PayPal wants to be an ad network. In May 2024, the payments giant made some big name hires from the media world and announced its intention to sell ads. Some weeks earlier, payment company/shopping app Klarna announced a partnership with ad tech company PubMatic to give brands the ability to get their ads seen by Klarna’s global audience of 150 million shoppers directly at the point of purchase.
Uber and Deliveroo both sell ads, as do hotel chains, banks and many others. Welcome to the world of commerce media, where anyone with first-party customer data can, in theory, create an ad network.
For instance, back in late 2022, Marriott International launched Marriott Media Network, an omnichannel cross-platform advertising solution for brand advertisers that enables curated content experiences and offerings to guests throughout their travels.
Built with tech from Yahoo, The Marriott Media Network offers brand advertisers exposure to travellers in the US and Canada, ultimately expanding to travellers globally, including all the more than 164mn members in Marriott Bonvoy, the company’s loyalty programme.
The network features premium inventory spanning its owned channels including display, mobile, video, email and digital out-of-home (in-room television and digital screens) when fully deployed.
For brand advertisers, the Marriott Media Network offers an unprecedented combination of scale and personalised media to an audience of in-demand, high-intent travellers.
Meanwhile, US bank JP Morgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions in 2022, an offers programme where clients can tempt Chase’s 80mn US customers with targeted offers using each customers’ purchase history.
Chase Media Solutions is published on Chase’s owned digital channels. When customers activate offers and shop instore or online, they’re rewarded with cashback. Brands drive acquisition and incremental sales, notes the company.
At the same time, UK-based alt.bank Resolut revealed that it too was getting into the ad business, launching Resolut Media Solutions and hiring TikTok’s head of ecommerce partnerships, Inam Mahmood, to head it up.
The move by Klarna, Marriot, Chase and Resolut marks a growing awareness among non-retailers that there is power in ‘commerce media’ – the wider definition of retail media where retailers offer access to their audience out to brands and other advertisers.
Any public-facing business, in theory, can leverage its first-party customer data via advertising and this shift toward everyone becoming an ad network can be seen in these players all getting on board. With the ‘death’ of third-party cookies, finding a way to reach audience is crucial for many brands. For customer-facing businesses with millions of users, offering a media network play looks like lucrative new option.
For retailers taking their early steps into retail media, this is both a blessing and potentially a curse. On the plus side, it validates the reasoning behind offering media properties for sale to brands. The other positive is that it will cement advertising on company websites, apps, stores and everywhere else as the norm for consumers, hastening uptake and interaction.
The downside is that it adds significant competition to what is, for many retailers, a fledgling market. While the ‘commerce media’ space is tipped to be worth in excess of $150bn in 2024, divvying it up between top-tier retailers, banks, hotels and streamers could see this exciting new market rapidly become cut-throat.
This analysis piece features in the RetailX Retail Media 2024 report.
Drawing on ConsumerX research, third party data and value-chain testimonials, the report explains the concept of retail media networks, their evolution, how to leverage them from any point within the value-chain and where they go next.
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Our editor carefully curates a dedicated Retail Media newsletter on a bi-weekly basis, filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research, click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox.
You are in: Home » Retail Media » ANALYSIS Commerce media: is everything now a retail media network?
ANALYSIS Commerce media: is everything now a retail media network?
Paul Skeldon
PayPal wants to be an ad network. In May 2024, the payments giant made some big name hires from the media world and announced its intention to sell ads. Some weeks earlier, payment company/shopping app Klarna announced a partnership with ad tech company PubMatic to give brands the ability to get their ads seen by Klarna’s global audience of 150 million shoppers directly at the point of purchase.
Uber and Deliveroo both sell ads, as do hotel chains, banks and many others. Welcome to the world of commerce media, where anyone with first-party customer data can, in theory, create an ad network.
For instance, back in late 2022, Marriott International launched Marriott Media Network, an omnichannel cross-platform advertising solution for brand advertisers that enables curated content experiences and offerings to guests throughout their travels.
Built with tech from Yahoo, The Marriott Media Network offers brand advertisers exposure to travellers in the US and Canada, ultimately expanding to travellers globally, including all the more than 164mn members in Marriott Bonvoy, the company’s loyalty programme.
The network features premium inventory spanning its owned channels including display, mobile, video, email and digital out-of-home (in-room television and digital screens) when fully deployed.
For brand advertisers, the Marriott Media Network offers an unprecedented combination of scale and personalised media to an audience of in-demand, high-intent travellers.
Meanwhile, US bank JP Morgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions in 2022, an offers programme where clients can tempt Chase’s 80mn US customers with targeted offers using each customers’ purchase history.
Chase Media Solutions is published on Chase’s owned digital channels. When customers activate offers and shop instore or online, they’re rewarded with cashback. Brands drive acquisition and incremental sales, notes the company.
At the same time, UK-based alt.bank Resolut revealed that it too was getting into the ad business, launching Resolut Media Solutions and hiring TikTok’s head of ecommerce partnerships, Inam Mahmood, to head it up.
The move by Klarna, Marriot, Chase and Resolut marks a growing awareness among non-retailers that there is power in ‘commerce media’ – the wider definition of retail media where retailers offer access to their audience out to brands and other advertisers.
Any public-facing business, in theory, can leverage its first-party customer data via advertising and this shift toward everyone becoming an ad network can be seen in these players all getting on board. With the ‘death’ of third-party cookies, finding a way to reach audience is crucial for many brands. For customer-facing businesses with millions of users, offering a media network play looks like lucrative new option.
For retailers taking their early steps into retail media, this is both a blessing and potentially a curse. On the plus side, it validates the reasoning behind offering media properties for sale to brands. The other positive is that it will cement advertising on company websites, apps, stores and everywhere else as the norm for consumers, hastening uptake and interaction.
The downside is that it adds significant competition to what is, for many retailers, a fledgling market. While the ‘commerce media’ space is tipped to be worth in excess of $150bn in 2024, divvying it up between top-tier retailers, banks, hotels and streamers could see this exciting new market rapidly become cut-throat.
This analysis piece features in the RetailX Retail Media 2024 report.
Drawing on ConsumerX research, third party data and value-chain testimonials, the report explains the concept of retail media networks, their evolution, how to leverage them from any point within the value-chain and where they go next.
Stay informed
Our editor carefully curates a dedicated Retail Media newsletter on a bi-weekly basis, filled with up-to-date news, analysis and research, click here to subscribe to the FREE newsletter sent straight to your inbox.
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