Google exec says company adjusted ad auctions to meet revenue goals

During the DOJ’s ongoing landmark antitrust trial against Google, a company executive said Google has hiked advertising prices to meet revenue goals.

Jerry Dischler, Google’s VP and general manager of ads, said that changes to the company’s ad auctions have led to increased search ad prices, sometimes as much as 5%, according to Bloomberg; during his testimony, Dischler admitted it’s “possible” that prices went up 10% in some instances. He said Google tends “not to tell advertisers about pricing changes.”

“In one May 2019 email, Dischler and his team discussed how they were ‘shaking the cushions’ to find potential changes to the ad auctions that would ensure Google met the revenue targets that Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat had conveyed to Wall Street for the quarter,” Bloomberg’s Leah Nylen wrote. Google declined to comment on the remarks when Marketing Brew reached out.

The DOJ’s case against Google, which alleges that the tech juggernaut has maintained a monopoly on the search engine business, is now in its second week. As Marketing Brew reported last week, the DOJ is arguing that Google’s exclusive contracts with web browsers like Mozilla, as well as phone manufacturers such as Apple, have made it the default search engine on most devices.

So far, several executives have testified, including Verizon’s Brian Higgins, who was questioned about the telecom company’s decision to have Google Chrome preinstalled on its mobile devices. Former Google employee Chris Barton also testified to discuss his work inking deals between Google and mobile carriers between 2004 and 2011.

The DOJ has questioned current Google executives as well, including its longtime chief economist, Hal Varian. Government lawyers found a July 2003 memo from Varian to employees in which he said, “We should be careful about what we say in both public and private.” Later memos “made it clear that Google knew it needed ‘to be sensitive about antitrust considerations,’” the DOJ said, according to Ars Technica.

The antitrust trial is predicted to last until November, while a ruling is expected next year.

It’s not the only controversy Google has faced recently. In January, the DOJ filed another lawsuit, this time accusing Google of monopolizing the ad-tech industry. Over the summer, Adalytics research found that ads served on Google-owned YouTube could have tracked kids online. Dan Taylor, Google’s VP of global ads, called the report “deeply flawed” in a blog post.