Google Ads introduces commerce audience sharing for retail media

Google Ads is introducing commerce audience sharing, allowing retailers and marketplaces to share first-party audience segments with brands and sellers running eligible retail media campaigns.

What’s new. Google’s new commerce audience sharing feature allows commerce partners, including retailers and marketplaces, to make their first-party audience segments available to advertising partners through Google Ads.

How it works. Retailers can share audience segments by linking their Google Ads account with the relevant Google Merchant Center and data-sharing accounts. Both the commerce partner and advertising partner must meet Google’s eligibility requirements.

The limitation. Shared audiences are only available for commerce media network campaigns, meaning advertisers can’t automatically apply these segments across their regular Search, Shopping or Performance Max campaigns.

What advertisers can see. Advertising partners gain visibility into shared audience information, including segment names, customer types and conversion data. Commerce partners can access performance metrics to understand how their audiences are being used and how campaigns are performing.

Why we care. Brands selling through retailers could gain access to more relevant audiences based on actual shopping behavior and customer relationships. That could make retail media campaigns more effective, particularly when trying to reach existing customers, high-intent shoppers or specific customer segments.

The opportunity. For retailers, audience sharing creates another way to monetize first-party data through advertising partnerships. For brands, it offers a way to reach valuable retail audiences without having to build those customer relationships independently.

The bigger picture. Retail media networks have become an increasingly important advertising channel, with retailers using their customer data to help brands reach shoppers closer to purchase. Google’s latest update brings more of that model into its existing advertising infrastructure.

The bottom line. Commerce audience sharing gives retailers and brands a new way to collaborate on audience targeting through Google Ads, expanding Google’s role in retail media while keeping access limited to eligible commerce media network campaigns.

Dig deeper. About commerce audience sharing through Google Ads.