Commerce Audiences Explained

Sponsored by Sovrn

By 2027, the U.S. commerce media market is projected to top $100 billion, accounting for more than 20% of total advertising budgets. Retail media networks are a major driver of this growth, but they’re only part of the story. Their success has revealed a broader opportunity: connecting with high-intent shoppers through precise, privacy-safe targeting across the open web.

That’s where commerce audiences come in.

The Ad Tech Explained Team developed this explainer, in partnership with Sovrn, to shed some light on how commerce audiences are built and the unique value they can unlock for advertisers and publishers alike.

Let’s lay the groundwork: What are commerce audiences? As in, what differentiates them from any other audience segment that advertisers might be targeting?

Commerce audiences are built from real shopping behavior, not just demographic data or broad interest categories. They’re informed by signals such as product searches, category engagement, and purchase activity, which reveal where a shopper is in their buying journey. This makes them more accurate and actionable than traditional audience segments that rely on assumptions about intent.

By combining browsing activity, product interactions, and transaction data, commerce audiences allow advertisers to target based on what a shopper is actually doing in the moment. This is especially valuable in an environment shaped by privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies, where durable, consented data is at a premium.

This sounds like an area where the major retail players are going to dominate. Is that the reality of it? 

Large retail media networks have undeniable value, but they operate within walled gardens that can limit reach and flexibility. The bigger opportunity is to go beyond those walls by tapping into commerce data available across the open web — from publishers, affiliate networks, and other content sources — and activating it across channels.

With the right partnerships, advertisers can use commerce audiences to reach high-intent shoppers wherever they are, whether that’s on CTV, mobile, display, or social. That means campaigns aren’t locked into a single retailer’s environment and can follow shoppers across their full journey.

OK. Let’s talk about where this fits into an advertiser’s planning. What are the distinctive benefits of commerce audiences?

Commerce audiences excel in the mid-funnel, which is that critical stage between awareness and purchase where intent takes shape and decisions are made. They help advertisers connect with shoppers who have moved beyond casual browsing but haven’t yet bought.

For advertisers, four benefits stand out when it comes to commerce audiences:

• Better audience insights: When you connect browsing behavior with intent signals and verified purchase history, advertisers get a much clearer, more nuanced view of shopping behavior. Instead of lumping people into broad categories like “electronics enthusiasts” or “fashion shoppers,” you can pinpoint the ones who are actively comparing specific models of headphones or filling online carts with dresses in a certain price range. That level of precision allows for sharper targeting and more relevant creative.

• Privacy-safe first-party data: Commerce audiences are built on durable first- and zero-party data—that is, information collected directly from consumer interactions with consent. These signals comply with privacy regulations while still delivering the accuracy advertisers need. In a world where third-party cookies are disappearing and device identifiers are harder to come by, this kind of data is becoming the foundation of responsible targeting.

• Performance alignment: High-intent audience segments are a natural fit for ROAS-driven strategies because they zero in on people most likely to convert. Instead of spending budget on large, unfocused segments, advertisers can direct spend toward those who are showing clear buying signals right now. This makes it easier to hit performance benchmarks, improve conversion rates, and prove ROI.

• Scarce purchase intent signals: Genuine, real-time purchase data is one of the most valuable (and limited) assets in advertising. Most targeting approaches rely on proxies for intent, like content consumption or demographic patterns, which can be outdated or misleading. Commerce audiences give advertisers direct access to signals that show when someone is actively moving from interest to purchase.

This all sounds like a no-brainer for advertisers. But what about publishers? Are they getting left out when it comes to commerce audiences?

Not all commerce audience strategies benefit both sides equally. In some cases, publishers contribute the data that fuels the segments without sharing in the resulting demand.

Sovrn’s approach is different. Its commerce audiences are built directly from activity on its publisher partners’ sites, so publishers retain control over their data and benefit from increased advertiser interest in their inventory. This model ensures that as advertiser demand for high-intent segments grows, publishers see more value flowing back to them.

Interesting. It sounds like Sovrn sits in a unique place when it comes to building commerce audiences. What more can you tell us?

Sovrn’s Commerce Audiences product combines two proprietary strengths: its affiliate platform, used by more than 5,000 publishers and creators, and the Sovrn Exchange, which reaches over 500 million daily active consumers. This pairing allows Sovrn to capture purchase behavior in real time, connect it with contextual and engagement data, and package it into actionable audience segments.

Because Sovrn’s data is directly sourced, it avoids the delays, degradation, and added costs that come with intermediated data. Advertisers get fresh, high-resolution intent signals, and publishers gain a channel for monetizing their commerce data without sacrificing control.

Sovrn’s scale makes this possible. Its affiliate tools power over $3 billion in annual retail spend across major categories like consumer electronics, home and garden, and fashion. The network captures more than 3 billion daily visits from search-driven traffic, creating a vast stream of purchase signals.

Early market adoption has been strong, with launch partners including Simpli.fi, Basis, and tvScientific. These companies are already activating Sovrn’s commerce audiences across campaigns that need precise targeting of in-market shoppers outside the major retailer ecosystems.

About Sovrn

Sovrn empowers publishers and creators with advertising, affiliate marketing, and data products to help them understand, operate, and grow their businesses. Serving thousands of customers across 80,000+ websites, mobile apps, and CTV channels, Sovrn reaches over 500 million active consumers daily. Sovrn is committed to transparency and fighting fraud, as recognized by IAB, JICWEBS, and TAG. Based in Boulder, Colorado, with offices in New York and London, Sovrn is a trusted leader in publisher technology. Visit sovrn.com to learn more.