Mastercard makes bigger grab for commerce media dollars with new network

• 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, in line with 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, that are positioned as key to future expansion plans.  
• Mastercard is trying to raised capitalize on a retail media market that is anticipated to close $100 billion in U.S. ad spending by 2028, per eMarketer, but which the payments firm views as rife with measurement and attribution challenges.  

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, comparable to 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 considered pain points. Mastercard is touting its view into permissioned data linked to 160 billion annual transactions as a technique to improve precision and personalization for brands. That data lets the network discover the fitting audience for an advertiser’s offer, with Mastercard capable of attribute any purchases made on to the content. The company claims that its network produces as much as 22-times return on ad spend for verticals including retail, travel, entertainment and dining. 

Mastercard Commerce Media doesn’t replace the corporate’s existing offers business, in line with a spokesperson. Instead, it looks to construct 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 thru global bank and publishing outlets. 

“The capability is evolving to be a full-scale media network to deal with 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 versatile solution that helps advertisers meet consumers wherever they’re within 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 can be deepening its collaboration with ad-holding group WPP to have interaction brands and buyers around traditional media. Mastercard named WPP Media as its global media partner in August in a significant win for the agency.