Category: Network News

This week, Getty Images announced plans to merge with top competitor Shutterstock to form a $3.7 billion juggernaut in the stock-image/visual content industry. This merger aims to better position the companies for survival as mobile photography and generative AI tools continue to eat into their market share.

Both Getty Images and Shutterstock have long been major players in the licensed visual content market. This merger is expected to help them reduce costs and explore new revenue streams, particularly to combat the rise of generative AI. Platforms like Midjourney are obviously posing a growing challenge to the companies’ traditional visual content businesses.

Despite large stock surges after this announcement, both companies have experienced significant declines over the past few years. This isn’t just solely because of the emergence of AI, however. The increasing power of mobile cameras have also led to lower demand for stock photography.

If you’ve long required stock imagery to promote MaxBounty campaigns via display, native, or social ads, you can likely attest to a decreasing reliance on traditional stock imagery in the 2020s.

Following the merger, Getty CEO Craig Peters will take the reins of the new company which will retain the Getty Images name. The combined entity will benefit from Getty’s extensive visual content library and Shutterstock’s robust user community.

Peters also expressed confidence that the merger would gain antitrust approval in both the U.S. and Europe, emphasizing that customers have always had a range of choices in the marketplace.

It’s important to note that although this merger may seem like a strategical move in the stock photography VS AI war, that’s likely an inaccurate label long-term. Getty’s licensing rates have only gotten lower over the years, paying photographers some of the lowest rates in the industry. There’s a good chance this merger is a move to broaden their photo library that they can use to train their own AI, eventually reducing the need to pay human photographers.

Time will tell how this merger impacts the stock image industry, generative AI, and your own usage of the two in your digital marketing initiatives.

You can read more about the upcoming Getty Images/Shutterstock merger here.

The post Getty Images Merging with Shutterstock to Combat Rising AI Content Threat appeared first on MaxBounty+.

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Given the increasing attention on browser extensions and their impact on affiliate marketing, here’s how we provide our advertisers with tools for transparent and equitable attribution for all publisher partners.

In 2010, the Awin Group recognized that integrating browser extensions with earlier funnel partners such as editorial or influencers can result in a more complex consumer journey. To ensure all publisher contributions were fairly accounted for, Awin and ShareASale helped develop the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) code of conduct for downloadable software.  

This code of conduct forms part of our network guidelines. Our Compliance team actively monitors all publisher activity against the Awin Code of Conduct to ensure compliant activity. We continue to support industry bodies with any required updates to this. 

How does Awin work with browser extensions? 

All publishers that offer browser extensions are required by the Awin Code of Conduct to declare they do, and where appropriate, be placed on a  Soft Click cookie status. This means the browser extension’s cookies do not override other publisher/ influencer cookies when tracked through the Awin platform. For more information on the Awin cookie hierarchy please see here. All soft click publishers are clearly identified on their profile page within the Awin UI. 

When a publisher is set as a “Soft Click publisher,” the publisher receives commission from the sale generated if that publisher is either the only click within the customer’s purchase journey, or if they are the last click when only another soft click publisher was involved (e.g. another browser extension).  

If there is another publisher in the journey that isn’t set to a soft click cookie status, the sale is instead allocated to the ‘hard click’ publisher who drove the last click.  

Offering this Soft Click proposition allows advertisers to work with partners like browser extensions, without adversely affecting existing publishers’ relationships. 

Awin encourages this relationship as part of our policy to ensure fair attribution and recommend it is used alongside coupon attribution to ensure campaigns are effectively measured. Each advertiser can determine the attribution rules for their program and may choose not to have this proposition in place for their browser extension partners. 

Commission Factory also offers and recommends the implementation of Soft Click for browser extensions. 

How does ShareASale work with browser extensions? 

On the ShareASale platform, advertisers can create custom attribution rules using the Conversion Lines feature to ensure publishers driving the first click aren’t overwritten by incentive partners who drive the last click.  

While this approach currently differs from Awin, all ShareASale customers will be upgraded to the Awin platform this year and will benefit from a universal framework. 

For ShareASale Conversion Lines support, please submit a ticket. 

How can I check what cookie status my browser extension partner is set to? 

Advertisers can check if their browser extension partner is using Soft Click by visiting their publisher partner’s profile page on the Awin platform. 

If you have any questions about your browser extension partners, please speak to your account contact. 

Fair attribution and safeguarding affiliate tracking 

There are many avenues a customer may take before ultimately making a purchase. Understanding which publisher partners contribute the biggest impact, and fairly rewarding them, is essential for an affiliate program’s success. Awin advertisers have the flexibility to partner with influencers and other publishers on payment options outside of last click, such as campaign exposure (tenancy) fees and Coupon Attribution. Advertisers can also set rules to prioritize the clicks that provide the most value with our attribution manager.  

We also recently launched our Conversion Protection Initiative (CPI) to ensure all publishers are fairly paid for the value they add. 

The Awin Group wants to preserve the future of affiliate marketing, and will continue to take the necessary steps for it to remain a fair and transparent ad model that drives value for all parties. 

The post Ensuring fair attribution: how Awin and ShareASale partner with browser extensions appeared first on ShareASale Blog.

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