Consumer advocacy groups oppose Google buying AdMob

Two consumer advocacy groups have asked the US antitrust regulators to block Google's proposed acquisition of mobile ad firm AdMob, as they feared it would diminish competition to the detriment of consumers. (See: USFTC seeks more information on Google's AdMob acquisition)

The two US-based consumer advocacy groups, Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Digital Democracy, have asked the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block Google's $750 million proposed acquisition of AdMob as the deal would "substantially lessen competition in the increasingly important mobile advertising market."

The proposed acquisition would be Google's third most expensive purchase after its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick and the $1.65 billion purchase of YouTube.

In a joint letter to the FTC, the groups said Google's acquisition of AdMob would be harmful to consumers, advertisers and application developers, among others and called upon the FTC to use the appropriate statutory and regulatory authority to oppose the merger.

AdMob, the largest mobile global ad network, has served 100 billion ads or 8 billion monthly across 160 countries since inception.

In a bid to expand its footprint in the mobile advertising marketplace, Google said early last month that it would acquire AdMob for $750 million, which will help it improve targeting and tracking of campaigns; build more powerful optimisation and publisher-side monetisation tools; and increase mobile ad effectiveness by leveraging its own sales team. (See: Google to acquire ad firm AdMob)