Deals with Clear Channel and EchoStar and an agreement to acquire DoubleClick have competitors worried. But they shouldn't give up the game just yetIs Google gearing up to dominate the entire advertising business? Consider that this month alone, the search engine giant announced three major deals, promising to extend its reach in advertising for radio, television, and the Web. On Apr. 16, Google (GOOG) announced a deal with Clear Channel (CCU) to serve 30-second audio ads across the company's 675 AM/FM radio stations. The deal comes on the heels of a $3.1 billion agreement to acquire DoubleClick, a leader in online ad placement and tracking, and just weeks after Google signed a contract to deliver TV ads to EchoStar Communications' Dish Network (DISH).
The new partnerships include some big players in their respective fields. All irony aside, it's understandable that even giants such as Microsoft (MSFT) and AT&T (T) would seek to rein in Google's influence by raising antitrust questions about the DoubleClick deal. After all, Google already controls about two-thirds of the roughly $7.7 billion expected to be spent on online search advertising this year. If it gained a similar share of the $3.75 billion market for online display advertising—the multimedia ads found in a fixed spot on a Web page—many Internet advertisers would find themselves forced to deal with Google, whether they liked it or not.
It's simply hyperbole, as some critics charge, to characterize Google's recent deals as the beginning of a hostile takeover of the ad world. David Hallerman, a senior analyst at eMarketer, says the talk stems from general "FOG"—"Fear of Google." It's an apt term considering much of the FOG originates from confusion over how much control Google really has in the advertising world.
Read More
