Google Keeps GAM: No Ad Tech Breakup, Behavioral Remedies Only

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema has rejected the Department of Justice's proposed remedy that Google divest its sell-side AdX exchange and DFP ad server, the two products bundled as Google Ad Manager (GAM). Google was found liable for operating an ad tech monopoly back in April, but in a preview filing released Wednesday the judge ordered "most of the parties' proposed behavioral remedies" instead: real-time bid amounts for open-web display ads sold through AdX made available to rival ad servers, deprecation of Unified Pricing Rules, and no "first look" or "last look" privileges. For many Google critics this falls short. As Jay Friedman, CartographAI co-founder and former DOJ witness, put it: "What is a web publisher to do if it wants to use a different ad server but still get Google's buy-side demand? I don't think Judge Brinkema provided sufficient answer to this question." PubMatic, an SSP that competes with AdX, said behavioral remedies "should establish a level playing field for all market participants."

The crux

Google has been found to operate an illegal ad tech monopoly twice and will not be broken up either time, so the industry's structural dependence on Google Ad Manager persists for years while behavioral fixes are litigated.

Sell-side read

Your GAM stack is safe for the foreseeable future; do not build strategy around a Google divestiture, do build around more demanding use of the behavioral remedies (transparent bids, per-bidder floors).

Watch

Judge Brinkema's full written ruling and reasoning, due to be unsealed within ~14 days (the "14 days until Judge Brinkema's reasoning becomes unsealed" countdown cited by Digiday).

Sell-side read

Your GAM stack is safe for the foreseeable future; do not build strategy around a Google divestiture, do build around more demanding use of the behavioral remedies (transparent bids, per-bidder floors).

Watch

Judge Brinkema's full written ruling and reasoning, due to be unsealed within ~14 days (the "14 days until Judge Brinkema's reasoning becomes unsealed" countdown cited by Digiday).

Watch

Judge Brinkema's full written ruling and reasoning, due to be unsealed within ~14 days (the "14 days until Judge Brinkema's reasoning becomes unsealed" countdown cited by Digiday).