PayPal Ads: what PayPal and Venmo sell to advertisers, and how to buy it

PayPal sees purchases across what it says are tens of millions of merchants, not inside one store. A retailer knows its own baskets. PayPal can see that a shopper bought running shoes on one site and paid a friend on Venmo for a race entry, an example PayPal itself uses (PayPal, 6 January 2026). That breadth is the pitch against retail media networks. The limit is the mirror image: a purchase paid by card on a merchant's own checkout, without PayPal, does not enter the graph.

PayPal sells in three directions at once. It buys space on other screens and sells PayPal audiences there, through Offsite Ads and, since April 2026, Curated Ads on Tubi, Spectrum Reach and Warner Bros. Discovery. It aims to turn small merchants into publishers. Ads Manager, announced in October 2025, is meant to let a shop add an SDK and earn money from ads on its site (PayPal, 7 October 2025). And it puts checkout inside the ad unit with Storefront Ads. No other financial network in our directory combines data, supply and payment this way.

PayPal also invites outside checks on its numbers. In January 2026 it named 20 certified measurement partners, from Adjust to VideoAmp, so brands can check results with their own vendor (PayPal, 6 January 2026). Compare that with Chase Media Solutions, which reports through its own dashboard.

Onsite. PayPal's own apps and sites carry offers and ads. The business grew out of PayPal's advanced offers platform (PayPal, 28 May 2024). In the UK, PayPal said customers would begin to see ads from July 2025 (PayPal, 2 April 2025).

Offsite. Offsite Ads runs display and video on websites and apps, plus connected TV (CTV). It reached Germany and the UK in September 2025. Curated Ads adds premium CTV and open-web supply and is sold as managed service or as a private marketplace (PMP) deal. How these data flows usually work is covered in offsite retail media explained.

Shoppable and small-merchant inventory. Storefront Ads launched in June 2025 as IAB-standard units that show products and complete checkout through PayPal or Venmo inside the ad. PayPal planned brand carousels and sponsored listings next (PayPal, 16 June 2025). Ads Manager adds new placements on small merchants' own sites.

Audiences are built from what people actually bought, by merchant and category, plus search and peer-payment signals from Venmo and Honey. PayPal states the graph spans more than 430 million consumer and merchant accounts (PayPal, 17 September 2025).

What stays inside: the transaction records themselves. PayPal describes "privacy-safe messaging" and activates audiences in partner channels, but its releases do not say what, if anything, an advertiser can export. What advertisers receive: placements, campaign reports and lift results. Data can also flow in: the Conversion API sends an advertiser's own conversions back into the graph (PayPal, 22 June 2026).

Consumer control is set in the account. A 2024 privacy statement update let PayPal share shopping preferences with merchants. Customers in California, North Dakota and Vermont must opt in; elsewhere they can opt out (Digital Transactions, 1 October 2024). 404 Media found accounts opted in by default (404 Media, 1 October 2024). The US rules for this kind of sharing are set out in GLBA and advertising with bank data.

PayPal ties exposure to purchases it processed, which is closed-loop measurement for that slice of spend. Its own suite reports attribution and incrementality, and brands can add a certified third party.

PayPal's published results are company claims. Adorama reported 7.3x incremental ROAS and 14.9% incremental transaction lift in April 2026, with 56% of buyers new to the retailer; Best Buy reported 6.25x ROAS (PayPal, 22 June 2026). Ask how much of your sales run through PayPal before you read any lift number, because the rest is invisible to it.

1. Contact PayPal Ads. Larger brands and agencies start with the PayPal Ads team through paypal.com/us/advertiser; Publicis Media was the first agency partner for Offsite Ads.
2. Choose the surface. Pick onsite offers, Offsite Ads, Storefront Ads or Curated Ads, depending on whether you want reach, CTV or direct sales.
3. Choose the route. Run managed service, or take a Curated Ads PMP deal ID into your own demand-side platform (DSP).
4. Pick a measurement partner. Select a certified partner before launch if your finance team needs an outside read.
5. Decide on data sharing. If PayPal offers the Conversion API, review what conversion data you would send back and on what legal basis.

Small businesses that want to sell space on their own sites, rather than buy it, join the Ads Manager waitlist.

It suits:

• online retailers whose customers often pay with PayPal or Venmo;
• brands that want CTV audiences tied to real purchases;
• advertisers that need independent measurement partners;
• categories where shoppers compare many merchants, such as electronics.

It suits less:

• brands whose sales mostly happen in stores or outside PayPal checkout;
• advertisers that want record-level data in their own systems;
• teams without budget for a managed or PMP test.

• PayPal Ads revenue; PayPal does not report it separately.
• The month PayPal Ads first ran onsite in the US.
• Whether Ads Manager has reached general availability.
• What audience data, if any, advertisers can export.
• Minimum spend for managed, Offsite or Curated Ads campaigns.

1. PayPal, "PayPal Announces New Leaders to Build New Advertising Platform and Accelerate Consumer Product Innovation" (28 May 2024). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2024-05-28-PayPal-Announces-New-Leaders-to-Build-New-Advertising-Platform-and-Accelerate-Consumer-Product-Innovation
2. PayPal, "PayPal Announces Ads Solution in the UK" (2 April 2025). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-04-02-PayPal-Announces-Ads-Solution-in-the-UK-Revolutionising-Commerce-Media-for-Brands-and-Merchants
3. PayPal, "PayPal Launches Offsite Ads" (29 April 2025). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-04-29-PayPal-Launches-Offsite-Ads-Unlocking-the-Power-of-Transaction-Data-Off-Platform
4. PayPal, "View. Click. Buy. PayPal Storefront Ads Expand Merchant Reach Across the Web" (16 June 2025). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-06-16-View-Click-Buy-PayPal-Storefront-Ads-Expand-Merchant-Reach-Across-the-Web
5. PayPal, "PayPal Expands Offsite Ads to Germany and the UK" (17 September 2025). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-09-17-PayPal-Expands-Offsite-Ads-to-Germany-and-the-UK
6. PayPal, PayPal Ads Manager for small businesses (7 October 2025). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-10-07-PayPal-Unleashes-the-Power-of-Retail-Media-for-Small-Businesses,-Enabling-Them-to-Join-Billion-Dollar-Advertising-Boom
7. PayPal, "PayPal Ads Launches Transaction Graph Insights and Measurement" (6 January 2026). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2026-01-06-PayPal-Ads-Launches-Transaction-Graph-Insights-and-Measurement-to-Improve-Commerce-Advertising-Outcomes
8. PayPal, "CES 2026: PayPal Ads Unveils Transaction Graph Insights and Measurement Partnership Program" (6 January 2026). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2026-01-06-PayPal-Ads-Unveils-Transaction-Graph-Insights-and-Measurement-Partnership-Program
9. PayPal, "PayPal Ads Brings Purchase Attribution to Connected TV Through PayPal Curated Ads" (22 April 2026). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2026-04-22-PayPal-Ads-Brings-Purchase-Attribution-to-Connected-TV-Through-PayPal-Curated-Ads
10. PayPal, "PayPal Ads Delivers Bottom-Line Growth Advertisers Can Measure" (22 June 2026). https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2026-06-22-PayPal-Ads-Delivers-Bottom-Line-Growth-Advertisers-Can-Measure