Google to donate $800M+ to fight COVID-19, including $250M in ad grants to WHO, $340M Google Ads credits for SMBs, $200M fund to improve SMBs' access to capital
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Friday his company is donating more than $800 million in cash and advertising to help stem …
AxiosIna Fried
Context & Ripple Effects
Google's $800M-plus package is the largest platform COVID response yet, and it lands ten days after Facebook's $100M in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses — the two ad giants are now visibly bidding against each other for crisis-era goodwill with their own core product, advertising, as the currency.
The WHO gains $250M in free ad inventory to run its public-health messaging at a moment of global demand, and Sundar Pichai puts Google's brand behind the official response.
SMBs — the advertisers most exposed to the shutdown economy — get $340M in Google Ads credits plus a $200M fund aimed at improving their access to capital.
Second-order effects
Facebook's SMB grant program, announced days earlier, is immediately outgunned on scale, pressuring it and other platforms to top up their own COVID packages to avoid looking like the stingy one.
Ad credits are product, not cash: they keep struggling SMBs spending inside Google Ads rather than cutting budgets entirely, converting a philanthropic gesture into retention for Google's core business.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, crisis philanthropy becomes a standing competitive instrument among ad platforms — measured in ad credits and platform-tied funds — with the biggest ecosystems setting the benchmark smaller rivals must match.
SMBs that survive the downturn on platform credits and capital programs emerge more deeply embedded in those ad ecosystems, shifting the small-business advertising relationship from transactional to dependent.
The trend: Big ad platforms are turning crisis response into a competitive philanthropy arms race, using ad credits and capital funds that reinforce the very ad ecosystems they profit from.
We're committing $800M+ in new #COVID19 response efforts, incl $340M in @GoogleAds credits for SMBs worldwide, $250M in ad grants for @WHO & 100+ govt orgs globally, a $200M investment fund for NGOs & banks to help small businesses access capital, and more https://blog.google/...
More good news. Thank you, @Google, for showing your support in this way. During #COVID19, people everywhere are showing that America only becomes stronger and more unified in times of crisis. Let's keep it up. https://blog.google/...
$800+ million in COVID-19 related help is pretty generous of Google. I hope other companies sitting on tons of cash follow. Ad credits will likely help many online publishers, like us, as well as businesses in dire need of clientele once the dust settles. https://twitter.com/...
GOOGLE: “. today we're announcing a new $800+ million commitment to support small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), health organizations and governments, and health workers on the frontline of this global pandemic.” (via @sundarpichai) $GOOGL https://blog.google/...
More of this please...🙏 @Google's big move - “#COVID19: $800+ million to support small businesses and crisis response” via @sundarpichai https://blog.google/...
I have been talking about the needs of the small business community all week...this is solution for business of all sizes. Share and get the resources and share! https://twitter.com/...
As part of our #COVID19 response efforts, we're committing $800+m to help our communities navigate the challenging times ahead. https://twitter.com/...
Today, @Google committed $800M+ in new #COVID19 response efforts. In 🇨🇦 this includes ad grants to help orgs like @GovCanHealth provide critical info + @GoogleAds credits for active Canadian SMBs. Read more: https://blog.google/...
Way to go Google: https://blog.google/... A lot to like in here, & I'm sure more is coming. And while it's not the biggest or most impactful action they're taking, kinda cool to see that one of my requests from last week's blog post (https://sparktoro.com/...) made it in. https:/…
Not just information resources. Google just announcing a $800m+ effort to help SMBs, health orgs & gov'ts, health workers Includes - $340m in Google cloud credits - $250 in ad grants - $200m investment fund to support NGOs, fin insts https://www.blog.google/... https://twitter.co…
Some very big numbers here from Google but appears these are mostly in-kind “donations” like ad credits. This would technically be the biggest donation by any entity for COVID in the world. https://twitter.com/...
Google is donating $800 million in cash and ad credits in the latest — and largest — of the contributions from Big Tech to the fight against Covid-19 https://www.axios.com/...