Costco Retail Media Comes to Google — Mark Williamson

S3 E8 · Mar 23, 2026 · 43 min

Retail media moving into high-intent search, and why most offsite hasn't worked until now.

Show notes

In this episode of The Middlemen, Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki talk with Mark Williamson (Costco) about the launch of Google Product Listing Ads as a new retail media capability for brand partners.

This isn’t traditional offsite. It’s not audience extension. It’s not CTV. This is retail media moving into high-intent search — where customers are already making decisions.

What we cover

• Why Costco is bringing retail media into Google Shopping
• How this differs from brands buying search on their own
• Why most offsite retail media hasn’t worked (and what’s different here)
• High-consideration purchases and intent-driven discovery
• What this means for brands, retailers, and agencies