The digital advertising industry has three major players, one of them relatively new to the fold. But the commercial regime that has led to their dominance in their respective markets draws not on the strength of their relationships with advertisers, but rather the extortionate rates that they charge for a perfectly inelastic pricing model for individual consumer privacy. This paper discusses the industry dynamics that have forced this three-pronged hegemony as well as potential remedies in competition policy the government should pursue to ameliorate it.
