This article was compiled with the help of generative AI based on data and analysis that is original to EMARKETER.
Commerce media networks are expanding beyond retail into new verticals like travel and financial services, creating opportunities for targeted advertising using first-party purchase data. The key to growth will be achieving a delicate balance, and engaging—rather than alienating—consumers.
“How can you introduce advertising into an experience that doesn't feel disruptive or causes friction and frustration, but instead feels additive to the experience?” said our principal analyst Sarah Marzano on the "Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail" podcast.
While retail media will generate nearly $55 billion in US ad spend this year, per our forecast, travel media will total just $2.13 billion and financial media $350 million.
Here are three trends shaping the future of commerce media in travel and financial services:
United Airlines is at the forefront of building out a travel media network, aggressively promoting its ad offerings at industry events. The airline's partnership with Starlink to provide free in-flight Wi-Fi opens up new advertising possibilities.
"If an airline can effectively transform that experience where you're stuck in that seat and know that you're going to have Wi-Fi, that opens up a ton of doors for relevant advertising that can take advantage of this captive audience," Marzano said.
Consumers seem receptive to ad-supported travel experiences. "As a consumer, I'm more than willing to sit through 30, 60 seconds of ads to get free Wi-Fi," our analyst Arielle Feger noted.
Companies like Uber, DoorDash and Lyft that sit between consumers and merchants are finding ways to combine their data and reach.
"DoorDash doesn't have the location data that Lyft does, and Lyft needs the kind of restaurant and grocery delivery data that DoorDash has,” Feger said. “I think that's going to really strengthen both of their ad networks.”
These partnerships help address the fragmented nature of travel purchase journeys by connecting data on where customers are going with hyper-local market information.
While financial companies have vast troves of cross-merchant purchase data, they face challenges in driving traffic to their owned properties and engaging users in a shopping mindset.
PayPal is addressing this by partnering with merchants to sell ads on their websites. "This really emulates some of the offerings that we see from Rokt and Fluent within the non-endemic digital advertising space," Marzano said.
The company will allow brands to advertise across multiple retailer sites to boost share of sales, leveraging PayPal's visibility into cross-merchant behavior.
What it means for marketers: As commerce media networks proliferate across verticals, brands will likely take a patchwork approach, testing different networks to maximize effectiveness. Marketers should watch for increasing integration with connected TV (CTV) and digital out-of-home advertising in places like gas stations and gyms.
"We're going to see brands kind of dipping their toes in here and there to really be able to maximize the effectiveness of each of those networks," Feger said.
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