Removing Google Ads would have Cost News Corp $9 million in 2017, an Ex-executive Testified

According to a former News Corp executive who testified on Tuesday, the media giant would have lost at least $9 million in ad income in 2017 if it had stayed with Google's enormous advertising machinery.

On the second day of Google's Virginia antitrust trial, Stephanie Layser remarked, "I felt like they were holding us hostage."

According to Layser, an advertising technology employee at News Corp. from 2017 to 2022, Google irritated publishers by launching technologies that benefitted the company more than they did. But due to the integration of Google's publisher ad server with its ad exchange, she added, very few other solutions were employed by the industry.

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to prove that Google monopolized the markets for advertiser ad networks, publisher ad servers, and the ad exchanges that link the two throughout the trial, which is anticipated to go on for many weeks.

Ads sold instantly using ad tech platforms brought in an estimated $83.3 million for the publisher in 2016, according to NewsCorp papers shown during the trial. With $18.4 million from Google AdWords advertisers, more than half of the deals were completed via Google's ad exchange.

About half of it, or $9 million, the publisher calculated, was Google-only and would be lost in any switch to a different product.

According to Layser, between 70 and 80 percent of News Corp.'s ad transactions were going through Google's ad exchange at the time she departed.

Google claims that the case is founded on an antiquated view of the market and that major publications sell their advertisements on an average of six distinct platforms—there are over 80 of these providers.

Prosecutors hope to prove throughout the trial that Google utilized its technological hegemony to prevent publishers and advertisers from utilizing other methods and undercutting bids made through other companies' offerings.

Layser was the second witness from a publisher to testify in court. In his testimony on Monday, Tim Wolfe, an advertising executive at Gannett (GCI.N), opened a new tab, stating that the firm has been using Google's publisher ad server for around 13 years and that no other practical solutions are available.

More than two dozen current or former Google employees and executives are on the list of prospective witnesses, along with competitors in the ad tech space including Trade Desk (TTD.O), opens a new tab, Comcast (CMCSA.O), and PubMatic (PUBM.O).

Judge Leonie Brinkema of the United States District Court will take into consideration the prosecution's request that Google at least sell Google Ad Manager, a platform that comprises the business's publisher ad server and ad exchange if it is determined that Google violated the law.