Google’s massive influence in advertising

Google just hit $600 a share, which is amazing in itself, but Terry Heaton breaks down a few stats that illustrates Google’s gigantic influence on online advertising. For starters, approximately 40% of all online ad dollars go to Google. And Google advertising is growing 45% year-over-year. So when you count Google in the online revenue numbers, you come out with 26.5% growth. Without Google, it’s 15.4%. “So Google is like an enormous mountain rising up from the bottom of Lake Advertising, its mere presence raising the water level and giving the appearance of a rising tide that’s lifting all the other boats,” writes Heaton. “(But) it’s not.” Heaton says that the IAB should not include Google in its revenue calculations because it’s misleading, and he offers a five-point plan for media companies to “compete with Google at the local level.”