This week, the Justice Department accused Google of running an illegal monopoly in its online advertising business and called for parts of it to be broken up. In the meantime, two other thorny issues are poised to determine Google’s future on a potentially shorter timeframe: The rise of generative artificial intelligence and what appears to be an accelerating decline in Google’s online ad marketshare. An ad sales machine under pressureAll this has taken place against the backdrop of what seems to be an extended, multi-year decline in Google’s online advertising marketshare. One-off factors like the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, as well as fears of a looming recession, have broadly affected the online advertising industry. Whatever the cause, Google’s advertising business, which is still massive, seems to face growing headwinds.

Source: CNN January 26, 2023 13:39 UTC