Spending Media Networks: the Next Big Thing?

Key Takeaways

Spending Media Networks (SMNs) Emerge: Financial institutions are launching Spending Media Networks to monetize vast customer purchase data, establishing a major new channel designed to rival the projected $60 billion Retail Media Network ecosystem.

Chase Leads the Financial Data Shift: Chase Media Solutions is a prime example, providing advertisers access to target 80 million customers based on deep transaction history, underscoring the shift where large banks see themselves fundamentally as data companies.

Precision Targeting Post-Cookie: Financial transaction data offers immense value for granular advertising (e.g., specific life events, category spending) and provides crucial targeting capabilities for hard-to-reach audiences, such as small businesses, via related data platforms like Intuit SMB MediaLabs.

This article was originally published in ANA Industry Insights report.

At the time, I was surprised. This was long before every data collector on the planet was making moves to package and sell theirs to marketers.

Fast forward to today and U.S. spending on retail media is projected to flirt with $60 billion in 2024, according to eMarketer. It's growing at a clip of 28.5 percent. Never mind that Amazon controls nearly 75 percent of that market — every retailer on earth seems to be scrambling to monetize its data.

It's no surprise then that other institutions are trying to follow suit. And some of them have even more information on your spending than Jeff Bezos.

Like your bank.

Recently, Chase announced that they were launching Chase Media Solutions giving advertisers the ability to target their 80 million customers based on their purchase history.

You can imagine how valuable this data can be for marketers:

With the amount of data financial institutions have on our spending habits, could we potentially see spending media networks surpass retail media networks in the coming years?

It's unclear how big a slice of that 80 million consumer pie Chase is really giving advertisers access to. The ads are only served on their owned properties through Chase Offers. Their site promises scale with some murky stats — they have $1.6 trillion credit and debit sales, 63 million "digitally engaged" customers, and Chase Offers drove $8.4 billion in sales to merchants, but they don't say how many are engaged with Chase Offers on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis or how long it took to drive those sales.

But if this is successful, you can be sure it will scale and that other banks will join suit and that data will find its way off of owned channels.

Chase isn't the only one monetizing their data on your spending. Intuit SMB MediaLabs is now selling data on "sought after and real-time small business audience data." It's based on QuickBooks data of millions of small businesses.

"Sought-after" is very accurate. Small businesses are notoriously hard to reach because small business owners look just like consumers — especially with cookies going away and only about one-third of marketers saying they're prepared for that eventuality. Now, however, you can target small businesses across programmatic, Meta, CTV, and more.

This is not unprecedented in marketing. Other financial institutions like American Express used to let brands target direct mail based on spending habits. Mastercard sells audience data — they're not sharing PII, but you're definitely being targeted in aggregate based on your personal transaction history. Visa Advertising Networks already touts the ability to buy its data to identify high spending audiences and audiences that are likely to buy in your category.

While banks haven't started selling your personal spending data for ad targeting yet, this will inevitably scale to a tipping point (unless it's regulated) — the scale at which it can be deployed now is much more significant. The financial opportunity is just too big.

As a consumer, this all creeps me out. Getting rid of cookies was supposed to protect our privacy, not open the floodgates.

Right now, toes are being dipped in the water. But you can expect that we'll be swimming in spending media networks soon.

This article was originally published on ANA's Marketing Knowledge Center.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spending Media Networks and Financial Data Monetization

Q1: What are Spending Media Networks (SMNs)?
A1: Spending Media Networks (SMNs) are marketing channels launched by financial institutions to monetize the extensive customer purchase data they possess. These networks allow advertisers to target consumers based on granular details of their specific transaction history and spending habits, establishing a new marketplace designed to rival existing Retail Media Networks.

Q2: How does Chase Media Solutions utilize customer spending data?
A2: Chase Media Solutions is a major initiative that gives advertisers the ability to target Chase’s 80 million customers based on their purchase history. The network is currently confined to serving ads on Chase’s owned properties through Chase Offers. This system leverages the vast scale of the bank's processing power, which includes $1.6 trillion in credit and debit sales.

Q3: How big is the market for Retail Media Networks, and can Spending Media Networks surpass it?
A3: U.S. spending on Retail Media Networks is currently projected to approach $60 billion in 2024 and is experiencing rapid growth at a clip of 28.5%. Given the immense amount of detailed spending data held by financial institutions, the source suggests that Spending Media Networks (SMNs) have the potential to eventually surpass RMNs in market scale in the coming years, provided the trend continues and is not heavily regulated.

Q4: How are financial institutions targeting difficult-to-reach audiences like small businesses?
A4: Companies are utilizing specialized financial data to reach niche audiences. For example, Intuit SMB MediaLabs is selling "sought after and real-time small business audience data" derived from its QuickBooks data, targeting millions of small businesses. This financial data is especially valuable because small business owners are notoriously difficult to target using traditional consumer targeting methods, particularly as third-party cookies phase out.

Q5: What other financial institutions are monetizing spending data besides Chase?
A5: The monetization of spending data is not unprecedented. Other institutions currently engaging in data monetization include Mastercard, which sells aggregated audience data based on personal transaction history (without sharing Personally Identifiable Information, or PII). Additionally, Visa Advertising Networks touts the ability to provide data for identifying high-spending audiences and consumers likely to buy in specific categories.