Expedia Group is expanding its offerings for advertising partners with the creation of a travel-focused retail media business that it says will establish it as “the world’s leading travel media network.”
The company unveiled the updates at its Explore 24 event in Las Vegas last week.
The advertising platform, housed within Expedia Group Media Solutions, expands the company’s ad products beyond opportunities on its more than 200 travel websites and apps to partner sites such as Netflix and Disney+ and the company’s 60,000 B2B partners and social media. The network solution also provides consulting and campaign production capabilities.
“What we're doing is providing a one-stop shop,” said Rob Torres, senior vice president of Expedia Group Media Solutions during an interview with PhocusWire during the event.
“Our robust, first-party data and network of industry-wide partnerships gives us the exclusive ability to translate traveler shopping behavior to actionable insights for our advertising partners.”
The travel media network aims to target travelers at a number of touchpoints during the booking journey - starting from the inspiration stage. The idea is that with those touchpoints, the “highly relevant” travel content will drive conversions.
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During Explore last week, Expedia shared content to demonstrate the travel media network’s capabilities. Onstage, the company displayed campaign content from Visit California and Destination Canada, among others. And campaign results were measurable.
Visit California used Expedia Group’s media buying platform at London’s Heathrow airport to show its co-branded campaign garnered 275 million impressions.
Meanwhile, Destination Canada’s “Where To Canada” campaign developed with Expedia Group was meant to drive awareness and inspiration around Canada travel. The primary key performance indicator, Expedia said, was reach and engagement, but the company was also able to track bookings. The campaign drove an 18% bump in bookings to Canada and a 12% rise in average spend per booking on Expedia Group’s sites.
“We’ve only just scratched the surface with building bespoke media campaigns for partners, I’m excited for what’s to come,” Torres said.
In the first quarter of 2024, Expedia Group Media Solutions generated $145 million in revenue.
*This reporter's attendance at the event was supported by Expedia Group.