Here’s what retailers should know about Mastercard’s new Commerce Media network

Mastercard has officially joined the retail media race with the launch of Mastercard Commerce Media, a network built on 160 billion annual transactions with direct access to 25,000 merchants and 500 million consumers.

The financial services provider has entered a crowded landscape to pitch itself as a bridge between retailers, advertisers, and consumers with smarter targeting, cleaner attribution, and real return on investment. While most retail media networks only see what happens inside their own stores, Mastercard sees where and how people actually spend.

Mastercard’s first-party data (from card transactions and purchase history) could give its Commerce Media network an edge, but whether it’s enough to attract advertisers remains to be seen. First-party data allows Mastercard to see what consumers actually buy, not just what they click on, giving advertisers a clearer picture of real-world behavior. With its card-linking technology, Mastercard can track and close the loop between ad impressions and sales, whether purchases happen in-store or online, while also measuring incrementality, or the lift that ads add beyond what would have happened organically.

This kind of closed-loop measurement addresses a core challenge in retail media: advertisers often struggle to know whether their campaigns truly drive sales or just generate clicks. But even the most precise measurement can’t guarantee success—retail media networks still need to prove they can turn insights into actionable campaigns that actually influence consumer behavior and justify advertising spend.

Zoom out: While more ad spend is moving into the retail media space, advertisers are still struggling to reduce customer acquisition costs, or they don’t always have clarity on whether their marketing actions drive financial outcomes.

Andrew Lipsman, independent analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, pointed out that the bigger challenge for financial media networks like Mastercard is whether they can move beyond loyalty programs to become full-fledged advertising platforms.

“Their future and advertising should be based on tapping top tier, first-party data and activating it in offline, offsite channels, whether that’s programmatic, social, or streaming TV,” Lipsman told Retail Brew.

Meanwhile, Jill Moser, SVP of commerce media at Mastercard, told Retail Brew, “brands have the flexibility to serve various content—offers, cashback, incentives, and advertisements, for example—that does not have to be tied to a loyalty program.”

She said Mastercard’s retail media arm is based on the insights the company gathers from everyday transactions. “If you think of your own credit card statement, and being able to see what we see—which is understanding that you’re going to a grocer, to a fuel provider, to the movies, to lots of different things from an everyday spend,” Moser said. “And so those are the primary advertisers within the ecosystem. And retail is No. 1 for what it's worth.”

Moser said Mastercard’s commerce media network serves brands like Tory Burch, Michael Kors, Harrod’s and Avis. Mastercard is able to drive “recency and frequency” to retailers and advertisers within the ecosystem “because we’re able to see those insights, pre-, during, and post-campaign,” she added.

Personalized card-linked offers are just the starting point, Mastercard’s Moser said. Over time, its Commerce Media will expand into new channels, enabling the network to deliver traditional ads anywhere a card is on file—from Connected TV to other emerging platforms, Moser added.