Advertisers who buy ads from Google are outraged after announcing a 2% price hike. The digital giant is recording record profits. In the background is playing a diplomatic standoff between Google and the state.
In the large web woven by the Google spider, Internet users and advertisers rub shoulders. Everyone knows they are captive, because we all need Google , recognizes Gautier Picquet, CEO of Publicis Media and president of the Union of media consulting and buying companies (Udecam).
But since Google announced to its customers that it would increase by 2% the price of its online ads, from 1 st May, the world cries advertisers asphyxiation.
“Three billion additional revenue”
They are in the middle of a balance of power between Google and the State, enlightens Mathilde Abel, doctoral student, specialist in the digital economy, echoing the tax on digital services imposed by France on Gafa.
For some advertisers, it is still 2% on a budget of 20 million euros, illustrates Gautier Picquet. For Google, it is three billion additional revenue, he estimates.
We are still in the midst of an economic crisis. Many of the advertisers concerned come from the travel industry, they will have to pay more when they are already in debt. Far from the insolent form of Google and its 45.8 billion euros in turnover only in the first quarter of 2021. That is 34% more than a year ago.
“A friend who can suffocate us”
On the search engine, advertising revenue increased from $ 25 billion to $ 32 billion in one. Boosted by new consumption habits during confinement.
Companies need the visibility that the juggernaut brings, but it is a friend who can suffocate us, fears Gautier Picquet. Unecam therefore calls on advertisers to say no to Google.
A boycott? “No, we are going to advise our clients to advertise differently,” argues the boss of Publicis Media. Like an air of Stockholm syndrome.
“They have the monopoly”
If advertisers rebel, it is also out of fear of the future. “In a few months, Google can say it will be 5% or more. They have the monopoly”.
While France has introduced a tax on digital services, particularly targeting Gafa, “Google is demonstrating force by increasing its prices. It also sends a strong signal to other countries which would imitate France,” continues Mathilde Abel.
The American giant is now able to measure the level of interdependence of advertiser’s vis-à-vis their digital prospects, the crisis has accelerated this trend. “Google has demonstrated its power. We are captive,” comments the doctoral student. Caught in the web.
