Google… One step closer to ruling the world
The European Union has recently approved Google’s 3.1 billion dollar acquisition of the New York based web advertising agency DoubleClick, a fir that has handled Internet marketing campaigns for such high profile clients as Microsoft, Motorola and Nike. This merger has been questioned by some as to whether or not it will benefit the consumer (and more importantly his or her privacy) in the end, to which Google responded:
“Our interest in DoubleClick stemmed from out commitment to provide more useful digital solutions for advertisers and publishers, and offer users a better online experience. We do not believe this acquisition is anti-competitive, as it promotes a vibrant, healthy market for online advertising.”
It seems that in an attempt to combat Google’s growing power base Microsoft and Yahoo have acquired the ad firms aQuantive and BlueLithium, respectively. It will be interesting to see what happens in this titanic struggle of corporate clout if Microsoft manages to purchase Yahoo.
With the merger’s fruition Google is now poised to become the single most powerful advertising power on the web with the combined power of its established Pay-Per-Click service and the newly acquired DoubleClick. If it was any other company doing this I would be getting downright uneasy with the gathering of so much power into one bosom but… Google is doing it so smoothly that it’s hard to get angry (though maybe easier to get paranoid). I have happily clicked on more links in Google’s slightly-creepy-if-you-really-think-about-it system of scanning your emails for keywords to find ads just for you. In one year I have bought more things from advertisements in my Gmail inbox than I have in the past five from other forms of online advertising – and the thing is I don’t mind; if fact I’ll admit to a certain perverse desire to send an email to myself about rabid squirrels to see just what sort of link it’ll pull up for me…
I had to stop writing and go try this out — I ended up with “Squirrels in your attic?”, specializing in evicting foul, bushy-tailed rodentia and a site that offered year-round provision of fresh, high-grade nuts just for squirrels… both frightening and awesome all at the same time… but I digress. I took a look at my web usage and a little over 50% is spent on Google owned sites: Gmail, Google Search, Google Docs (which, ironically enough, is what I’m writing this in), Google Calendar, Google Reader, Picasa; heck I’m even using Google Pages to backup some HTML files. It’s taken over my world and I don’t care because they’re giving me free applications that work great and interface with each other smoothly for the sole cost of looking at ads that I actually find useful (other advertisers could learn from that last one… yes I’m looking at you Yahoo). So bring on the banner ads and give me the free goods… I wouldn’t mind a G-Phone while you’re at it.
[Via Reuters]
Well, you could look at Google’s global industry take over as a good thing, but there will always come a point where after companies own everything WE become subsidiaries. Who really wants to live in a Dystopian society, eating yet another bowl of Biskies and watching westerns with Mom and Dad…