# 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