Competition in the Digital Advertising Market

Abstract

Digital platforms have attracted unparalleled recent interest from antitrust and competition authorities. Many digital platforms are free to consumers and are supported by advertising. Given this, the question of how advertisers approach and allocate advertising matters for understanding the potential competitive implications of digital platforms. The topic of digital advertising and competition is vast, so in this paper I focus on analyzing a very simple question-what drives advertisers to substitute across advertising venues, and what barriers might exist to an advertiser switching or substituting between advertising venues?