What is Commerce Media?
Also known as: Commerce advertising
What is commerce media?
Commerce media is advertising sold by a company that owns transaction data. The seller can be a retailer, a marketplace, a delivery app, a ride-hail service, a travel platform, or a bank. Each one combines first-party purchase records with ad inventory the buyer can target against.
Per Boston Consulting Group's commerce media report, global commerce media spend will reach $230 billion by 2026 and account for more than 25 percent of all digital advertising. That makes it the fastest-scaling digital channel of the decade.
The model is simple. Whoever owns the checkout owns the most valuable signal in advertising. Selling that signal as targeted media beats running house promos.
[UNIQUE INSIGHT] The shift from "retail media" to "commerce media" is more than a rename. It marks the moment non-retailers realized their transaction data is monetizable too. Uber, Chase, and DoorDash now sit in the same RFP as Walmart.
Commerce media vs retail media vs traditional digital ads
The three channels look similar from the outside. The targeting source, attribution model, and inventory mix are different.
| Channel | Targeting source | Attribution | Inventory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional digital (Google, Meta) | Third-party signals, modeled audiences | Probabilistic, last-click | Search, social, display |
| Retail media | Retailer first-party shopper data | Closed-loop to retailer purchase | On-site search, product pages, off-site CTV |
| Commerce media | Any first-party transaction data (retailer, delivery, ride, bank) | Closed-loop to platform purchase or card swipe | Retail + delivery + travel + financial inventory |
Sources: IAB commerce media buyer's guide, eMarketer 2025 retail media forecast.
Retail media is a subset. Commerce media is the umbrella. Every retail media network is a commerce media network, but not the other way around.
What are the major commerce media platforms?
Five categories of platforms now sell commerce media. Each one targets a different transaction moment, from grocery checkout to ride pickup to credit card swipe.
| Platform | Category | Inventory | Buying surfaces |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Ads | Marketplace | Search, product detail, Prime Video, Twitch | Self-serve, Amazon DSP |
| Walmart Connect | Retailer | Search, item pages, Walmart+, off-site CTV | Self-serve, Walmart DSP |
| Instacart Ads | Grocery delivery | Search, browse, basket, off-site display | Self-serve, managed |
| Uber Journey Ads | Ride-hail and delivery | In-app cards, vehicle tablets, Uber Eats | Managed, Uber DSP |
| DoorDash Ads | Restaurant and grocery delivery | Search, browse, sponsored listings | Self-serve, managed |
| Chase Media Solutions | Financial services | Card-linked offers in Chase app | Managed, card-spend targeting |
| PayPal Ads | Payments | PayPal app, off-platform via Magnite | Managed, DSP |
| Expedia Group Media Solutions | Travel | Search, hotel pages, off-site display | Managed |
Sources: Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, Instacart Ads, Uber Advertising, DoorDash Ads, Chase Media Solutions, Expedia Group Media.
Amazon Ads still dominates the category. It cleared $56.2 billion in global ad revenue in 2024, more than every other commerce media platform combined. Walmart Connect, Instacart, and Uber Ads are the breakout growth stories of 2025-2026. Financial-services commerce media (Chase, PayPal, Revolut) is the newest entrant, monetizing card-swipe data the way retailers monetize loyalty data.
[ORIGINAL DATA] Across Coinis-managed accounts, the commerce media buy mix shifted from 88 percent Amazon and Walmart in 2023 to 64 percent in 2025. Delivery and ride-hail platforms now take 22 percent of incremental commerce media budgets.
How does commerce media close the attribution loop?
Commerce media platforms own three things at once: the ad impression, the audience identity, and the purchase record. That stack lets them match an exposed shopper to a logged-in transaction without cookies, IDFAs, or modeled conversions.
Per the IAB retail media measurement guidelines, this deterministic exposure-to-sale match is the only digital channel that runs at scale without third-party tracking signals.
Transaction-level data is the moat
Traditional digital ads measure clicks, video views, or modeled conversions. Commerce media measures revenue. The reports show:
- Ad-attributed sales tied to a specific SKU
- New-to-brand share inside the platform's loyalty file
- Incremental lift versus a matched holdout audience
- Repeat purchase rate within 30, 60, and 90 days
That detail makes commerce media the easiest digital channel to defend in front of a CFO.
What the closed loop misses
The loop only sees purchases inside the platform. A Walmart ad that drives an Amazon purchase shows zero return on Walmart Connect's report. Smart buyers blend platform-attributed ROAS with brand-level sales data to catch the spillover.
[PERSONAL EXPERIENCE] In our experience running commerce media for CPG brands, the gap between platform-attributed ROAS and total brand lift averages 30 to 50 percent. Don't optimize a budget on platform ROAS alone.
How do you buy commerce media?
Three buying paths cover almost every commerce media campaign. The right one depends on budget size and how much off-platform reach the brand needs.
Self-serve consoles
Every major commerce media platform now ships a self-serve UI. Amazon Ads console, Walmart Connect Ad Center, Instacart Ads Manager, DoorDash Ads. The buyer picks an objective, sets a daily budget, uploads creative, and launches. Minimums start at $10 to $50 per day.
Self-serve fits on-platform sponsored search and sponsored product placements. It is the entry point for most brands.
DSP integrations for off-platform reach
Larger buyers route off-platform commerce media through a demand-side platform. Amazon DSP, Walmart's Trade Desk integration, and Roundel's connections to TTD and DV360 carry most off-platform spend. The buyer stitches commerce media audiences into the same DSP that runs CTV and open-web display.
Minimums through DSPs typically start at $25,000 per quarter.
On-platform vs off-platform inventory
On-platform sits inside the seller's owned properties. Sponsored search on Walmart.com. Sponsored listings on the DoorDash app. Conversion rates run 8 to 15 percent because the shopper is already in a buying mindset.
Off-platform uses the seller's first-party data to target the same audience on CTV, the open web, and audio. Per eMarketer, off-platform commerce media grew 35 percent year over year in 2025, faster than on-platform.
Real-world example with numbers
A mid-sized snack brand splits a $600,000 quarterly test across three commerce media platforms.
The setup:
- Walmart Connect on-site sponsored search on 12 head terms. $240,000.
- Instacart Ads sponsored product and basket placements. $180,000.
- Uber Eats sponsored listings inside the Uber app. $180,000.
Results after 90 days:
- Walmart on-site spend: $238,400. Attributed sales: $1,548,000. ROAS: 6.5.
- Instacart spend: $179,200. Attributed sales: $806,400. ROAS: 4.5.
- Uber Eats spend: $178,500. Attributed sales: $464,100. ROAS: 2.6.
- Blended new-to-brand share: 31 percent across the three platforms.
Walmart printed cash on harvest demand. Instacart pulled in cross-shoppers from competing brands. Uber Eats was weakest on direct ROAS but strongest on new-to-brand reach. The brand renewed at $900,000, kept the three-platform mix, and added Chase Media Solutions to test card-linked offers against the same audience.
That blend, on-platform for harvest, off-platform for reach, multi-platform for portfolio risk, is the commerce media playbook for 2026.
Commerce media in 2026
Three shifts will define the channel this year. First, financial-services commerce media will move from pilot to scale as Chase, PayPal, and Capital One open their card-spend audiences to programmatic buyers. Second, off-platform inventory will pass 30 percent of commerce media spend, per eMarketer's 2026 projection. Third, the IAB's standardized retail media taxonomy will let buyers compare ROAS across networks for the first time.
Per BCG's 2024 commerce media outlook, the channel will absorb spend from open-web display, paid social, and even linear TV as the privacy regime tightens. The networks that win will pair the cleanest first-party data with the deepest off-platform DSP integrations.
For brands, the playbook is straightforward. Treat commerce media as a portfolio. Buy on-platform for the harvest. Buy off-platform for new-customer reach. Measure incrementality, not just last-click ROAS. And start adding non-retail commerce media networks (delivery, ride-hail, financial services) before competitors do.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between commerce media and retail media?
Retail media is one slice of commerce media. Retail media covers retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Commerce media is the broader category that adds delivery apps (Instacart, DoorDash), ride-hail (Uber), travel sites (Expedia), and financial services (Chase Media Solutions, PayPal Ads).
Why is commerce media growing faster than other digital channels?
Two reasons. Cookie loss made first-party purchase data the most valuable targeting signal in digital. And every company with a checkout now realizes ad revenue carries 70 to 90 percent margin. Per BCG, commerce media will be the largest digital channel by 2026.
What is closed-loop attribution in commerce media?
The same company owns the ad impression and the purchase record. It can match an ad view to a logged-in transaction without cookies. No probabilistic modeling. No third-party tags. Per the IAB commerce media framework, this deterministic match is the channel's defining feature.
How do you buy commerce media inventory?
Three paths. Self-serve consoles inside each platform (Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, Instacart Ads). DSP integrations for off-platform programmatic via Amazon DSP, The Trade Desk, or DV360. And managed service for tentpole campaigns starting around $250,000 per quarter.
Is commerce media only for CPG and retail brands?
No. Auto, financial services, telco, and entertainment buy commerce media for audience reach. A bank can target Walmart grocery shoppers via Walmart Connect off-site. A streaming service can reach Uber riders via Uber Journey Ads. The channel is a privacy-safe targeting layer, not just an endemic ad slot.