Episode 165: Melissa Burdick from Pacvue on the state of commerce media, plus TTD's continued woes

Melissa Burdick of Pacvue breaks down how commerce media is evolving beyond retail, why fragmentation is still the biggest challenge for brands, and how AI is reshaping product discovery across platforms. The conversation covers the rise of agentic commerce, Amazon’s dominance, and what the future of buying, measurement, and optimization looks like in a rapidly changing ecosystem.

Takeaways

• Commerce media goes beyond retail and includes discovery, AI driven experiences, and new buying environments.
• Fragmentation across retailers remains a major challenge for brands managing multiple platforms.
• Amazon still dominates commerce media with the majority of market share.
• AI is shifting search from keywords to prompts and changing how products are discovered.
• Agentic commerce is early but expected to evolve significantly in the coming years.
• Incrementality in retail media is complex and difficult to measure accurately.

Chapters

00:00 Intro + Marketecture Live recap

03:22 Startup showcase + guest intro (Pacvue)

06:58 Retail media vs. commerce media

10:42 Fragmentation + Amazon dominance

14:17 AI shopping, Rufus, and agentic commerce

20:11 In-store media + incrementality debate

25:11 AI in commerce and discovery shifts

30:00 AI campaign tools (Trade Desk, PubMatic, MiQ)

36:40 Publicis vs. TTD + transparency issues

45:34 Walmart, OpenAI, Meta, and future outlook

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