Now it’s War: Apple vs Google vs Facebook

It’s an all-out war between Apple, Google and Facebook, with small website publishers the collateral damage. That’s how Nilay Patel, Editor-in-Chief for The Verge, sees ad blocking, referencing Apple’s newly-released iOS 9 as the latest salvo in a titanic battle between the companies.

In a thinkpiece published last week, Patel reminds us that while Google makes most of its money from search (“there’s no other company that’s managed to monetize the web quite like Google”), the mobile ecosystem (devices, browsers and apps) represents a huge challenge for the company. He says that Apple is using its mobile dominance, through both the iPhone and Mobile Safari, to “drive the knife into Google’s revenue platform”.

Apple, of course, makes its money from selling ever shinier versions of its iPhones and iPads, and doesn’t really care if people want to block ads.

Like Google, Apple is also indexing app content in iOS 9, and showing app results within Spotlight and Siri so that, in some cases, iOS users no longer need search the web.

As for Facebook, the company makes its money from keeping mobile users in the Facebook app, where it controls the advertising.

Patel’s conclusion? It’s going to get ugly: “the collateral damage…is going to include the web, and in particular any small publisher on the web that can’t invest in proprietary platform distribution, native advertising, and the type of media wining-and-dining it takes to secure favorable distribution deals on proprietary platforms. It is going to be a bloodbath of independent media.”

Why should you care?

Patel cautions that this battle, primarily between Apple and Google, threatens the survival of online publishers providing ad-supported content free of charge. He adds that innovation, too, will suffer.

Yes, the top-selling paid app in Apple’s App Store (the ad blocker Peace) was pulled 48 hours after release (the developer having had a fit of conscience). But there are plenty of other ad blockers out there, used on desktops as well as mobile devices.

As advertisers, our seats are on the sideline, spectators as this battle plays out.

What can we do? Making better, more relevant ads, would be a start.

Click here for more search marketing news.

The latest news about web marketing, SEO, PPC Advertising & Web Analytics. But only the stuff that matters from a New Zealand perspective. Delivered to your inbox each Monday.

If you found this useful, please tell your friends.