Google tweaks ad auctions to hit revenue targets, as much as 5%: Exec

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has tweaked its advertising auctions to ensure it meets revenue targets, sometimes increasing ad prices by as much as 5%, an executive for the company testified Monday at a federal antitrust trial.

Jerry Dischler, vice president for Google’s advertising products, said the company frequently makes changes to the auctions it uses to sell search ads – the text and shopping promotions that appear at the top of a results page in response to user queries. Those changes can involve increasing the cost of ads or minimum spending on an ad, known as the reserve pricing, he said. Even when those “tunings” impact ad prices, Google typically doesn’t tell advertisers, Dischler testified.