The advertising giants Omnicom and IPG have agreed to a consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission to help get their $13 billion mega merger over the finish line.
The consent decree is unusual in that it is focused on “collusion” between the companies, with a particular focus on the companies colluding to withhold ad dollars from media outlets or social platforms based on their political views or ideology.
“In recent years, the advertising industry has been plagued by deliberate, coordinated efforts to steer ad revenue away from certain news organizations, media outlets, and social media networks,” FTC chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement of support for the consent decree. “This type of coordination risks America’s largest companies’ economic weight unwittingly being enlisted for the political and ideological aims of certain advertising industry groups and political activists who in turn avoid the costs they would incur if they merely refused to deal on their own.”
Ferguson specifically calls out GARM (the Global Alliance for Responsible Media), a defunct organization founded by major advertising firms (including IPG and Omnicom) that sought to pursue more brand-safe media buys. However, GARM caught the attention of conservatives, who believed they were unfairly targeted by the non-profit for political reasons.
“Collusion in the advertising industry remains the subject of active investigations. Any future attempts at collusion by Omnicom and IPG are unlikely to remain hidden,” Ferguson added in his statement. “Likewise, advertisement publishers have a powerful incentive to alert the Commission if they believe that they are the object of unlawful collusion. Moreover, this Agreement requires Omnicom and IPG to cooperate with the Commission in any investigation relating to media-buying services, and I have already noted that investigating and policing censorship practices that run afoul of the antitrust laws is a top priority of the Trump-Vance FTC.”
The consent decree, however, does allow advertisers to continue doing business with the companies they want to do with business with, provided that they are not colluding.
“The decree goes to great lengths to avoid interfering with the free, regular course of business between marketing firms and their customers,” Ferguson said. “Omnicom-IPG may choose with whom it does business and follow any lawful instruction from its customers as to where and how to advertise. No one will be forced to have their brand or their ads appear in venues and among content they do not wish. The prohibited behavior is limited to ‘the supreme evil of antitrust’— collusion with other firms and the creation of pre-made ‘exclusion lists’ to encourage advertisers to join de facto boycotts coordinated by advertising firms and other third parties.”
The consent decree clears a major hurdle for the Omnicom-IPG deal, with the companies seeking to merge as artificial intelligence prepares to wreck havoc across the industry.
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