google uses to push out competition, including paying publishers 80 percent of revenue share per click compared to the market standard of 60 percent. “Google can artificially raise rates. A level playing field does not exist,” Hill said.
Source: AdWeek
