PubMatic Grows Commerce Media Offerings

Independent ad technology company PubMatic has launched Convert, a unified self-service advertising platform for commerce media.

Convert is built on PubMatic's global cloud infrastructure and is tailored for retail media networks and their advertisers, enabling both onsite and offsite monetization, including sponsored listing ads, display ads, video and connected TV (CTV) inventory. The offering will help retail media networks leverage their first-party data for audience extension at scale across the open internet, according to a media release.

Industry brands, retailers and advertisers, including IPG Mediabrands, Coles 360, Dentsu, Lyft Media, MiQ and Wallapop, a marketplace for selling pre-owned products, joined PubMatic as partners in the development and launch of Convert.

“The rise of retail media is well-documented and the potential for it to create impactful experiences for consumers and deliver business growth is immense,” said Paul Brooks, general manager, Coles 360, part of Coles Group, an Australian retail giant. “We are seeing a lot of companies evolving their capability to move into the retail media sector, PubMatic is moving quickly and their product development and investments in retail and commerce media are testament to this fact.”

The platform is built for both traditional retailers as well as a “wide variety” of transaction-based businesses, such as transportation or food delivery providers, travel companies or any scaled internet company that processes transactions.

Bruce Williams, executive vice president, head of performance marketing at Dentsu Media U.S. said in the release, “By partnering with PubMatic, Dentsu can leverage valuable commerce and retail data to enable advanced targeting and reporting and drive performance across the entire media supply chain. With the help of PubMatic, we’re advancing our end-to-end outcome-centered approach for media activation and delivering more holistic strategies across brand and commerce media for our clients.”

Convert expands PubMatic’s existing commerce media capabilities, including Connect, its omnichannel addressability solution that launched in 2022 and enables data access and control on the sell-side, closer to the consumer. PubMatic says the number of commerce companies leveraging Connect for audience extension continues to increase as they seek new, high-margin revenue streams to supplement their traditional business lines. 

According to research from GroupM, cited in the release, the global commerce media market is projected to surpass $140 billion by 2025. Moreover, the emerging commerce media digital supply chain is fragmented, causing retail media networks and their advertisers to rely on multiple technology layers that drive inefficiencies, according to the release.

Erin Madorsky, U.S. chief strategy officer, MiQ, said, “As commerce media becomes increasingly important to brands, access points are also becoming increasingly fragmented.”

“Commerce media will create another long-term growth driver for PubMatic’s business,” added Peter Barry, vice president of addressability and commerce media at PubMatic. “Data access, monetization and control are critical for commerce media networks and their advertisers, and PubMatic has a strong history of leadership and innovation in these areas. By making substantial investments in developing customized technology with Convert, we are confident in our ability to continue to drive increased value for our customers.”