For more than a decade, Google has wielded unparalleled power in the world of digital advertising, setting the rules, controlling the game, and ensuring the scoreboard always tilted in its favour. By controlling both the supply and demand sides of the ad tech ecosystem, the tech giant entrenched dominance that competitors could rarely challenge.
But that era of unchecked power may be drawing to a close.
In April 2025, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) secured a landmark victory against Google. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully maintained monopolies in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets by designing its tools to stifle competition and harm publishers.
The U.S is not alone. In France, competition authorities have issued multimillion-euro fines for self-preferencing, and the EU continues its deep investigations into Big Tech’s ad practices. In Australia, publishers are mounting class-action lawsuits over alleged underpayment.
And now, India is joining the movement.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) will investigate whether Google unfairly restricted competition in digital advertising and favoured its own ad services at the expense of publishers, advertisers, and independent platforms. This follows previous CCI findings against Google in areas like mobile OS dominance (Android) and in-app billing. But the current probe cuts deeper and strikes at the heart of how advertising and therefore the open internet is funded. This isn’t just about dollars and cents, it’s about who controls the infrastructure that underpins digital media, journalism, commerce, and culture.
Why This Matters to India’s Digital Ecosystem
India’s digital economy is booming, powered by startups, streaming platforms, and a massive consumer base. Digital advertising has already grown into a ₹ 49,251 crore market and is expected to reach ₹59200 crores by the end of 2025. Among other factors, programmatic advertising and connected TV are accelerating this growth, redefining how brands connect with audiences here.
But beneath the momentum lies a structural weakness. India’s CPMs remain among the lowest in the world. This isn’t just about pricing, it’s about power. Big Tech’s walled gardens dominate ad spend, controlling audiences, inventory, and data. When one player is simultaneously the auctioneer and the bidder, transparency and fairness collapse. Advertisers pay more. Publishers earn less. And consumers are left with a diminished experience.
For India’s publishers, this imbalance is unsustainable. Relying on Google as the primary demand source may feel safe, but it strips them of leverage, fair pricing and long-term viability. As content costs climb and more ad inventory comes into the market, premium content is devalued, and innovation stalls.
This is why the CCI’s probe lands at a pivotal moment.
An Alternative is Clear
Publishers that diversify demand, embrace biddable programmatic, and open their supply paths to advertisers can reclaim control. With transparent tools like Unified ID 2.0 and OpenPath, they can prove audience quality, command higher CPMs, and build trust.
Advertisers should be equally wary. The U.S. trial revealed how walled gardens tilt spend toward their own properties, creating blind spots, hidden fees, and wasted budgets. When the very platform guiding advertiser spend is also competing for it, the odds of achieving the best outcomes shrink dramatically.
Savvy advertisers are already insisting on objective media buying platforms that optimize for performance, not platform profits. By shifting spend to open platforms with clean supply paths and clearer signals, brands can ensure their money flows effectively to the audiences that matter most.
The Moment for Reform
India’s digital economy stands at a crossroads. It can remain captive to walled gardens that suppress value and distort competition, or it can seize the opportunity to build a transparent, innovative, and fair ecosystem that empowers publishers and delivers better outcomes for advertisers. With a young digital-first population, thriving startups, and world-class talent, India is positioned not just to follow global change, but to lead it.
The cost of inaction is high, but the rewards of bold change are far greater.
(Tejinder Gill, Managing Director, The Trade Desk.)
Views are personal, and do not represent the stance of this publication.
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