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Commerce media is knit together by the use of first-party commerce data to power targeted advertising. But beyond that foundation, the strengths, use cases, and challenges can vary depending on the vertical.

Digital gaming is popular across generations. But Gen Zers and millennials are more likely to game on multiple platforms, seek community around the hobby, and pass the habit on to their children.

The Financial Media Networks Explainer (蘑菇AV subscription required). 3 industries poised for retail and commerce media network growth. Fintechs are beating traditional financial institutions in brand awareness鈥攈ow are they doing it? Do financial institutions understand Gen Z鈥檚 banking communication preferences?

But I do think we've reached a point now where it's more about the risk of investing or investing more money into a tactic that is harder to measure than quote, unquote "traditional" digital media. And that makes sense.

Publicis Groupe made seven deals, including Mars United Commerce. Stagwell Global also thrived, leading in volume with 10 acquisitions. Management consultancies only made 12 acquisitions in 2024, down from 2023. Outside of Publicis, several Big 6 holding companies saw slower activity in 2024. IPG made two deals, acquiring Intelligence Node in the US and Xiklab Digital in the Philippines.

What it does: Criteo is a commerce media company with both an SSP and a DSP that allows retailers to create self-service solutions for advertisers. Criteo built its business off of ad retargeting, which relies on third-party cookies, and has pivoted to retail media in response to the decline of the cookie.

Composable commerce鈥攁 modular approach to the technology that underpins ecommerce鈥攈as become a buzzword in retail circles over the past few years, following on earlier hype around its precursory 鈥渉eadless鈥� architecture

Some 72% of US digital retailers believe an increased focus on omnichannel commerce, including SMS, will most impact their business in 2024, according to December 2023 Bolt data. That puts texting and other omnichannel technologies in line with AI (which also came in at 72%) and ahead of enhanced mobile shopping experiences (63%) and checkout and payment innovations (53%).

With intimate access to customers鈥� spending behavior, Chase has an inside advantage within the crowded commerce media landscape. Editor鈥檚 note: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect how Chase Media Solutions uses consumer data.

Retail media and commerce media right now is propped up by a giant network of ad tech companies that we know and love. Amazon is the biggest player in commerce media. They own like 75% of the market, and making their ad tech available for other networks both makes it easier to launch a media network and means that Amazon advertisers can potentially advertise with those networks easier.

Methodology: Data is from the April 2025 TrustRadius report titled "Bridging the Trust Gap: B2B Tech Buying in the Age of AI." 2,058 B2B technology buyers and 490 B2B technology vendors worldwide were surveyed online during January 2025.

Reducing the measurement data feedback from two months to just two weeks is profound, and bridges the gap between online advertising and offline sales. This means QSR marketers can now allocate their ad budgets more effectively and tailor campaigns to consumer behavior trends and preferences as they unfold.

鈥淲e have not been traditionally considered as a commerce tactic,鈥� said Adam Ross, sales director, commerce and retail media partnership at SiriusXM Media. But Ross said that鈥檚 changing thanks to partnerships with retail media networks.

Livestreaming commerce is still outperforming everything else. China鈥檚 version of livestream commerce has taken the world by storm since 2020. Although growth is now slowing, sales will still increase by a standout 35.0% this year.

Our newsletter team has already made a number of advertising and retail predictions, but now it鈥檚 time to combine the two. Retail media is still on the rise in the US (growing by a projected 28.6% this year), but competition is getting fierce. From commerce opportunities to consolidation, here鈥檚 what we expect to see from retail media in 2024.

The Fresh Market has created an entire retail media network to experiment with shoppable video, partnering with Firework on shoppable live commerce. 5. Retail media networks need to prove their worth. The top two barriers to retail media鈥檚 growth are poor return on investment (ROI) and the inability to prove incrementality, per a survey from Skai and BWG Strategy.

Subscriptions for nongaming in particular are a growing portion of in-app purchases (IAPs), while some apps with large user bases are looking to create their own payments and commerce ecosystems. Privacy restrictions on iOS and Android continue to tighten. So far, advertisers have adapted.

Beyond the chart:. 64% of business executives worldwide say their biggest concerns related to tariffs are the increased costs, according to an April 2025 survey from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). 30% of CFOs worldwide plan to pass 91% to 100% of tariff costs along to their customers, according to March 2025 data from Garner. However, nearly as many (29%) plan to pass on less than 10%.

Digital wallets are firmly set as commerce enablers. Nearly 65% of smartphone users will use mobile wallets in 2024, with younger generations driving growth. Over half of proximity mobile payment users are under age 35, and about 1 in 5 are Gen Zers. And newly introduced features will make wallets more important than ever to merchants. To view the full forecast, click here. TikTok is mainstream.

There鈥檚 an increasing number of online marketplaces dedicated to secondhand luxury retail (including The RealReal and Depop), but brands like Balenciaga and Rolex are getting in the game too. Traditional secondhand retailers are also taking advantage of growing resale adoption, moving their services online to reach even more consumers.

Sellers spent 14% of their Prime Day revenues on Amazon ads, according to data from Momentum Commerce. Behind the stats: Prime Day has become more than a retail event for Amazon. The multiday discount period pressures Amazon merchants to spend heavily on advertising, making it a pillar of Amazon鈥檚 ad business, which will generate $34 billion in the US this year. The pressure to participate is rising.

Half of US digital media professionals say that social media holds the most potential for innovation and opportunity in the next 12 months, per a September 2023 survey by YouGov cited by Integral Ad Science.

In February, it partnered with JPMorgan Payments, making the BNPL option available to merchants using JPMorgan鈥檚 Commerce Solutions Platform. And in January, Klarna expanded its distribution partnership with Stripe across 26 countries. Our take: While current market volatility could delay Klarna鈥檚 public debut, the BNPL provider is setting itself up for a strong listing and volume growth.

In March, Publicis announced a deal to pick up Lotame, citing the urgent need to connect AI, media, and commerce. In April, WPP acquired InfoSum for $150 million to absorb its privacy-safe data collaboration tech. All four hold stakes in Mediaocean, a campaign management platform. Key stat: 49% of CMOs worldwide are enriching their first-party date with identity solutions, per Merkle.