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Media Release

Free TV welcomes ACCC plan to unlock ad tech competition

By September 28, 2021No Comments

Free TV Australia today welcomed the ACCC’s advertising technology final report, including 6 specific recommendations to address Google’s dominance across the supply chain.

Free TV CEO, Bridget Fair said: “This report highlights the significant issues caused by the lack of competition for ad tech services. We have been calling for tough new rules to address these concerns and we are very pleased that the ACCC has recognised the urgent need for action.

“Ad tech services are vital in the digital economy. The current situation where only one player is dominant across all parts of this vital supply chain is unsustainable and is causing real harm to publishers and advertisers. This, in turn, harms Australian consumers.

“In fact, the ACCC found that 90% of all ad impressions in 2020 passed through at least one Google service. This level of dominance cannot be left unchecked and action to address the harm caused by this unprecedented market power is now overdue.

“Advertisers and publishers need to know that the prices they pay and their access to ad tech services are competitive and are not impacted by the market power of one business.

“That is why we have been consistently calling for sector specific rules to ban firms with market power across the supply chain from preferencing their own services. Crucially, this includes controls on the use of consumer data obtained from the provision of ad tech services from being used to gain a competitive advantage in the supply of other services.

“There will be benefits across the economy from the measures, including to improve price and performance transparency, which will assist to ensure innovation is promoted, advertisers pay less to reach consumers and publishers receive higher advertising revenues to fund high quality online content.

“The ACCC found that in 2020, almost 30% of advertising expenditure went to fees for ad tech services. In a $2.8 billion market for ad tech services, reducing these fees means less money wasted for advertisers and more money for publishers to invest in great local content.

“We urge the Government to accept all of the ACCC’s recommendations and move to introduce the necessary legislation as quickly as possible,” Ms Fair said.

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