How eCommerce is becoming a key part of publishers’ emerging revenue strategies

The difference in margin between e-commerce and advertising has become a much bigger story than Amazon: everyone from Uber to Walmart to Instacart is pushing into ‘merchant media’, and hiring at scale  

The difference in margin between e-commerce and advertising has become a much bigger story than Amazon: everyone from Uber to Walmart to Instacart is pushing into ‘merchant media’, and hiring at scale:

For a number of years, media and commerce operated in a mutualistic manner. For a time, sites like Amazon, Target, and Walmart needed product demand and digital publishers would provide that demand for a percentage of each sale made. It was a win / win. Media could monetize its traffic in new ways and brands could advertise without upfront costs.

Advertising spend is down, non-essential affiliate marketing is on life support, subscription strategies are nascent, and direct-to-consumer commerce is a rarity. Media is being forced to evolve, once more. And so are brands.

There are fundamentals that I don’t see changing: money comes into the ecosystem either from advertisers looking to reach an audience, or from the audience itself. For the former, the creator economy will continue to capture a greater and greater share of ad spend, mostly because it will capture a greater and greater share of viewer attention. But ... See more