Last week, it was the Association of National Advertisers who expressed their opposition against the search ad deal between Google and Yahoo which is slated to commence next month. This time, as an opening salvo to what could be a pressured-filled week for both Google and Yahoo, the said ad deal has again gained a new fiend – the World Association of Newspapers, a group of around 18,000 newspapers worldwide.
In its communique on the proposed Google-Yahoo deal, WAN said that the said ad deal would greatly affect the ad revenue that both Google and Yahoo are bringing to newpspers.
WAN argues;
Google already substantially dominates both businesses and its market dominance is growing by the day. Yahoo is (and should continue to be) Google’s most significant competitor in the syndicated search business and is (and should continue to be) its only real competitor in content advertising.
The Group then enumerated three ways by which the said ad would be felt by the newspaper industry.
- Less competition means less revenue
- Less competition means higher costs
- Less competition means even greater dependence on Google
These three ways underscores the fact that the said search ad deal would not really be beneficial to Yahoo. Instead, the said search ad deal would give Google further advantage over Yahoo which would later on weakens it as Google’s toughest competitor in the search advertising market.
If you would read the complete text of these three ways enumerated by WAN, they actually makes sense and offers a logical explanations for why WAN opposes the search ad deal.
But then, are the combined statements of ANA and WAN plus who knows who might surface later on be enough to influence the decision and views of the Department of Justice towards the Google-Yahoo search ad deal?
So, who is going to be the next group to oppose the said deal? We would really love to know.
