The Oracle’s Take on Commerce Media

What does the future of commerce media look like?

In this electrifying episode of Commerce Media Matters, we sit down with Matt Prohaska—Founder, CEO, and Principal at Prohaska Consulting, and a veritable oracle of data monetisation and programmatic advertising. With 32 years of experience and a portfolio featuring giants like Walmart, United Airlines, and The Gap, Matt dives headfirst into the complexities of commerce media, offering sharp insights and bold predictions.

From the pitfalls of last-click attribution to the untapped potential of identity solutions, Matt dissects what’s holding the industry back and what’s driving it forward. Expect candid takes on the reliance on outdated metrics, the rise of retail media networks, and the cultural shifts needed to succeed in this fast-evolving space. 

What you'll learn from this episode:

• Commerce Media’s Big Leap: Commerce media is breaking out of retail and charging into industries like automotive, travel, and finance. What’s driving this shift, and how will it shape the future?
• The Attribution Conundrum: Why the dominance of last-click attribution hinders fair measurement and optimisation and why it’s holding brands back and what it will take to finally fix the way we measure success.
• Cracking the Data Code: Why a one-size-fits-all approach to data won’t work. Companies need to embrace a mix of deterministic, probabilistic, and contextual solution to unlock deeper insights and better outcomes.
• Privacy and AI: A New Era: The cookie is crumbling, privacy laws are tightening, and AI is changing the game. What does it all mean for brands trying to navigate this new world?
• What’s Around the Corner for Commerce Media? A surge of new players, inevitable shakeouts, and a push for transparency. Matt’s predictions reveal the trends that will define the next chapter—including the rise of hybrid gardens.

Soundbites to listen out for:

Fragmentation Challenge in Commerce Media

Part of the challenge frankly is that there are so many new entrants in the space. Ton of fragmentation and just a lot of companies and leaders who have never been publishers before.

The Last Click Debate

About 80% of buyers still use last click, last touch as their primary or exclusive means of keeping score. We think there should be a fair ecosystem in the way everybody can play. Are we going to finally move past keeping score of last click, last touched?

The Commerce Media’s Impact

Commerce Media certainly has been a large entrant to be able to justify that, yes, they definitely are responsible for delivering all the way through (the funnel).

The Identity & First-Party Data Challenge

So the key is you've got to stitch it (data) together. It takes more work. There is no silver bullet. There's no one solution fits all. It has to map the reality of how we as consumers engage with content and commerce. We’re going to be coming through hundreds of different doors. And so you need to be able to have different identity solutions to translate.

Hybrid Gardens & the Future of Commerce Media

Not every commerce media publisher and player has the courage, the operational ability or the team to be able to do this - but we think that commerce media players could be, in aggregate, the largest hybrid garden solution out there.

Commerce Media in the next 18 months

In 18 months the number of commerce media players in both of our countries will actually increase by about another 20 to 25 % in the first 12 months. That'll start to contract and start to be reduced for the first six months in that window.

About our guest: 

Matt Prohaska, CEO and Principal, Prohaska Consulting, is a 31-year media veteran and consulting executive to leading digital media and advertising technology firms and executives.   

As head of award-winning Prohaska Consulting, Matt, works with CEOs, CROs, COOs, CFOs, and CTOs to drive revenue and/or reduce costs on a strategic and/or tactical level by improving sales, marketing, operations, product, and/or tech. 

Matt has contributed to the growth of online advertising since its commercial inception in the early 1990s, first by creating the online media practice at BBDO (now part of Omnicom) in 1994 and later opening CNET’s New York sales office in 1996.  In 2013, prior to launching Prohaska Consulting, Matt was Programmatic Advertising Director for The New York Times, leading more programmatic direct sales than any publisher in the world during his tenure.

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