Google has drawn back the curtains on its ad tech, revealing just how much money news publishers make when they advertise with the tech giant.
In a series of blogposts released overnight, Google VP of global partnerships Bonita Stewart and Google VP and GM of apps, video and display Sissie Hsiao shared how top publishers monetise content using its advertising products Google Ad Manager, Google Ads and Display & Video 360.
The data suggests publishers have been able to regain the vast majority of their ad spend when using Ad Manager to sell ads directly.
“In analyzing the revenue data of those top 100 news organizations, we found that on average, news publishers keep over 95 per cent of the digital advertising revenue they generate when they use Ad Manager to show ads on their websites,” said Stewart.
“This analysis reflects the average fees retained by Ad Manager, and does not include fees that may be paid to other platforms and services.”
The research also revealed what happens when publishers choose to use Ad Manager to sell ads programmatically.
“When an ad is shown programmatically through Ad Manager, news publishers keep over 80 per cent of the revenue,” said Stewart.
When it came to its buying portals Google Ads and Google Display & Video 360, publishers received slightly less.
“Even when ads flow through both our buy-side and sell-side services, publishers receive most of the revenue,” said Hsiao.
“In fact in 2019, when marketers used Google Ads or Display & Video 360 to buy display ads on Google Ad Manager, publishers kept over 69 per cent of the revenue generated.”
Hsiao added that when advertisers use Display & Video 360 to buy ads on third-party publisher or sell-side platforms, Google charges a standard fee of 15 per cent.
why does this matter?
The revelations from Google comes as calls for more transparency in ad tech grow.
Earlier this year the ISBA in the U.K. and PwC released a report which suggested 15 per cent of programmatic ad spend could not be accounted for in the ad tech supply chain.
The report prompted calls for ad tech suppliers to share more of their data.
In Australia, the ACCC is also currently in the midst of an inquiry into the Ad Tech industry.
Early submissions have called for market-led initiatives to enhance transparency between partners in the industry.
There is also the matter of the ACCC’s upcoming bargaining code between tech giants and media companies, which will see Google and Facebook ‘pay for news’.
Media businesses have been arguing tech giants unfairly monetise news content and have called for annual payments ranging from $600 million to $1 billion.
Google has argued there is a “two-way value exchange” with these businesses.
