Streaming video companies have belatedly recognized that advertising can be more profitable than subscriptions, and are pushing paid subscribers to switch. Amazon just introduced its own typically arrogant twist on the concept, unilaterally placing all Prime Video customers in an ad-supported plan unless they choose to pay $2.99 per month more than their current $14.99 monthly Prime member fee.
Nearly one-third of major news publishers have blocked generative AI tools from reading their content. But that’s a drastic measure which could also exclude their results from conventional search engines. Microsoft has just given publishers the option to block access by Bing Chat without also removing their content from search results. We’ll see if competitors do the same.
Some surveys suggest that most companies have unified their customer data but many more show the industry has a long way to go. This Forrester study for NIQ falls into the latter group, with just 24% of respondents reporting they can track customer behavior across ecommerce and in-store retail channels. Nearly two-thirds (63%) has eleven or more data sources for omni-channel measurement.
CDP and marketing cloud vendor Zeta Global announced an agreement to purchase LiveIntent, which helps companies do email-based advertising. The deal will let Zeta expand its identity graph, enter the publisher monetization business, and accelerate its mobile and retail media products. Zeta will pay $77.5 million in cash and $172.5 million in common stock, with potential for additional payments based on performance.