Welcome to our Tweet of the Week, where we spotlight insightful, thought-provoking, maybe even weird tweets from the world of adtech. Every Saturday, we’ll bring you one tweet that captures important trends, shares valuable data, or offers unique perspectives on the market.
This week’s tweet comes from the all-seeing, ever-wise deity himself, AdTechGod. In his post, ATG shares an image from the latest Forrester Wave report on SSPs, along with some thoughts.
Here’s some of his tweet:
Per ATG, Magnite, Amazon Ads, and PubMatic are positioned in the “Leaders” category of the report, while the “Strong Performers” section includes InMobi, Microsoft, Index Exchange, and Equativ. The most surprising placement, though? Google is listed in the “Challengers” zone.
Wait… what?
Google Ad Manager (GAM) is the most dominant SSP in the market. Even a few years ago, 3 out of 4 publishers said they used it. That market position has only grown. A couple of months ago, there was a, you know, well-documented trial against a company called Google for owning too much market share on the SSP side. The DOJ has specifically alleged that GAM owns 90% of the SSP market today. So, yeah, this is a weird report.
In response to ATG’s tweet, Doug Lauretano, CEO of CivicScience, did not hold back: “I thought the placement of Google was laughable, but then I realized this is supposed to include mobile! 😂 Applovin is nowhere to be found! This chart is complete garbage.”
Similarly, on last week’s Marketecture podcast, Ari Paparo called the report an “embarrassment to everyone involved.”
Yeesh.
So, what happened? Here’s my guess: Google didn’t care about the report and didn’t submit any meaningful responses. With these reports, vendors typically pay for better access to the analysts, giving them more opportunities to talk up their capabilities and overall value proposition. They also fill out lengthy forms to support their positioning in the report.
Google is likely a paying client, too, but perhaps they thought, “Given the antitrust trial about our SSP, maybe it’s best not to appear as a top SSP platform.” Frankly, being in the “Challenger” bucket is a huge help—it allows them to say, “See! We’re not the leader! There is healthy competition!”
Okay, but check out AdTechGod’s tweet and feel free to share your take. You can also view the report here, which is free to access, possibly as a response to the backlash. (These reports are rarely free.)
