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Lead DevelopmentFACT · 4/5•7 Oct '26•Via The Drum

Expedia Advertising Targets $100B Non-Travel Ad Opportunity

Expedia Group Advertising (EGA) is expanding beyond traditional travel advertisers to target 'travel-adjacent' brands in fashion, beauty, electronics, entertainment, and insurance. The company believes the travel planning and booking journey creates a lucrative commerce media opportunity, estimated at $100 billion in the US alone. EGA's research shows travelers spend about $500 on non-booking products and services per trip. Bill Watkins, who joined four months ago from Pinterest, is leading this push and announced the initiative at Advertising Week New York on October 7. EGA claims it generates over $120 billion in travel spend and sees over a billion monthly signals. The company is building a dedicated sales team and has already onboarded its first partner, insurance brand Redion. EGA's advertising business generated $206 million in Q2 2026, up 13% year-over-year. Watkins emphasizes the need for measurable performance to attract brand budgets. Expedia is also adapting to AI-driven travel planning by appearing on AI platforms like Google AI Mode and Meta's Muse, and recently acquired Layla, a conversational travel planning company.

•Expedia Group Advertising targets non-travel advertising, estimated at $100 billion in the US.
•EGA generates over $120 billion in travel spend and sees over a billion monthly signals.
•Bill Watkins, formerly of Pinterest, is leading the initiative, announced at Advertising Week New York.

Entities:Expedia Group Google Meta OpenAI Anthropic

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FACT · 4/57 Oct '26· Via ExchangeWire

Walmart Connect Expands to Linear TV with WBD

Walmart Connect announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery to bring its shopper data to linear TV, enabling addressable advertising on channels like TBS and Food Network through Walmart DSP. The deal uses a private marketplace powered by FreeWheel, offering closed-loop sales measurement. Separately, Zeta Global agreed to acquire Digital Audience, a data infrastructure firm, to enhance its identity and activation capabilities across channels. Ofcom has opened an investigation into Meta over its Instagram Instants feature, examining whether risk assessments were conducted before launch, with potential fines if breaches are found.

•Walmart Connect partners with Warner Bros. Discovery for linear TV addressable advertising.
•The deal runs via a private marketplace in Walmart DSP, powered by FreeWheel.
•Zeta Global agrees to acquire Digital Audience for undisclosed terms.

Walmart Connect Warner Bros. Discovery Zeta Global Meta

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FACT · 4/56 Oct '26· Via The Drum

Best Buy Ads Expands Commerce Media Beyond Retail

Best Buy Ads showcased at 'The Drop' an expansion of its commerce media ecosystem, moving beyond retailer-owned properties. Key announcements include the launch of Best Buy CTV, partnerships with Amazon Fire TV, LG, and Roku, opening Best Buy Studios to brands, expanding its creator program, and planning a TikTok Shop launch. This signals a shift towards full-funnel media, where commerce media follows consumers across CTV, social, and in-store experiences. Best Buy also introduced multi-touch attribution and expanded incrementality testing, supported by Circana research showing its ads influence purchases beyond Best Buy's channels. The company's marketplace grew to over 1,200 sellers and nearly one million SKUs, with international sellers added. The article emphasizes that commerce media is becoming a customer-centric ecosystem, integrating content, media, and commerce.

•Best Buy Ads launched Best Buy CTV and partnerships with Amazon Fire TV, LG, and Roku.
•Best Buy Studios is now open to brands for content creation and experiential activations.
•Best Buy plans to launch a TikTok Shop later this year.

Best Buy Amazon LG Electronics LG Roku TikTok Circana

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FACT · 4/55 Oct '26· Via Adweek

TikTok Adds AI Shopping Assistant and Direct Brand Checkout

At Advertising Week New York, TikTok unveiled a suite of AI-powered commerce and advertising features, including a conversational Shopping Assistant and 'Buy Direct' in-app checkout, developed with partners like Salesforce, Shopify, Shoplazza, and Stripe. The platform also introduced 'Agentic Leads' for AI-driven lead capture and qualification, enhanced Smart+ features for Search Ads Campaigns and GMV Max, and launched the TikTok Ad Network (TTAN), a programmatic marketplace spanning 400,000 apps and reaching 1 billion daily active users. Additionally, TikTok released a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server to integrate AI platforms like Claude and Perplexity. The company highlighted its economic impact, estimating $81 billion in US GDP contribution and $15.8 billion in US sales for TikTok Shop in 2025. As a subsidiary of ByteDance, TikTok's move into agentic commerce signals its transformation into a significant sales channel, blurring the line between social media and e-commerce. However, the article raises concerns about brands losing control over customer relationships and data, prompting the Retail AI Council to form a working group.

•TikTok launched the TikTok Advertising Network (TTAN), spanning 400,000 apps and reaching 1 billion daily active users, including 44 of the top 100 US gaming apps.
•Introduced AI commerce features: conversational Shopping Assistant, 'Buy Direct' in-app checkout, and 'Agentic Leads' for lead generation, with partners including Salesforce, Shopify, Shoplazza, and Stripe.
•Enhanced advertising automation with Smart+ for Search Ads Campaigns and GMV Max, now factoring in affiliate commissions, coupons, and referral fees.

TikTok Salesforce Shopify Stripe claude.ai Perplexity Snowflake McDonald's Best Buy ByteDance

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FACT · 4/55 Oct '26· Via https://martechseries.com/feed/

Constructor Launches Agentic Checkout Powered by Stripe

Constructor, a product discovery platform for the agentic era, has launched Agentic Checkout, integrating Stripe to enable shoppers—both humans and AI agents—to discover and purchase products within a single conversational interface. This new functionality eliminates the friction of leaving an AI agent to complete a purchase on a traditional checkout page. Available globally, it is the first Stripe-powered checkout directly within an onsite shopping agent. Shoppers can pay via Link by Stripe, used by 250 million customers, or other payment methods. The feature is initially available within Constructor's AI Shopping Agent and AI Product Insights Agent, with expansion planned across additional touchpoints. Adoption of Constructor's AI agents has surged, with a 900% increase in deploying companies over the past year, reflecting the growing shift toward agentic commerce.

•Constructor launched Agentic Checkout, integrating Stripe.
•Available globally, it is the first Stripe-powered checkout within an onsite shopping agent.
•Shoppers can pay via Link by Stripe, used by 250 million customers.

Stripe

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