Dive Brief:
- Mastercard announced a new commerce media offering that leverages permissioned data and technology from the payments giant, promising more personalized offers and end-to-end measurement for advertisers, according to a press release.
- Mastercard Commerce Media draws on Mastercard’s 500 million enrolled customers and existing base of 25,000 advertisers for scale. The platform is supported by partnerships with Citi, WPP, American Airlines and Microsoft, which are positioned as key to future expansion plans.
- Mastercard is trying to better capitalize on a retail media market that is expected to near $100 billion in U.S. ad spending by 2028, per eMarketer, but which the payments firm views as rife with measurement and attribution challenges.
Dive Insight:
Mastercard is making a bigger grab for advertisers’ dollars with its new digital media network, which leverages complementary capabilities from across the payment firm’s portfolio, such as card-linking technology, personalization from Dynamic Yield and media optimization from its marketing services division.
While investments in commerce media have steadily accelerated, measurement and attribution are widely regarded as pain points. Mastercard is touting its view into permissioned data linked to 160 billion annual transactions as a way to improve precision and personalization for brands. That data lets the network identify the right audience for an advertiser's offer, with Mastercard able to attribute any purchases made directly to the content. The company claims that its network produces up to 22-times return on ad spend for verticals including retail, travel, entertainment and dining.
Mastercard Commerce Media does not replace the company’s existing offers business, according to a spokesperson. Instead, it looks to build on a foundation created by those services, which have accrued large advertiser and enrolled consumer bases over the past decade-plus.
Mastercard plans to bring the media network offering into new distribution channels, including point of sale and digital wallets, along with additional markets moving forward. At launch, the network operates in Mastercard’s owned channels and through global bank and publishing outlets.
“The capability is evolving to be a full-scale media network to address common pain points — whether the goal is to spark awareness through a digital ad, drive conversion with a well-timed incentive, or something in between, Mastercard Commerce Media is a flexible solution that helps advertisers meet consumers wherever they are in the purchasing lifecycle,” the spokesperson said in emailed comments to Marketing Dive.
Along with leaning on Mastercard’s own technology, the commerce media network has several partnerships to round out its appeal. A tie-up with Citi grants the network greater scale and Mastercard is working with Microsoft to embed the offering in Copilot Studio amid the rise of artificial intelligence-powered commerce. Mastercard is also deepening its collaboration with ad-holding group WPP to engage brands and buyers around traditional media. Mastercard named WPP Media as its global media partner in August in a major win for the agency.
