As ad tech rivals sought to compete with Google nearly a decade ago, the adoption of header bidding was so monumental to fighting the giant’s grip on the display ad market that it played a part in at least one major player’s IPO roadshow.
“We were so excited about header bidding that when we went public we had potential investors watch a [explainer] video first,” said Jed Dederick, who is now The Trade Desk’s chief revenue officer. “We felt there was the opportunity to compete meaningfully that we wouldn’t have without it.”
The recollection came last week during Dederick’s testimony in the ongoing U.S. Justice Department’s ad tech antitrust case against Google, which began last week in federal court. However, Dederick is just one of several ad tech executives the U.S. government has brought as witnesses in federal court to describe the ways Google has used its dominance to allegedly harm rivals, publishers and advertisers. Others who testified last week include current and former execs from past and present Google rivals including PubMatic, Equativ, Rubicon Project, AppNexus and even Facebook.
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