Didn't see another thread on this but curious of peoples thoughts.

Last month there was an announcement that Mercury, Z and Foodstuffs (New World, Liquorland, Henry’s, Gilmours and Trents) are coming on board to the airpoints program. And now it feels like i'm seeing more advertisements for airpoints.

Using Z and New World as examples, these used to earn APD already through fly buys (6:1 earn rate), however to me it now looks like these are earning directly? Or are they just shifting the way they market this?

Was wondering if there was a flybuys partnership contract about to finish that they decided not to renew, hence the recent increase in partnerships and promotions.