• Adweek, Tuesday, August 12, 2008 10:49 AM

In the next month, the Department of Justice will decide whether to block the search advertising deal Google struck with Yahoo in June. If everything goes according to plan, Google will begin selling ads on Yahoo Search in early October. In the meantime, the DoJ is soliciting input on what the deal would mean for the ad industry, and while Microsoft's stance is well-known, it's more notable-and perhaps, more surprising-that many big advertisers do not support the deal, either.

"We're concerned about the Yahoo! deal," said Rob Norman, CEO of WPP-owned GroupM North America. "For advertisers to prosper, they need competitive markets. We think Google is a fantastic company. Our sense is that if the transaction with Yahoo! proceeds, there's the potential the development of [Yahoo! ad system] Panama and other competing systems will atrophy over time."

Indeed, other respondents to the same question worried that further consolidation in an industry that's already dominated by Google could result in higher prices and less competition. As Adweek points out, the Yahoo deal is just one of many moves that make agency executives nervous: chief among them is the Web giant's stated plan to automate advertising across all media, thus marginalizing ad agencies.

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