Google Changed Ad Auctions, Raising Prices 15%, Witness Says
finance.yahoo.com
(Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.’s Google changed its advertising auction formula in 2017, raising prices by 15% and likely making the company billions of dollars in additional revenue, according to an economist testifying for the US Justice Department in the antitrust case against the search giant.Most Read from BloombergIsrael Latest: Over 1,100 Dead; US Sends Warships to RegionIsrael Latest: Army Reserves Called Up, Chevron Shuts Gas FieldOil Surges as Israel Conflict Reignites Middle East Volati
  • witheyeandclaw@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    1 year ago

    “ Google’s advertising auctions require the winner to pay only a penny more than the runner-up. In 2016, the company discovered that the runner-up had often bid only 80% of the winner’s offer. To help eliminate that 20% between the runner-up and what the winner was willing to pay, Google gave the second-place bidder a built-in handicap to make their offer more competitive, Whinston said, citing internal emails and sealed testimony by Google finance executive Jerry Dischler earlier in the case.”