[s3000]

>If Google isn’t making any money from you on Gmail

Isn't Gmail the core pillar of Google's ad network? Whoever is logged into Gmail tells Google who is using an IP address. Facebook is the other ad network because they can also link requests to ids.

Facebook can monetize Instagram because they can sell targeted ads. Likewise, Google can monetize Youtube. If ads can be sold without those ids, Instagram and Youtube could have grown on their won.

Is this an emperor's clothing situation and nobody talks about this or do I have a complete misunderstanding of ad technology?

[deng]

> Isn't Gmail the core pillar of Google's ad network?

Absolutely. GMail is the main reason people are logged into their Google account all the time on their computers and mobile devices. It is absolutely essential for tracking.

[taspeotis]

Plus they can ... read your emails? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28631732

[kmlx]

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/10434152?hl=en

> We do not scan or read your Gmail messages to show you ads If you have a work or school account, you will never be shown ads in Gmail.

> When you use your personal Google account and open the promotions or social tabs in Gmail, you'll see ads that were selected to be the most useful and relevant for you. The process of selecting and showing personalized ads in Gmail is fully automated. These ads are shown to you based on your online activity while you're signed into Google, however we do not process email content to serve ads.

[skybrian]

They could but claim they don't, and I don't think anyone has proven otherwise. Hard to make money from something you're not actually doing.

[hericium]

I'd say it's more about attachments: invoices, receipts, anything with purchases and/or financial info.

[kyrra]

Why not link to the top level story? I have the top reply on that story, that links to some support links explaining it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28632012

To add, I believe they have since turned that future down.

[YetAnotherNick]

> Whoever is logged into Gmail tells Google who is using an IP address.

Google already has most people's IP address through search. Google is just providing free email because they want control, and I am willing to bet that it would be very hard to make profit, both direct or indirect, through gmail.

[sokoloff]

Without the Google login, Google has a bunch of 32-bit numbers from people’s search activity. With gmail, they now know a lot more about what’s behind those 32-bit numbers.

[markdestouches]

>Instagram and Youtube could have grown on their

Hadn't they grown on their own before they got bought up?

[hericium]

They had potential but were not making money nor had a visible path to monetization.

[scarface74]

YouTube was about to be sued into oblivion and even if they weren’t, they were hemorrhaging money with no revenue stream in sight

[mountainb]

Google did make money providing email for one of my companies with G Suite. Then something screwed up happened that disrupted service, their support was worse than useless, and I will never pay for any non-advertising Google product ever again.

[gernb]

what happened? My experience with GSuite support has been great.