Plenty of audiences. Plenty of demand. No easy way to buy.
South African commerce media is evolving. Retailers and data-rich businesses are building media offerings and brands are demanding them. On both sides of the market, the appetite has settled and the opportunity is real.
The buying is where it stalls. Audiences sit in silos, every partner runs its own process, and every campaign starts with another negotiation. Supply has grown, demand has grown, Yet, the infrastructure linking the two has lagged behind.The fragmentation in the market, not the appetite, is what’s holding growth back.
Marketplace 2.0 is built to solve that: more of the commerce media opportunity, connected in one place.
More audiences and campaign packages,
in one platform.
Marketplace 2.0 is live.
Flow’s Audience Marketplace just got bigger: more first-party audiences to discover and book, plus campaign packages – the ready-to-book packages our retail and commerce media partners build for their brands.
One platform, one plan, one booking process.
It marks a new era for commerce media in South Africa, and it is built for the way media is actually planned: a brief lands, and you need instant access to the right audiences, the right packages and a clear view of what you are buying.
More marketplace. More ways to buy.
01
More audiences to discover and book than ever.
Hundreds of first-party audience segments from more than 35 data partners, in one place. Built on real purchase, browsing and behavioural signals, not broad targeting parameters.
02
Campaign packages.
For the first time, the curated audience and media packages partners like Woolworths, ARC and Bash build for their supplier brands are bookable through Flow. Media placements and audiences combined, priced and packaged by the partner.
The most effective retail and commerce media has always been the hardest to book.
Campaign packages change that.
03
Audience tiering on every audience.
Every audience card now shows its tier upfront, so you can see the calibre of what you are buying before you buy it.
- Tier I is built on verified first-party data with 1:1 PII matching and full omnichannel reach: sharper signal, smaller and more specific audiences, for lower-funnel work where precision earns its place.
- Tier II blends verified PII with web-traffic signals for moderate reach across an expanded channel selection: the relevance-and-range space most everyday plans sit in.
- Tier III runs on web-traffic and behavioural signals at scale for broad reach and awareness. Filter to one tier when the brief calls for focus, or mix all three in a single plan. Match the audience to the brief, not the brief to the audience. (More on how to use the tiers here).
04
One plan for every audience you need.
Audience planning now spans everything in the marketplace: first-party segments across all three tiers and campaign packages from your retail and commerce media partners, built into a single, approval-ready targeting plan.
Gil Sperling
Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Flow
“For years the hard part of commerce media in South Africa was not the lack of demand. It was the process of getting access to first-party data audiences.
The moment you bring the audiences, the partner packages and the planning into one place, you change what a brand can actually do with a brief. That is the shift this market has been waiting for, and it is the start of how commerce media gets bought here from now on.”
05
Insights tools you can use:
- Discover Audiences with a macro view of the entire audience marketplace. See the full marketplace by partner, industry, persona and funnel stage to see what exists and what is covered before you commit to a plan.
- Competitor Insights shows the audiences you are booking relative to others using first-party data in your industry. Get a read on where you are ahead, and where there is room to move.
06
Reporting
Ensures you get full campaign performance feedback and review, so what you learn from one campaign sharpens the next.
Browse, plan, book and activate instantly
Here is how it runs in the marketplace.
You browse audiences by tier, industry, channel, partner or funnel stage, across both first-party segments and campaign packages, in one interface. Where you are not sure what fits, Flow’s AI powered strategist Nova helps you find the audiences that meet your campaign objectives. You use the audience planning tool to transform those selections into a single, approval-ready targeting plan. Then you book your audiences and activate across your chosen channels.
Forget about learning new platforms, juggling separate partner processes, or scheduling endless negotiations.
Why this matters for commerce media in SA
For years, buying commerce media in South Africa meant assembling it: a separate conversation, process and plan for every partner, every time. Marketplace 2.0 changes the category’s centre of gravity. The audiences, the partner packages and the planning now sit in one place, which means the hardest part of commerce media stops being how you buy it.
This is a genuine shift for the industry, not a feature release.
When buying stops being the bottleneck, more of the opportunity actually gets spent, on both sides of the market. This is where commerce media in South Africa shifts from being a complex puzzle for brands to assemble into a product they can readily purchase.
WHERE DEMAND MEETS DATA 🚀
The future of commerce media planning is ready for you.
Browse Marketplace 2.0 here
or book a demo and we will walk you through it.
Frequently asked questions
1. What's new in Audience Marketplace 2.0?
More audiences to discover and book, campaign packages from Flow’s retail and commerce media partners, audience tiering on every audience, audience planning across segments and packages in one approval-ready plan, and an enhanced insights section. All in the platform advertisers already use.
2. What are campaign packages, and who can book them?
Ready-to-book packages built by a partner: media placements and audiences combined, priced by the partner. Each partner makes its packages available to its supplier brands, and can choose to list packages on the open marketplace more broadly. If you work with a partner like Woolworths, ARC or Bash, these will be available to you.
3. What do the audience tiers mean?
The tier reflects the data behind the audience. Tier I is built on verified first-party data with 1:1 PII matching, for campaigns where precision is critical. Tier II blends verified identity with web-traffic signals, for mid-funnel relevance and range. Tier III runs on behavioural signals at scale, for awareness and reach. There is advertiser demand for every tier, and you can mix tiers in one plan. For a fuller breakdown, read How to use Flow’s three audience tiers.
4. What insights do I get?
Discover Audiences, a macro view of the whole marketplace you can filter and sort by partner, industry, persona and funnel stage. Competitor Insights, showing your bookings relative to others using first-party data in your industry. And full campaign performance reporting, so each campaign informs the next.
