Amex Ads is the latest player in commerce media

American Express announced its ad network, Amex Ads, Monday morning to coincide with the start of Advertising Week. The new platform is poised to help brands reach consumers with contextual ads in high-intent moments using the first-party data Amex has amassed from its 34 million cardholders.

The network was piloted on AmexTravel.com earlier this year, with hotel loyalty program Marriott Bonvoy and luggage brand Tumi proving successful guinea pigs. Amex Ads helped Marriott convert cardholders who had booked flights but not yet booked lodging, as well as helped Tumi secure sales with on-site display ads and post-booking communications; both brands saw results well above target benchmarks.

The platform boasts comprehensive measurement tools and unique insights compiled from a 360 view of cardholder spending, linking ad exposure to online and offline sales. “In a world where every dollar of marketing spending has to work hard to deliver value … [our] capability to measure sales uplift online and in-store can level the playing field, delivering tangible evidence of the advertising value delivered,” said Jacob King, SVP, head of Amex Offers digital media at American Express, in a statement.

Amex Ads aims to extend the brand’s well-established Offers platform — which has operated for the past decade and drove $15 billion globally last year alone — and plans to expand onto other platforms under the American Express umbrella.

“Amex Ads harnesses the power of our direct relationships with card members and brands to benefit both,” said Alexander Drummond, Amex’s EVP, GM of membership portfolio services, in a statement, adding that the brand works to ensure both sides’ privacy and security of data.

Amex is the latest payments platform to join the commerce media space, following entrants such as Chase, PayPal and Mastercard, which announced its media network just last week. Emarketer forecasts that commerce media ad spend will surpass $118 billion and account for nearly 25% of media budgets by 2029.

As ad networks proliferate and branch into new sectors outside of retail, brands continue weighing the risks and benefits of their budget allocations. The now crowded sector suffers from fragmentation and a lack of standardised measurement, though highly targeted, closed-loop platforms with niche audiences remain a big draw.