Google is one of those companies that just can’t stay out of trouble. Based on the market, the company has to raise its ad prices from time to time. That’s not an issue, price hikes are natural. However, according to Ad Week (via Search Engine Land), Google faces an accusation of downplaying just how much it needs to raise its ad prices.
Right now, Google is the subject of an antitrust trial (shocker, right?), and the company did admit that it raises its prices without telling its customers. That’s bad in and of itself. Nobody likes random price increases without their knowing. The company said that it raises the prices by as much as 5% at times with a maximum of 10% without notifying customers.
But, Google is being accused of downplaying how much it hikes its ad prices
A 5-10% hike isn’t great, but it’s not terrible. However, some folks believe that the search giant wasn’t being honest about its claim. In a statement to Ad Week, Iris’s VP of media Christine Yang stated that Google actually raises its prices much higher without telling the customers.
She said that the company goes as far as doubling the price without telling the customers, and it went higher in some cases. For example, Yang said that the CPC (cost per click) for a brand campaign focused on a niche market was about $11.74. Well, over the past six months, that jumped to about $25.85, a 108% increase in the price.
In another example, Giovanni Sollazzo, the CEO of media agency Aidem, said that the CPC for an ad went up from 26¢ to 53¢, that’s roughly a 180% increase. That’s bad enough as is, but the fact that the customers didn’t get any heads-up about these price increases makes it worse.
If the company is found guilty of this practice, that won’t bode well for the case. Right now, Google is trying to prove that it’s not an evil monopoly. It already has a large grip on the ad market. If it’s freely hiking its prices, then it could face some consequences.
2023-09-25 15:05:34