PJ Triboletti of Fluent on Commerce Media, Post-Transaction Advertising, and the Third Wave of Growth

Jeanniey Walden: Welcome back. We’re here with PJ Triboletti, who leads revenue for Fluent. Fluent is a commerce media company. Welcome.

PJ Triboletti: Thank you so much.

Jeanniey Walden: Commerce media is one of the hottest topics right now for everyone in business, whether you’re a CEO, a CMO, on the growth team, or on the media team. Everyone’s looking at how they can make more money in the business, in a way that doesn’t cost them their customers. And you seem to have figured it out.

PJ Triboletti: It’s been quite a journey the last few years, building on the premise of this third wave of growth in digital media. We really got into the space toward the end of 2022, and since then we’ve grown into a successful business. What our partners are telling us shapes where we see this going in the future.

Jeanniey Walden: You’re having conversations multiple times a day with different businesses and brands about what they’re doing and how to do it better. What’s the number one question you ask?

PJ Triboletti: I’d put it into two buckets. There are companies already doing it, but without a strategic partner, and there are those looking to understand how to stand this up without any disruption. I love the ones who want to really understand how they should be thinking about introducing these verticals into their business. When we talk about Fluent, we look at it as real innovation. We’ve been grateful to work with incredible retail and travel partners, and we’re scaling into other verticals this year. Most of them want to see where things are going, because our partners keep asking us what to do with their products, whether that’s loyalty, new concepts in their dot-com business, or maybe something in brick and mortar in the near future.

Jeanniey Walden: For people watching who might not know what commerce media actually is, walk us through what a commerce media transaction looks like.

PJ Triboletti: Commerce media is the big brother of retail media. Retail media, historically, has been anything you see in sponsored listings or banners on a site, and it’s expanded into retailers using their data so partners can reach those shoppers elsewhere, on other publishers or the big platforms, to show them additional offers off-site. When we look at the broader picture of commerce media, where we’ve built our business over the last four years is post-transaction. What’s exciting for a lot of retailers, marketplaces, and travel brands is that the post-transaction, post-reservation moment comes after the consumer journey is already complete. So we can introduce verticals they wouldn’t be able to buy on-site, with no friction and no disruption to the user getting to their experience. We’ve found the post-transaction moment to be a compelling place to test strategic verticals that aren’t on their current site, and it’s been well accepted in the market.

Jeanniey Walden: So there are two opportunities for a company. One, I can acquire new customers in places I normally wouldn’t play, at the end of a transaction someone else is doing. Somebody’s checking out buying popcorn at a grocery store, and if I’m a movie theater I can offer a discount on movie tickets. So movie companies get more acquisition that way. And the other way, the money on their own transactions can keep making revenue.

PJ Triboletti: That’s exactly right. If I’m shopping at Home Depot buying something, I’m most likely a DIYer, which is compelling. Take CVS as an example. They sell tons of products, including dog products, but maybe Farmers Dog is an interesting offer. It opens up entirely new brands that weren’t able to engage those consumers, which is probably the most exciting part of this for advertisers, especially subscription businesses.

Jeanniey Walden: And you’re talking about the technology to serve the ads, the data to understand and identify signals, the strategy for how to work with a partner and what makes sense. There’s even a bit of influence in there, social influence opportunities. So you sit at this powerful level, right here.

PJ Triboletti: Yes.

Jeanniey Walden: If I’m new to this and looking for a solution like this, what three questions should I ask you to make sure I’m getting the best fit for my needs?

PJ Triboletti: First, who is my audience and what offers are worth putting in front of them? Second, why would I not want to be doing this on my own site already? And third, how can I do this without any negative feedback from giving consumers these offers? Those are the three questions I’d want to identify, to make sure there’s no friction in choosing us and in going through the process internally.

Jeanniey Walden: Right now, am I early? Is the market there yet, or am I missing it?

PJ Triboletti: I’d say we’re in the middle. A lot of brands still need education on how to deliver on these outcomes, and when and how to take advantage of it. The opportunity is great, but the real question is how we tie in a value-add for the consumer, so they take the offer and it builds additional loyalty. I can tell you stories: if you’re averaging 2.1 transactions a year per customer, and we can measure that we’ve increased it to 2.7, that lift is the ultimate outcome. I think it’s something everybody’s going to be doing on their websites soon enough, and as AI-driven websites arrive, we’re prepared for it.

Jeanniey Walden: Before we wrap, let’s talk about agentic commerce, because a lot of companies are concerned it’s going to take all of their transactions. What are your thoughts?

PJ Triboletti: I’m mixed on it. I look at it kind of like the Amazon Echo. When it came out, soon everyone had one, and for years it was mostly voice. I love it, but I don’t know how many people are going to hand over everything. I’m not sure I want to be buying my groceries that way. Maybe my wife would. It’s definitely something to be aware of, but I’m not sure about adoption for the everyday US consumer. The last figure I saw was that only a small share of US consumers are using AI at all. So to think it’s going to take over all shopping would surprise me. I do think it can be helpful for picking certain items and comparing prices, finding whether groceries are cheapest at Target or Walmart, so I could order from four or five places at once. That’s useful. But I’m not overly worried my mother is going to hand her shopping over to it.

Jeanniey Walden: I’m from Pittsburgh, so if any AI tried to swap me to a different ketchup, no matter how cheap, that would end my relationship with it. So I’m right there with you, which means any company in a retail-based business should feel the same.

PJ Triboletti: I do think on-site navigation will continue to shrink, which puts some pressure on retailers hitting their revenue goals, since consumers won’t be clicking through dozens of pages per transaction. That will be challenging for a lot of businesses trying to earn that impression. But overall, I think the actual transaction holds up.

Jeanniey Walden: PJ, thank you so much for being on the show.

PJ Triboletti: Thank you.

This conversation was recorded for Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden and lightly edited for readability.