Thrown For A Closed Loop
Amazon’s DSP enjoys many advantages. The fee is zero, since Amazon profits when sales happen through its marketplace and because Amazon also owns the media (Prime Video, Fire TV, Twitch, et al.).
Most importantly, though, Amazon Ads can attribute impressions to purchases.
But now, a group of ad tech providers and publishers are assembling the pieces to try and recreate that magic for themselves, Digiday reports.
Basically, it’s a three-way partnership between Permutive, grocery tech vendor Ocado (which is part-owned by UK grocery chain Marks & Spencer) and a handful of pubs, including News UK, The Independent and Immediate Media.
The idea is that publishers integrate Permutive’s tech, which anonymously matches site visitors to Ocado’s known shopper base.
It’s an interesting approach, although it must be noted that Ocado and Permutive need to model the data, whereas Amazon has vast deterministic scale within its own platform.
But that’s okay, says Matthew Rance, head of commercial data and analytics for Immediate Media, because advertisers can use the “highest quality kind of seed match to then find people who look extremely similar.”
Pinch And Scrape
Cloudflare recently triggered a publishing industry debate over how sites should treat generative AI large-language-model bots.
This is an important conversation for multiple reasons.
For one, Google and Microsoft force publishers to consent to LLM scrapers as a prerequisite for ranking in general searches. But not only do AI models scrape sites far more than search crawlers do – and those costs accrue – requiring consent is arguably an antitrust violation.
But Cloudflare’s move to block AI bots from crawling sites by default also brings attention to the methods that LLM operators use to prise IP or paywall-protected media from the web. Digital Digging, a Substack newsletter, reports how AI models can often retrieve entire versions of stories that ought not be discoverable, even from publishers that do their utmost to restrict web and search scrapers.
Google Gemini, for instance, uses Google’s search snippets, which show a fraction of a story, but can change based on a search to highlight an exact keyword match.
Nifty trick, although in other ways Gemini is actually the least aggressive of the lot, per Digital Digging. Many LLM bots will find social users or other stories that quote an article – or better yet share screenshots – to reconstruct it almost entirely.
Verification Nations
As part of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission is moving ahead with its requirement for online platforms to implement age verification and protect the privacy and mental health of kids.
The Commission recently published a DSA compliance support package that outlines a range of best practices for youth audiences, Reuters reports. These guidelines include avoiding addictive app design, moderating harmful content and preventing cyberbullying and communication with strangers.
Platforms now have “no excuse to be continuing practices that put children at risk,” according to EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen.
The Commission also unveiled a prototype age verification system that it’s showcasing as a “gold standard.” Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain have begun testing the system.
But the DSA isn’t the only new law compelling platforms to implement changes across Europe. The UK’s Online Safety Act includes similar age verification requirements for large online platforms that will be enforced starting July 25.
Meanwhile, last week, Bluesky announced it will implement age verification for UK users via Kids Web Services, a tool owned by Epic Games. And on Monday, Reddit announced that it will now require UK users to verify their age using Persona, a third-party app.
But Wait! There’s More
How Big Business killed the FTC’s proposed “click-to-cancel” rule, which would have saved consumers billions. [LA Times]
Pivoting the journalism industry to AI is “not going to work,” argues 404 Media Co-Founder Jason Koebler. [404 Media]
But there is an unfortunately profitable use of AI: “Nudify” websites. [Wired]
TikTok’s messy acquisition of an Indonesian competitor last year now has sellers in the region moving elsewhere. [Rest of World]
A new form of brainrot has emerged: Everyone’s using incel slang now. [The Verge]
Tariffs may be up, but so are stocks. [Axios]
You’re Hired!
Mediaocean promotes Drew Kane to chief product officer and Stephanie Dorman to chief operating officer, both at Prisma. [release]
Forbes announces a slate of hires and promotions, including Nina Gould as chief innovation officer and Leann Bonanno as chief sales and marketing officer. [Forbes]
Research company Marketcast names Amy Fenton as its new CEO. [release]
