Google must integrate AdX and DFP with Prebid under a six-year global order

Business Insider's account of the unsealed order describes six obligations, and they do not land at the same speed ^[25]. Three tell Google to stop: no policies or contract terms tying DFP to AdX and no reimplementation of First Look or Last Look ^[7]. The other two bar discrimination in favor of Google's own technology inside either product ^[19] and direct bidding by Google Ads into DFP ^[20]. Three tell Google to build: Prebid integration for the exchange and the ad server ^[10], AdX real-time bids delivered to rival publisher ad servers ^[15], and DFP history and configuration data plus ongoing AdX bid data handed to publishers ^[17]. The prohibitions can be executed in contract language. The three build items depend on engineering schedules, and the account of the ruling gives no compliance timetable ^[27].

Whether the second group helps depends on how Google implements it. Rajeev Goel, chief executive of the adtech company PubMatic and a witness for the Justice Department at trial, said the Prebid remedy should help rival exchanges compete more fairly with AdX ^[11]. But an integration built differently from Prebid's existing connections could create friction, he said ^[14]. "It's kind of like when all of your devices take USB and then somebody comes out with a new device and a different type of charger," Goel said ^[12]. "You're like, 'Oh man, now I've got to put all these new types of chargers in all the rooms in my house, in my office, and in my car,' and it creates a lot of wasted effort" ^[13].

Two remedies change a publisher's options without waiting on a new auction stack. AdX must make its real-time bids available to rival publisher ad servers, so bids can reach a publisher without DFP in the path ^[15]. Google must also hand over DFP historical and configuration data along with ongoing AdX bid data, so a publisher can take its data to a competitor ^[17]. "It reduces switching costs," said Nick Stoltz, chief strategy officer of the media-measurement company Measured ^[18]. That changes the question, Goel said. A publisher can judge whether DFP is "the best possible ad server for me on the merits of the ad server, not the merits of the ad server plus the AdX monetization" ^[16].

Google says it is pleased with the ruling. The judge said earlier this month that she would not order a breakup, and a company spokesperson said at the time: "We're very pleased the court rejected the DOJ's proposal to break apart tools that help small businesses reach new customers and grow" ^[21]. The remedies apply globally and run for six years ^[6].

For buy-side teams the change is in the auction rules. First Look gave AdX the first chance to bid on an impression, and Last Look let it see what rival exchanges were bidding before deciding whether to bid itself ^[8]. Both are barred from returning ^[7]. Patrick Briggs, chief executive of the digital ad agency HubShout, said removing advantages such as Last Look could make ad auctions more trustworthy and potentially improve the value of the broader display ad market ^[9].