‘Self-preferencing stifles innovation’
The focus on competition and plurality comes as the world’s biggest media company, Google, faces antitrust scrutiny in the U.S., with two lawsuits and considerable allegations in the recent Justice Department lawsuit of “self-preferencing” and opaque data practices that stifle competition—all things the new Global Media Charter seeks to eliminate. Google has denied allegations in both lawsuits and moved last month to dismiss the Justice Department lawsuit.
“Players operating as buyer, seller and marketplace should not be allowed to leverage their dominant position to favor their own products and services,” the WFA’s charter states. “Self-preferencing stifles innovation, the emergence of new players and suppresses healthy competition,” according to the charter. “A sustainable ecosystem requires plurality of competition (i.e. many/multiple sell-side media owners through which to transact).”
Advertisers should use their own influence, including their buying power, and that of their national associations to combat such things, according to the charter. “Monopolistic market conditions, with concentration of control among few players, rarely yields the level of innovation desired by advertisers.”
Massey said the charter isn’t focused on any particular company or segment with that language.
“What we were focused on was ensuring that any media or tech company, big or small, does it foster healthy competition,” she said. “We also talked about some areas like retail media and connected TV, because it was very important that we weren’t just focused on who the players are today but also the main players tomorrow.”
More news: Retail media’s measurement problem
The charter’s focus on sustainability comes as more advertisers focus on the carbon footprints of their media buys, and the WFA could play a role by weighing in on a common industry measurement.
“Any form of industry change starts with common industry measurement,” Massey said. “One thing for sure when it comes to sustainability is that we need to progress with real pace and we need to be able to measure.”
