The Commerce Media Flywheel — Mark Grether, PayPal

S3 E6 · Mar 2, 2026 · 47 min

What happens when a payments company becomes a commerce media platform.

Show notes

Mark Grether (SVP & GM, PayPal Ads) joins The Middlemen to unpack what happens when a payments company becomes a commerce media platform.

Why do CMOs talk ROAS while CFOs talk market share? What does it mean to build a merchant-first media model? And is “PayPal Ads” too small a label for what’s actually being built?

We cover the commerce media flywheel, cross-merchant data, revenue sharing with SMBs, and why transaction infrastructure may be the next frontier of media.

What we cover

A merchant-first media model
Building the flywheel inside a non-ad company
CMOs vs CFOs: ROAS vs market share
Revenue sharing with SMBs
Storefront Ads and collapsing the conversion funnel
Competing with the walled gardens

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