YouTube now lets you tag Amazon products for commissions

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In today's MarketingShot:

🛒 YouTube now lets you tag Amazon products for commissions

📱 Report reveals creator platforms now top US daily attention

🏬 Simon malls just became a new ad channel

🎬 Google Demand Gen ads now build your videos with AI

🇪🇺 Google stops demoting EU publishers over site reputation abuse

Plus: 💡 6 strategies & tactics, 🎁 7 other news you might like, and 🧰 6 tools.

🛒 YouTube now lets you tag Amazon products for commissions LINK

YouTube creators in the US can now earn money from Amazon sales, as Google has made Amazon an official part of the YouTube Shopping Affiliate Program.

Eligible creators can tag Amazon products in Shorts, long-form videos, and livestreams, letting viewers buy the items directly and earning the creators commission on those sales.

To take part, creators must link their YouTube account to their Amazon affiliate account, and there are various criteria and conditions that need to be met first.

📱 Report reveals creator platforms now top US daily attention LINK

YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram together hold the attention of American adults for 3 hours and 54 minutes a day, passing the combined 3 hours and 20 minutes for live TV and subscription streaming, according to a new Attest report.

YouTube alone has overtaken live television, drawing 1 hour and 46 minutes of daily viewing against 1 hour and 31 minutes for live TV, with 23% of Americans saying they mainly watch YouTube on a television set.

Ad-supported YouTube reached 62% of Americans, the highest share measured, ahead of ad-supported Netflix at 37%, while 49% of respondents described themselves as at least mildly addicted to the platform.

🏬 Simon malls just became a new ad channel LINK

Simon Property Group, the world's biggest shopping mall operator, launched Simon Media Network on Thursday, its retail media network that lets advertisers use its shopper data for targeting and measurement in programmatic campaigns across the web.

Because Simon doesn't handle direct customer transactions, its data comes from three sources: its Simon+ loyalty program, opted-in location tracking through mall WiFi sign-ins, and purchase data licensed from third parties.

Advertisers can pick a managed service or use self-service tools with their own DSP/SSP stack, and the network reaches stores in malls plus non-endemic companies in travel, food and finance targeting different audience segments.

🎬 Google Demand Gen ads now build your videos with AI LINK

Google is upgrading its Demand Gen ads with three new tools: direct messaging with brands, more personalized travel offers, and AI-powered video creation across YouTube and other Google inventory.

The messaging test lets people who spot a brand through a video ad start a conversation in messaging apps straight from the ad, shortening the path for high-intent prospects instead of sending them to a landing page.

Google says the hundreds of Demand Gen improvements made in the second half of 2025 drove an average 30% rise in conversions or conversion value, and Multimodal Video Creation in Asset Studio is now generally available.

🇪🇺 Google stops demoting EU publishers over site reputation abuse LINK

Starting August 30, 2026, Google will stop letting its site reputation abuse manual actions lower search rankings for people searching within the European Economic Area, a change made in response to a European Commission investigation into the policy.

Outside the EEA, a manual action still hits the affected part of a site directly, but inside the EEA that penalty won't apply, and the affected section may be separated over time so it ranks on its own.

Google will keep sending manual action notifications through Search Console to EEA sites, and site owners can file a reconsideration request, with eligible sites able to bring disputes to mediation afterward.

💡 Strategies & Tactics

> AEO mentions vs. citations: Key differences explained: An AEO (answer engine optimization) mention names your brand without a link while a citation attributes a clickable source, and only citations generate trackable traffic.

> Brex Ranks #1 on Google and Appears in Half of AI Answers. The Recommendation Still Goes to a Competitor.: es that AI tools trust to actually recommend a card.

> 33 Experts on the Biggest Mistakes Brands Make With Q4 Creator Programs: Vet the whole creator list including gift recipients before Q4 and keep monitoring after launch, since experts warn approved feeds and exclusivity shift by December.

> Stop measuring your brand and start listening: Learn your true brand from unprompted customer talk in reviews and support logs, then fix the broken experiences instead of running another campaign.

> Every ad platform now has an MCP server. Here's what we learned: Ad platforms are letting AI assistants run campaigns through a shared tool interface, so the real differentiator becomes who controls spending and how changes get approved.

> How DTC brands can use product bundles to lift basket size without sacrificing margin: Build product bundles around items customers already buy together to grow order value, but judge each by profit after all costs, not revenue alone.

Other news you might like

• How ChatGPT Justifies Its CPMs; Is “Chatbot Ads” Its Own Specialty?LINK

• This Professional Social Network Just Launched A Newsletter Platform – And Yes, There’s An Ad NetworkLINK

• Creator industry admits that fee pricing is out of control, but can’t agree on a fixLINK

• Google Pay closes the hotel booking while the partner keeps the support deskLINK

• X launches API for business chatbot accountsLINK

• Google Ads Book Buttons Expand To Search & Performance MaxLINK

• Lowe’s AI Assistant Turns Questions Into SalesLINK

🧰 Trending tools

ChatCut: edit videos through plain-language commands that handle cutting, motion graphics, scripts, and music without manually working a timeline.LINK

Fuzzy AI: warms up cold prospects by tracking market engagement, keeping you visible with content, then running personalized LinkedIn and email campaigns from one workspace.LINK

PlugThis: generates complete Manifest v3 Chrome extensions from plain-English prompts, producing permissions, popup UI, background workers, and Supabase backend in about two minutes.LINK

Adomate: generates branded ad concepts at scale from Meta ad account data, ad libraries, and Trustpilot and Amazon reviews, with fully traceable workflowsLINK

AI Search Console: tracks brand mentions, rankings, and share of voice across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity, replacing manual AI visibility checks with repeatable data.LINK

Migma AI: automatically generates on-brand email campaigns from your brand, audience, and calendar, then lets you review, approve, and send.LINK

See you tomorrow for a new dose of ☕️ MarketingShot!