Amazon Plans Ads Packages For NFL Games; Google Will Stop Scanning Emails For Ad Targeting Data

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Amazon’s Convergence

Amazon plans to charge up to $2.8 million for ad packages surrounding the 10 Thursday night NFL games it will stream live this year, Reuters reports. According to unnamed sources, “Buyers also get to run ads on Amazon.com throughout the football season, which runs from September to February.” Amazon paid $50 million for the streaming rights, and “It is unclear that the sale of ads will offset the cost of acquiring the rights to stream the games.” But profit is a secondary motive for Amazon’s entertainment platform. More.

B2B FTW!

Google will no longer scan Gmail users’ emails and use the data for ad targeting. The new edict comes from the enterprise cloud team – not the ads group. Bloomberg reports that “paying Gmail users never received the email-scanning ads like the free version of the program, but some business customers were confused by the distinction and its privacy implications.” Says Google cloud exec Diane Greene, “What we’re going to do is make it unambiguous.” More at Bloomberg.

My Enemy’s Enemy

Microsoft and Facebook are old buds (Microsoft sold Atlas to Facebook, and the two are running an undersea cable from the US to Europe), but don’t be surprised if they become even more intertwined. Microsoft already owns about 1.3% of Facebook, and in an ecosystem where every titan seems to be competing simultaneously on all fronts, “there is almost nowhere where [Facebook and Microsoft] directly compete with one another,” writes industry consultant and blogger Richard Windsor. Don’t expect an actual merger, but Microsoft may cede consumer-facing assets to Facebook – such as social networking, instant messaging and some consumer hardware – while doubling down on its enterprise, video gaming and search businesses.

Are You Affiliated?

Affiliate payouts are rising in some corners. Historically, affiliate-driven sales of ecommerce products like books or kitchenware pay publishers around 4% to 8% – anywhere from a few pennies to around 10 dollars. Blue Apron, on the other hand, will pay up to $80 for a new subscriber based on its lifetime value forecast of the customer, reports Max Willens at Digiday. Publishers are still expanding their core ecommerce affiliate businesses [AdExchanger coverage], but if they can identify readers primed for subscription services like Birchbox, Blue Apron or Harry’s, the men’s grooming company, and push them across the end zone, the rewards are getting sweeter. More.

But Wait, There’s More!