Pulled Quotes
“We are well aware of the circular nature of this endeavor.”
Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, on launching its media newsletter compendium
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“All I know is I went to bed with this adorable opinion writer and woke up next to Les Moonves.”
Journalist Nellie Bowles, on her wife, Bari Weiss
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“For Gen Z, Spotify just looks like NPR—it’s part of the establishment, the old guard.”
Mark Mulligan, managing director at industry analyst Midia Research
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“Ryanair is launching a Great Idiots seat sale especially for Elon and any other idiots on ‘X’. 100,000 seats for just €16.99 one-way.”
The budget airline Ryanair, on X, trolling platform owner Elon Musk
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Quote/Unquote
Danielle Coffey is the president and CEO of the News/Media Alliance, a trade association that represents more than 2,000 news and media outlets. Last week, when publishers including People Inc., Business Insider, McClatchey, Advance Local, and The Atlantic filed lawsuits against Google, I called Coffey to ask why the timing was so coordinated. It turns out that a potentially transformative payday, to the tune of billions of dollars, could soon be on hand for publishers.
Mark Stenberg: Why are so many publishers suing Google for the same thing at the same time?
Danielle Coffey: This is related to the antitrust suits filed by the Department of Justice and the State of Texas alleging that Google has a monopoly in the ad-tech industry. Several years ago, when those cases were still being built, USA Today Inc. (then Gannett) and later The Daily Mail launched “opt out” cases. If there is a class-action suit, companies have to opt to file their own case against Google.
Since then, Google has been found guilty of anticompetitive practices, and within the next few weeks, the courts are expected to hand down their proposed remedies. These other publishers are now joining USA Today Inc. and The Daily Mail’s suit so they can negotiate with Google outside of the class.
Mark: Why did USA Today Inc. lead the effort?
Danielle: They saw that the cases pending had potential for a favorable ruling. They took the brave leap early on and invested significantly in a lawsuit that will benefit them and others. Others joined more recently when it became clear that they would likely be successful.
Mark: What are these publishers seeking?
Danielle: They are asking for damages as a party harmed by the anticompetitive actions of Google. They are claiming that advertising CPMs were artificially suppressed by Google’s manipulation arbitrage in the adtech ecosystem.
Mark: How do publishers calculate these potential damages?
Danielle: Publishers will argue that they are owed whatever advertising revenue they lost as a result of Google’s monopoly overcharge. And because this is an antitrust case, if Google takes this to court and loses, it will be on the hook for “treble damages,” or three times the initially requested amount.
