FTC Says Court Finalized Ad Agency Brand-Safety Antitrust Orders

What happened

The Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of states have secured federal court approval of orders resolving allegations that major advertising agencies colluded over brand-safety standards in the digital advertising market, according to an agency press release.

The FTC said WPP, Publicis and Dentsu, which buy digital ad inventory for advertisers, allegedly began in 2018 to impose common brand-safety standards across the digital advertising industry. The agency said the firms, together with Omnicom and IPG, operated through trade associations to establish a common Brand Safety Floor aimed at misinformation.

The agency framed the case as an antitrust challenge to coordination among competitors that allegedly reduced competition for advertisers. In the FTC’s account, ad agencies ordinarily compete by offering brand-safety tools at better quality and lower cost, but the alleged agreement displaced that competition by insulating agencies from those market pressures.

FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said in the release that “The ad agencies’ brand-safety conspiracy turned competition in the market for ad-buying services on its head.” The release also said the order is intended to stop the alleged coordinated conduct and prevent similar conduct in the future.

The FTC said the agencies operated through the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Alliance for Responsible Media and the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Advertiser Protection Bureau. The release said websites deemed to fall below the brand-safety floor because of so-called misinformation risked becoming categorically ineligible for advertising revenue.

The commission vote to issue the complaint and final order was 1-0-1, with Commissioner Meador recused, according to the release. The FTC said the complaint and final order were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, joined by Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, Utah and West Virginia, and that the district court approved and finalized all three proposed orders.