Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) has given the green light (11 November) to a cooperative agreement between Bauer Publishing Group and AdAlliance GmbH, a subsidiary of RTL Deutschland, to jointly market advertising space for Bauer’s magazines. This partnership will enable AdAlliance to oversee advertising sales for Bauer’s publications in the food/drink, living/interior design, and women’s magazine segments.
Bundeskartellamt President Andreas Mundt noted that while the collaboration would limit some advertising customer options in these categories, customer surveys indicated that the cooperation is unlikely to negatively affect competition. “We asked the parties to make significant modifications to their agreement, such as securing Bauer’s control over pricing and managing information exchange,” Mundt stated, affirming that the office would monitor the cooperation to address any potential issues.
The cooperation covers around 10% of Bauer’s advertising inventory. Previously, AdAlliance had taken over marketing for Bauer’s other digital and print ad spaces, which raised no competition concerns due to lack of market overlap.
The decision marks another instance of the Bundeskartellamt cautiously approving similar advertising partnerships, including recent agreements between BCN Brand Community Network and other publishers, with a provision to revisit the arrangement should complaints arise.
