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Walmart Connect Expands Into TV & Audio as TikTok Adds AI Shopping
Walmart Connect is expanding its advertising capabilities across television and audio through partnerships with Spotify, Yahoo DSP and Warner Bros. Discovery. Meanwhile, TikTok is introducing AI-powered shopping assistance and direct brand checkout. Episode 13 explores how both developments are connecting advertising, media and shopping in different ways.
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Special Edition: Amazon Ads Agent, DVA+ & What Changed at unBoxed 2026
Amazon used unBoxed 2026 to introduce Amazon Ads Agent, DVA+, Full-Funnel Campaigns and Review Requests. Shaun explores the bigger idea connecting the announcements: AI is moving from helping marketers understand campaigns to helping actually operate them—and that could change what marketers spend their time doing.
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Costco’s AI Traffic Is Converting + Retail Media Gets Complicated
Costco says traffic from AI search is growing triple digits and converting at a higher rate than other traffic sources it tracks. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of retail and commerce media networks is creating more complexity for marketers. Episode 12 explores an interesting tension: shopping may be getting simpler for consumers while marketing behind the…
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Special Edition: Best Buy Ads’ The Drop — CTV, TikTok Shop & What Comes After Sponsored Products
Best Buy Ads made a series of announcements at The Drop spanning CTV, TikTok Shop, creators, in-store media and measurement. Shaun explores what the public announcements reveal about commerce media moving beyond sponsored products—and what happens when audiences, content, shopping experiences and measurement start connecting.
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McDonald’s Builds an Ad Business + Citi Enters Commerce Media
McDonald’s is building a media network, Citi is turning transaction insights into a commerce media platform, and DoorDash and Instacart are bringing shelf-level intelligence into the equation. Together, they show how commerce media is expanding beyond traditional retailers—and why valuable commerce signals may be the foundation of the next generation of media networks.
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Retail Media Moves From Past Purchases to Predicting What’s Next
Albertsons is pushing retail media measurement toward incrementality, Sam’s Club Connect is using AI to predict what shoppers might need next, and Pinterest is turning visual search into an advertising opportunity. Together, they point toward a commerce media ecosystem increasingly focused on prediction — and proving what actually works.
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Amazon Ads Comes to ChatGPT + Kroger’s Retail Media Profit Jumps 24%
Amazon Ads comes to ChatGPT, Kroger reports 24% growth in retail media profit, and Circana adds Google Meridian to its measurement offering. Three stories pointing to bigger opportunities — and bigger expectations — for commerce media.
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Commerce Media Is Growing Up. Now Comes the Hard Part.
Commerce media has built the networks, data, measurement and technology. Now comes the harder question: how do we make the experiences running on top of that infrastructure more creative, useful and valuable?
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When Commerce Media Stops Looking Like Retail Media
This week, I’m looking at three stories that made me think about how quickly the definition of commerce media continues to expand. Simon Property Group is turning its network of shopping destinations into a media platform. E.l.f. Beauty is using TikTok Live as part of its product-launch strategy. And Dentsu is reorganizing its commerce and…
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When Retail, Media & Commerce Start to Blur
Walmart’s advertising growth, new CTV research from Roku and Amazon, and Best Buy entering Fortnite all point toward the same shift: the boundaries between retail, media, entertainment and commerce are getting harder to see.
