The monumental stakes of the Google ad tech trial

Jason Kint, September 5^th, 2024
Capitol Forum - Antitrust Trial of the Century Conference
Remarks given at the The National Press Club in Washington D.C

Trying to compete in the advertising market with Google is a bit like trying to play poker with someone who not only knows all the cards in everyone's hands but also gets to set the rules, deal the cards, call the bets, and take a significant cut of the winnings.

It's hard to believe it's been almost 10 years since we sounded the alarm at DCN. As you likely know, DCN was purpose built to advance the future for premium publishers who trust us to understand and advocate for high-quality news and entertainment.

Back then in 2014, as the digital advertising industry was booming - often growing by 15-20% per year - we noticed something disturbing. Almost all of the incremental revenue growth was being captured by just two companies: Google and Facebook. And it wasn't just because they were simply competing better in the advertising business - it was due to unprecedented access to data, what many now rightly call *surveillance advertising*.

And that brings us to why we're here today: the adtech antitrust case, United States vs. Google. Why are we so focused on this case? Because it is monumental. This case is laser-focused on Google's dominance over the entire advertising supply chain which funds most of its operations, particularly through the software and data that fuel this real-time, live auction marketplace…

Listen to Jason Kint's full endnote speech from Capitol Forum's September 2024 conference on remedies and the Google ad-tech trial: