Advertisers are not happy with a proposed ad partnership between Google and Yahoo, and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has asked for the agreement to be blocked.
Since announcing the agreement to partner on advertising, Google and Yahoo have been dealing with opposition from advertisers. The agreement allows Yahoo to run ads supplied by Google alongside Yahoo’s search results on some of its Web sites in the U.S. and Canada.
The WFA is asking the European Commission’s directorate-general for competition to block the agreement because it would have a global impact on advertising. The WFA said the deal will reduce the options available to advertisers, result in price increases, and have a devastating effect on competition.
“We feel this deal between Google and Yahoo in North America will have a detrimental impact on how they compete with each other around the world — as they do today,” said WFA spokesperson Robert Dreblow.
This is the second time the WFA has had an issue with Google. In 2007, the WFA opposed Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick.
Google and Yahoo say their ad deal is limited to Web sites in the U.S. and Canada. But the WFA — which represents 55 national advertising associations, including the U.S. Association of National Advertisers and the Association of Canadian Advertisers — said it believes that such advertising would reduce their competition worldwide.
Yahoo disagrees. “Although the World Federation of Advertisers did not seek any information from us about this agreement, we have made clear from the beginning that it will strengthen Yahoo’s competitive position in online advertising and will help to drive a more robust, higher-quality Yahoo marketplace for our advertisers, publishers and users,” said Yahoo spokesperson Tracy Schmaler. “Furthermore, advertiser demand will continue to drive prices — up or down — and advertising performance will drive…