Introducing Content-to-Commerce Intelligence: The New Standard For The Commerce Media Era

For the last decade, digital media has chased views, clicks, and engagement. But that era is behind us now.

The Commerce Media Era

The Commerce Media sector was recognized as a new advertising segment in 2021 by the world's largest agency holding groups (GroupM, Publicis, Omnicom). The global commerce media market is expected to reach $160 billion this year and $220 billion by 2027 (1).

Commerce is no longer a destination—it's embedded in content.

Consumers discover products through:

• Editorial reviews

• Curated lists

• How-to guides

• Video features

• Experiential coverage and live events

  
  

Every story is a storefront.

Yet one fundamental question remains unanswered: Which content is driving commercial influence, and who is leading the market?

Performance analytics can track what sold, but not why or what inspired it. Retail media tracks last-click activity, not the content that creates the desire to click. That gap has become one of the most valuable blind spots in media.

Why Content-to-Commerce Matters Now

For premium publishers, 25-30% of digital revenue (2) now comes from: sponsored content, affiliate commerce, shoppable editorial, and experiential programs.

For brands, content is becoming the primary driver of purchase consideration, trust, and category authority.

But until today, no one has been mapping this ecosystem.

Introducing a New Category of Intelligence

We call it: CONTENT-TO-COMMERCE INTELLIGENCE.

It is the intelligence layer that:

• Maps brand-publisher partnerships across sponsored, experiential/event-based, and commerce content.

• Measures category activity, share of voice, and strategic positioning.

• Reveals where influence and opportunity are emerging.

• Connects creative storytelling with commercial outcomes.

This is not advertising analytics. Not retail attribution. Not SEO or affiliate performance. It is structural competitive intelligence for the new media economy.

If Retail Media answers: "What was bought and where?" Content-to-Commerce Intelligence answers: "What inspired the purchase and who is winning the narrative?"

The 3 Pillars of Content-to-Commerce

At Contalto, we track the evolution of content-led commerce by focusing on three distinct, yet continuous, pillars:

The Continuum: Story => Influence => Action.

We built the methodology, data infrastructure, and proprietary taxonomy to measure this ecosystem with precision, continuously, at scale.

Premium publishers sit at the center of this economy. If you can see what happens in premium content, you can see the blueprint for how commerce media works everywhere.

Our Mission: Transparency and Strategy

We want to make the content-to-commerce economy transparent, measurable, and strategically understood.

• So publishers can prove their commercial value.

• So brands can invest where influence truly happens.

• So agencies can build smarter content strategies.

• So affiliate and retail media specialists can gain visibility into commerce networks, data and content interactions.

Performance metrics will always matter, but they only tell one part of the story. Content-to-commerce intelligence reveals the beginning of the commercial journey: who is shaping the market's decisions and where category narratives take flight.

In a world where content is commerce, visibility becomes a competitive advantage.

That's what we've built. That's the category we're defining.

Contalto: The Intelligence Behind The Content-To-Commerce Ecosystem

“We’re defining a new intelligence category for the commerce media era — happy to share how we’re helping top publishers and brands. Book a chat with me here: [Calendly link]”

Sources: (1)Magna Global, Pubmatic; (2) Digiday+, IAB, Emarketer/Insider Intelligence, Contalto estimates.