The advertising industry is undergoing a transformation not seen since the dawn of broadcast television. For the first time, advertising in digital is projected to exceed spending on television in 2017 and blow past it in the coming years. With expected annual growth of over 9%, digital advertising promises great rewards for companies in the market. To no surprise, the major recipients of these spoils are two of the largest internet companies, Facebook and Google. While Facebook is quickly growing, it is nowhere near the dominance of Google, which owns roughly 50% of the digital ad market. Google’s market position is due to spectacular results from the advertising dollars spent and this control of the market underscores the recent YouTube controversy.

The Wall Street Journal, among others, reported on advertising of major companies showing up on less than family friendly channels. Although these instances were very limited, it generated a strong backlash from advertisers. Advertisers may cheer the great returns on their dollars spent, but the results come with strings attached. Google restricts third party reviews of ad placements which is a common practice in traditional advertising. Google’s effectiveness and market dominance has given it leverage over advertisers to an extent never rivaled by traditional media. Sensing an opportunity to even the scales, major corporations have used this minor controversy to force changes by pulling out en masse. Google was compelled to respond, making various changes to their algorithm, flagging policy, and, more significantly for advertisers, now allows third parties increased ability to review ad placement. This is just the first of many battles to come, so expect many more minor controversies to be hyped up for public consumption but aimed at furthering corporate goals. So far the government has let the market determine best practices and the industry has been booming. Let’s hope that continues no matter the ultimate victor in the digital advertising wars.