• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, September 10, 2024

The Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google kicked off Monday in a way that called to mind one of the most famous fictional trials in television history -- the 1998 Seinfeld finale.

That's according to ad tech veteran Ari Paparo, who was present in the Alexandria, Virginia courthouse where the case got underway with testimony from four online advertising and publishing figures -- Gannett's Tim Rowe, Index Exchange's Andrew Casale, Joshua Lowcock (formerly of UN Worldwide) and Kevel's James Avery.

“This trial is the ad tech version of the Seinfeld finale where all the characters wronged by Jerry and friends come into court one by one and lay out the previous decade of (alleged) malfeasance,” Paparo writes in Marketecture's The Monopoly Report.

The courthouse doesn't allow electronics, so his report, like most others, came soon after testimony ended for the day.

The Department of Justice and a coalition of states are attempting to prove that Google illegally monopolized ad-tech tools that power “open web display advertising.”

Prosecutors are seeking an order that would force Google to divest some or all of its ad-tech products.

Google denies that it acted anticompetitively, and also disputes the idea that “open web display advertising” -- meaning banner ads on sites operated by news organizations and other online publishers -- is its own market.

The Department of Justice specifically contends that Google monopolizes three markets connected to “open web display advertising” -- publisher ad servers, advertiser ad networks, and ad exchanges.

“One monopoly is bad enough. But a trifecta of monopolies is what we have here,” Justice Department lawyer Julia Tarver Wood reportedly told U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema on Monday.

Google urged Brinkema to reject the prosecution's theory, arguing that the proposed market doesn't account for ad placements that have become more prevalent in recent years -- such as on streaming services or social apps like TikTok.

In what may have been the soundbite of the day, Google lawyer Karen Dunn reportedly compared the prosecution's concept of the market to “time capsule with with a Blackberry, an iPod and a Blockbuster video card.”

Gannett's Tim Wolfe, senior vice president of ad revenue operations, testified that the company makes $330 million from programmatic ads, and pays Google $15 million for ad tech, according to Paparo.

Wolfe also admitted that Gannett used some ad-tech companies other than Google, according to The Washington Post

Google's counsel reportedly highlighted on cross-examination that Gannett is pursuing a separate antitrust lawsuit against Google, Paparo reported.

Lowcock, president at Quad Media and former global chief media officer at UM Worldwide, testified that other forms of advertising -- including in-app ads and video ads -- aren't substitutes for online display ads, according to Paparo.