Cross-merchant shopping behavior: PayPal Ads unveils Transaction Graph Insights and Measurement Partnership Program

At CES 2026, PayPal unveiled new solutions expanding the PayPal Ads ecosystem and accelerating commerce media innovation. Marketers today need to understand shifting commerce dynamics to engage customers in new ways, uncover insights, grow market share, and measure performance with confidence. „With that in mind, we have introduced the PayPal Transaction Graph Insights and Measurement Partnership Program. The solution and partner program was built to deliver a unique view of cross-merchant shopping behavior, campaign performance, and data-driven actionable recommendations to drive business growth.” – according to the press release.

PayPal’s Transaction Graph helps identify high-intent shoppers as PayPal is the only platform connecting search, shop, and share signals across more than 430 million consumer accounts and tens of millions of merchants.

For example, a consumer searches for „best running shoes for marathon” on a retailer, compares prices on a major marketplace, asks an AI assistant for recommendations, and then reads reviews on a social platform. They pay a friend on Venmo for a race entry (with a runner emoji) and purchase gear via PayPal checkout. Traditional platforms see pieces of this journey while PayPal sees the complete picture. This means brands can identify high-intent shoppers before they convert elsewhere, understand true category market share, and measure real sales lift rather than modeled estimates.

„The era of the empowered shopper demands advertising solutions built on real commerce data, not modeled intent,” said Mark Grether, Senior Vice President and General Manager of PayPal Ads. „Unlike walled-garden platforms that only see activity within their own ecosystem, or measurement solutions that rely on modeled data, PayPal’s Transaction Graph connects verified purchases across tens of millions of merchants. This means you can see which campaigns actually drive sales, not just clicks or impressions. Combine this with signals from Shop, Search, and Sharing activities across all PayPal brands, we can help advertisers drive meaningful business outcomes—regardless of their budget or scale.”

Let’s break down what this means for marketers:

Transaction Graph Insights

An interactive analytics experience that showcases the breadth, depth, and uniqueness of PayPal’s Transaction Graph. This visualization tool helps advertisers understand cross-merchant, cross-surface shopper journeys to deliver brand-specific recommendations.

Transaction Graph Measurement Suite

Find out how your campaign truly delivered and performed. PayPal’s first-party measurement suite is built from the ground up, using the Transaction Graph and deterministic-driven identity for campaign reporting, insights, attribution, and incrementality.

Transaction Graph Measurement Partnership Program

The Measurement Partner Program is giving brands independent validation of their PayPal Ads campaigns across three critical impact areas.

Reach: Confirms who was reached and how effectively campaigns delivered.

Resonance: Measures shifts in awareness, favorability, and intent.

Reaction: Validates lower-funnel outcomes with trusted third-party methodologies.

Through these partners, advertisers can validate PayPal Ads performance with their own source of truth, gaining insight across the entire funnel.