Google Sure to Buy DoubleClick
With all the complains and concerns about the “Google- DoubleClick”.. Google has confirmed to clear the 3.1 billion deal. Google Inc. is confident that its $3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker DoubleClick will win over European and U.S. regulators. No Doubt this deal will make Google more stronger than ever. Both the Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. have complained about the deal, as it will make their competitor stronger. As the deal will shrink competition the advertisers also expressed their concerns. The consumer advocates are also worry about data privacy and the secondary impact on media that increasingly rely on Internet ads to pull in revenue.
“The way the technology keeps getting cheaper, the competitive environment is there, I would expect to see prices in the industry going down in the future as they have in the past,” he told The Associated Press.
The question is does it effect the Web site publishers? Probably the Answer is “Yes”. Google already scares the many Web site publishers. Many of the google competitors and consumers smell monopoly here, one that could be disastrous for many Web site publishers –and ultimately bad for Web consumers as well. Here’s the danger: Google already knows a tremendous amount about the traffic it sends to individual Web sites — where it comes from, what people are looking for, even some basic demographics. With DoubleClick in the fold, they will also know what ads are being served on any given page. That gives Google unprecedented insight into publishers’ business. And remember, those publishers may be partners, but they are also competitors, often trying to woo the same advertisers as Google.
Web sites live and die based upon ad revenue and on charging advertisers a certain rate based upon the number of pages served and the quality of their readership/user base. I could imagine a not-entirely-paranoid fantasy in which Google can run the numbers, turn around, and offer better rates to advertisers for a similar audience. Let’s say you run a fashion site and charge $100 CPM, or cost per thousand, meaning an advertiser would pay you a hundred bucks for every thousand page impressions. Google/DoubleClick may not know your CPM (though they could take a good guess based upon your traffic). But they will know who they’ve sent your way and how many ads you’ve served. With a bit of calculation, they could easily offer a slightly better deal to a fashion advertiser, offering up $90 CPMs to anyone who types in “fashion,” “couture” and “Prada.”
When one company owns the railroad tracks, the trains, and the ticket office, customers may benefit in the short run. In the long run, monopolies are bad for everyone, unless you happen to own stock in the monopoly.
Source:The Associated Press, InfoWorld, Businessweek
