Google partners with Fairfax to sell programmatic advertising
Australian media company Fairfax has signed an agreement with Google to sell programmatic advertising across several titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review and The Age. Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood, who recently spoke out against the Google/Facebook duopoly on advertising, said the search giant's technology would help advertisers reach the publisher's audiences and enable it to "make new investment in our journalism".

Fairfax has entered into a partnership with Google across digital advertising, technology and product development.

Google will support Fairfax to sell and market programmatic advertising across The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, WA Today, Canberra Times, Brisbane Times, and lifestyle properties.

The two companies will also work together to push subscriptions and improve customer experience on the publisher's websites and apps, such as improving load times.

The move will come as a surprise to some in in the industry, with both Google and Facebook being largely blamed for the demise of media companies' ad revenue within traditional media companies.

However, this year Google has been making effort to support publishers' and has responded to a lot of its critiques, such as abolishing first click free and working on better models to facilitate subscriptions.

Many media execs have spoken out against the power of Facebook and Google in the past, including CEO Greg Hywood himself, who spoke against the digital duopoly at the recent senate inquiry into journalism.

Just yesterday, MCN CEO Anthony Fitzgerald slammed Facebook and Google as "media wastelands".

Fairfax MD of Australian metro publishing Chris Janz says it's a big step forward for Fairfax.

"We are excited to be deepening our partnership with Google, providing advertisers with a new way to work with Fairfax," Janz says.

"Google’s sales channels and market-leading programmatic technology will empower and enable advertisers’ to access Fairfax’s brands and reach our valuable audiences.

“We are bringing the very best that Fairfax has to offer together with the smarts and capability of Google. The result will be a stronger Fairfax Media and continued investment in journalism.”

Fairfax is confident the deal places its business at the global forefront of digital publishing innovation, says Hywood.

"We are stepping up and understanding the future. We are ensuring our company, our media and our shareholders benefit from commercial opportunities available to us. We expect upside performance from this partnership, which will allow us to make new investment in our journalism," he says.

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