Episode 75: Brave's JP Schmetz: ‘Publishers Need to Get Their Act Together'

JP Schmetz, Chief of Search and Ads at Brave, joins Alan Chapell to debate the questions that most browser executives won't touch on the record. Should publishers stop outsourcing ad sales to Meta and Google? Is "first-party vs. third-party" a meaningful distinction to users — or a convenient line Brave draws to justify default blocking? Alan pushes back. JP pushes back harder. Featuring references to Jason Kint at DCN, GPC defaults, The Knight-Georgetown Institute (KGI) report covering data sharing pursuant to the DOJ Search remedies (among other items), and why rooting against the AI investment cycle is, by default, rooting for Google to win everything again.

The KGI Report on data sharing is available at https://kgi.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Designing_the_Technical_Committee_Report_KGI-FINAL-April-2026.pdf.

Sumit Sharma’s Report on Data Sharing is available at https://insights.sumitsharma.consulting/p/google-search-remedies-implementation

The Chapell Regulatory Insider is available at https://chapellreport.substack.com/ 

Takeaways - Brave believes browsers should prioritize users over advertisers. - JP argues Google’s monopoly power comes from distribution and monetization. - Brave blocks third-party requests by default for privacy reasons. - Alan and JP debate the merits of blocking ads in the name of privacy. - Brave Search now powers parts of the AI search ecosystem. - AI could redistribute traffic away from traditional search engines. - JP believes publishers became too dependent on programmatic ad tech. - Subscription-based AI models may create a healthier internet economy.

Chapters 00:00 Introduction and meeting JP Schmetz 00:36 Can browsers still serve users first? 04:05 Why browsers need search revenue to survive 05:49 The economics of search advertising 08:10 DOJ remedies, Chrome, and Google dominance 10:39 Brave’s evolution from privacy browser to search business 12:47 Why Brave blocks third-party ads and trackers 16:18 Publishers, ad tech, and selling ads directly 19:18 Ad tech circumvention and browser controls 22:02 Is Brave hurting publisher monetization? 25:05 Contextual advertising vs third-party tracking 28:47 Global Privacy Control and browser defaults 32:36 Brave Search, Google defaults, and monetization 34:56 Google data sharing and search competition 41:15 AI, search, and the future of the internet 46:30 Subscription models vs ad-funded AI 49:43 Why competition against Google still matters 51:25 Final thoughts and closing remarks

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