Originally published in Adweek
Key takeaways
- 56% of U.S. media buyers plan to increase commerce media spend this year, but 55% cite missing cross-network measurement standards.
- New-to-brand definitions, lookback windows, and attribution rules differ by network, so results across networks can’t be compared directly.
- Off-site commerce media is growing twice as fast as on-site, carrying purchase signal away from the retail environment that created it.
- A shared identity layer lets brands recognize the same consumer across every network, and Experian’s independence from demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply paths keeps that layer neutral.
Commerce media keeps expanding, and brands are running campaigns across more networks than ever. Most still can’t say which network performed better.
More media networks haven’t produced a more complete view
Investment keeps climbing, and 56% of U.S. media buyers plan to increase commerce media network spending this year, often by reallocating from social, display, and search budgets. Nearly half of advertisers, 47.5%, now fund those campaigns from two or three separate budgets.
Every network in that mix brings its own identity system, audience definitions, and measurement approach. Brands add the fourth or fifth network expecting a fuller picture of performance. Instead, they get more numbers that no one designed to sit next to each other.
I don’t think commerce media has a data problem. Every network has audience data and purchase data. Consistency across them is what nobody has built yet.
The inconsistency lives in the definitions
Take new-to-brand, the metric meant to separate new customers from repeat buyers. It means different things at different networks. Lookback windows differ. Some definitions apply at the brand level, others at the product line. Some count in-store purchases, others count only digital. View-through credit varies across display, video, and connected TV (CTV). Attribution windows vary by partner and by format.
Audience portability compounds it. Retailer audiences often can’t move across platforms, so teams rebuild the same strategy in several systems and hope the definitions roughly align.
Over half of advertisers, 55%, name the lack of cross-network measurement standards as a top challenge. A campaign can look stronger on one network than another for no reason other than a different reporting rule. You can’t move budget on numbers that don’t compare or show incremental lift, and yet most teams are trying to.
Off-site growth makes this harder to ignore
On-site inventory is approaching its ceiling. Sponsored results now appear on 99% of product search pages at Amazon and Walmart, and ad density has reached as high as 50% on key retail search pages. Off-site spending is growing at twice the rate of on-site.
Off-site carries commerce signal away from the environment that created it. Every handoff is a point where the audience definition, the match rate, and the measurement logic have to hold. These are solvable problems, and they show up in the same form at every handoff, which makes them worth solving once instead of campaign by campaign. Fragmentation that stayed manageable inside a retailer’s own properties becomes something to design for the moment the signal travels.
Interoperability starts with a shared identity layer
Brands and networks need a common way to recognize the same consumer wherever a campaign runs. That layer has to draw on retailer, brand, and campaign signals together, and it needs consistent definitions from one network to the next. Get that right and performance sits on common ground, even with every network’s particular reporting rules.
That layer matters more as AI takes over more of the optimization. Models inherit whatever inconsistency sits in the data beneath them, so audience definitions that shift from one network to the next degrade every decision that follows. Better models won’t fix a fragmented identity layer, but they will scale its errors faster. Networks can get ahead of this by settling the identity layer first, standardizing audience definitions so they hold on-site and off-site and give the models downstream something dependable to learn from.
Signal expansion belongs in the same conversation. First-party data reflects the customers who logged in, joined the loyalty program, or completed a transaction. Irregular buyers, emerging segments, and high-value prospects who are actively in-market show up faintly or not at all in that view, even though signal about them exists elsewhere in the ecosystem. A shared identity layer that connects to a marketplace of data providers closes part of that gap, and it does so without asking any network to hand over raw records.
This is also what opens commerce media to brands that will never own a media network. Most companies sitting on valuable first-party data don’t have the traffic or the assortment to build what Amazon and Walmart built, and they don’t need to. Combining signal with trusted partners produces audiences larger and more valuable than any one of those brands holds alone. That’s how a brand participates in commerce media without becoming a media company.
Networks need infrastructure, and neutrality decides whose
A mid-sized commerce media network runs into the same ceiling from the other direction. Owned inventory has a limit, and so does owned data. Growing past both means off-site reach, enriched audiences, and measurement that holds up next to the largest players, and building all of that in-house isn’t realistic for most networks. What they need is infrastructure that supports expansion without giving up control of the customer relationship.
That makes the choice of whose infrastructure a consequential one. Brands and networks should look hard at the commercial position of any partner they put at the center of identity and measurement. A partner with interests in a specific demand-side platform (DSP), supply path, or set of agency relationships gains visibility into every deal that moves through it, and that visibility shapes incentives over time. Networks are right to weigh it carefully.
Experian competes in none of those layers. Our position strengthens when the ecosystem stays open and brands keep the freedom to work across partners, platforms, and evolving technologies. Independence is what makes shared infrastructure possible.
Consistency is the constraint on the next round of growth
Commerce media maturity trails its ambition. 42% of teams believe they have operationalized commerce media, while only 13% qualify as advanced against leadership, technology, measurement, and operations.
Closing that gap depends on identity discipline more than network count. A brand that recognizes the same consumer across every network it buys can compare results, move budget with confidence, and hold every partner to one standard. Without that, each new network adds spend and subtracts clarity.
Consistency is what turns commerce media from a set of separate programs into something a brand can actually manage.
About the author
Kevin Dunn
Chief Revenue Officer, Experian
Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships.
Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together.
Latest posts
Commerce media networks have had a strong start. Growth has been fast, demand has been strong, and brands have made it clear they want closer access to commerce-driven audiences. But as more networks mature and enter the space, many are starting to feel the same pressure point: scale. Most commerce media networks were built as managed service businesses. That model works well early on. High-touch, white-glove partnerships make sense when you’re working with a handful of strategic brands. But there’s a ceiling. There are only so many teams, only so much inventory, and only so many advertisers that model can realistically support. It’s one thing for a large retailer to build custom programs for a P&G. It’s another to do that at scale for hundreds or thousands of brands. At some point, growth slows, not because demand disappears, but because the model can’t stretch any further. The scale problem no one likes to talk about That’s where many commerce media leaders find themselves today. Pausing to assess what comes next. For a long time, growth has been measured almost entirely through media dollars. That mindset is understandable. Media is familiar, it’s easy to quantify. It shows up clearly in negotiations and revenue reports. But viewing commerce media networks purely as media sales engines creates long-term risk. It can strain brand relationships, limit innovation, and distract from what commerce media networks actually do better than almost anyone else: understand consumers deeply. Signals are the real asset Commerce platforms sit close to decision-making. They see what people search for, what they consider, what they buy, and when those behaviors change. Those signals are incredibly powerful. And yet, most networks only activate them inside their own walled environments. That’s a missed opportunity. Curation represents the next area of growth for commerce media networks, and it doesn’t require replacing or diminishing existing media revenue. In fact, it complements it. No single commerce media network has all the data needed to give advertisers the scale and reach they’re looking for. And no advertiser wants to recreate the same audience in dozens of disconnected platforms. That friction creates inefficiency and slows decision-making. Why collaboration supports sustainable growth The opportunity is to look beyond first-party data alone and start thinking about collaboration. Second-party data. Data partnerships. Signal sharing done responsibly and transparently. Imagine an advertiser defining an audience once and being able to understand and reach that audience across multiple commerce environments. Not through a series of disconnected buys, but through a more consistent approach built on shared understanding leading to increased reach and more impactful campaigns. That’s easier for advertisers to manage, and it creates an additional revenue stream for commerce media networks that complements media sales rather than competing with them. Curation strengthens media, it doesn’t replace it Media will always play an important role. There is clear value in custom experiences tied directly to a commerce environment. Think buyouts, sponsored experiences, custom creative integrations. Those are situations where brands want to work closely with the network itself. But the signals commerce media networks hold don’t need to be limited to those moments. Those signals can be monetized independently through data products, co-ops, and partnerships that extend their value into other channels. That’s how curation adds value without undercutting existing revenue. A practical path forward for commerce media leaders For commerce media leaders thinking about their next phase of growth, the focus should be on sustainability. Building a massive media operation takes time and investment. Data-driven revenue streams can be introduced more quickly, require fewer internal resources, and provide steadier margins. It’s a practical approach. Use signal-based revenue to fund growth. Let that revenue support investment in tooling, talent, and media innovation over time. Bootstrapping, in the truest sense. Why transparency matters early There’s also a broader responsibility here. In many advertising channels, transparency followed growth, often after pressure from the market. Commerce media networks have an opportunity to do this differently. To lead with transparency from the start. To be clear with brands and consumers about how data is used, how signals are created, and how value flows through the ecosystem. Because the reality is this: commerce media networks are holding some of the most valuable intent signals in the market today. But those signals don’t retain their value in isolation. If they aren’t enhanced, combined, and made accessible in the right ways, someone else will step in to do it. And when that happens, control shifts away from the source. The bottom line The next chapter of commerce media isn’t just about selling more media alone. It’s about recognizing the value of the signals already in hand, working together to make them more useful, and building additional revenue streams that support long-term growth. That’s how commerce media networks grow without eating their own lunch. About the author Kevin Dunn Chief Revenue Officer, Experian Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships. Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together. Latest posts
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