PayPal is set to follow in the footsteps of Chase and Revolut by entering into the advertising sector as it looks to leverage its vast first-party data.

After years of tracking individual purchases and customer behaviours from the transactions made via its US-only service Venmo, PayPal now has a veritable goldmine of data on which to build a media empire.

According to the Fintech brand, its most recent financial earnings report, PayPal processed 6.5 m transactions in the first quarter of 2024 alone and serviced a staggering 427 million customers.

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Earlier this year, this firm launched its ‘Advanced Offers’ for merchants which combines its own data with AI to target specific users with discounts and offers.

“Commerce and advertising are deeply connected, and we believe that the advertising platform we are building at PayPal will become a must-use marketing channel for merchants big and small,” PayPal executive vice-president and general manager of consumer group and global marketing and communications, Diego Scotti said.

PayPal’s foray into the advertising space is nothing new, in the last few months alone, US banking giant Chase and British online upstart Revolut have both made moves into the sector in a bid to leverage their own highly-valuable first-party data.