Crawling The Amazon
Generative AI scrapers are coming for Amazon’s ecommerce data – and Amazon is fighting back, Modern Retail reports.
Amazon recently added crawlers from Facebook, TikTok, Google, Huawei, Mistral, Ai2 and Webz.io to its robots.txt blocklist. It previously blocked crawlers associated with Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity and Google’s Project Mariner.
These companies are likely crawling Amazon’s platform for data that could inform their own AI-powered shopping assistants.
“Amazon is definitely not interested in helping anyone build the future of AI shopping,” wrote analyst Juozas Kaziukėnas in a LinkedIn post flagging the robots.txt update. “If that is indeed the future, Amazon wants to build it itself.”
Amazon is also protecting the data that fuels its $56 billion ads business. Amazon’s retail data isn’t just a valuable resource for ecommerce and performance campaigns; it also helps inform CTV targeting.
And Amazon isn’t alone in pushing back against unwanted scraping. Fellow ecommerce platform Shopify recently added a warning to the robots.txt files on its merchant sites outlining which generative AI use cases are and aren’t permitted.
But – as digital publishers know all too well – robots.txt is more of a suggestion than an enforceable framework. And even Big Tech platforms like Amazon aren’t exempt from AI’s entitlement to other people’s data.
LinkedInfluencers
The YouTube-ification of LinkedIn is continuing apace.
LinkedIn is expanding its video advertising program for publishers and influencers, Reuters reports.
The program, which launched last year as an invite-only revenue-sharing arrangement for publishing brands, recently expanded to include select content creators. Participating publishers and creators collect a share of revenue from pre-roll ads placed before their videos.
The program is still invite-only. But over the past year, LinkedIn has added 70 new participants, including some big-name publishers. BBC Studios, BNR, TED, The Economist and Vox Media recently joined the program. Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters and Business Insider were already members.
The program also allows brands to sponsor exclusive video content, billed as “Shows by LinkedIn,” which feature ad placements during the content in addition to pre-roll ads. AT&T Business, IBM, SAP and ServiceNow will sponsor the debut seasons of four new creator-led shows.
The program seems to be working for LinkedIn and its partners. Related ad revenue rose by 200% between Q1 and Q2, according to LinkedIn, and payouts to publishers tripled over the same period.
Outfoxed?
It’s a Google-eat-Fox world.
The two companies have been in ongoing negotiations to reach a deal about payment costs before YouTube TV’s renewal date on Wednesday, CNBC reports. Fox channels will go dark on YouTube TV if the two can’t strike a new carriage agreement by the deadline.
“Fox is asking for payments that are far higher than what partners with comparable content offerings receive,” YouTube wrote in a blog post earlier this week. Google’s goal, the post says, is to ensure that any deal reflects “the value of [Fox’s] content” but “without passing on any additional costs” to subscribers.
A not-so-gentle way of telling Fox to stay in its lane.
Fox, on the other hand, released a statement accusing Google of “[exploiting] its outsized influence” and calling its terms “out of step with the marketplace.”
If there’s no agreement by 5 pm ET Wednesday and Fox channels disappear from YouTube TV, that’ll impact Fox, of course, but also its advertisers and viewers.
But Wait! There’s More!
What are digital services taxes and why is Trump so upset about them? [Bloomberg]
YouTube tops Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge report for the sixth consecutive month. [Nielsen]
The family of a 16-year-old who confided his suicidal thoughts to ChatGPT filed a wrongful death suit against OpenAI. [NYT]
TikTok’s revenue in the UK, Europe and Latin America has more than doubled since 2022. [eMarketer]
Online retailers like Amazon and TikTok Shop are having a problem with anti-Semitic products. [The Verge]
Ed Zitron: How to argue with an AI booster. [Where’s Your Ed At?]
You’re Hired!
Applebee’s hires Michelle Chin as CMO. [Restaurant Dive]
Data collaboration platform Optable names its co-founder, Vlad Stesin, as CEO. Former CEO Yves Poiré will transition to executive chairman. Optable also announced the appointment of Patrick Viau as CRO. [release]
