Germany: Regulator opens probe into online advertisers

According to a press release sent out on February 1, the Bundeskartellamt has launched a sector inquiry into the online advertising sector.

The antitrust office says it will start by looking into the effects of technical developments on the market structure and market opportunities of the various players involved. It also specifies it will investigate whether large ad platforms like Google and Facebook are operating as “walled gardens,” and consider their potential impact on competition.

“Due to the great economic importance of this sector for advertisers and content providers active on the Internet and in view of discussions about the difficult competitive environment in this market, we have decided to examine this sector,” said Andreas Mundt, president of the Bundeskartellamt, in a statement.

“The issue of access to and the processing of data is also highly relevant from a competition point of view,” he added, saying, “large single companies with considerable market relevance like Google or Facebook have emerged which, in the view of some market players, have been able to set up closed systems, so-called ‘walled gardens’.”

The Bundeskartellamt will focus on the effects of current and foreseeable technical developments on the market structure and the market opportunities of the various players. It will examine the significance of different technical services and the way in which they function. These include options for measuring visibility, collecting data and preventing fraud as well as services more on the level of the actual marketing and procurement of ad spaces.

The authority will also examine whether, as some market players claim, closed systems of a few large providers actually exist and what significance these systems have, if any.

Full Content: Bundeskartellamt

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