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Ad spend on financial media networks, a subset of commerce media, will reach $35 million in the US this year, and more than quadruple by 2026, per our June 2024 forecast. As more commerce media participants enter the market, retail media networks must prove their value and convince advertisers to maintain their spending, Willens said. Watch the full webinar here.

"I expect that new devices that are mobile [like smart glasses] are going to become more important for commerce specifically," our analyst Yory Wurmser said in an episode of the "Behind the Numbers" podcast.

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.

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?

US Creator-Driven Commerce 2024(Subscription required). Methodology: Data is from the October 2024 Linqia report titled "2025 State of Influencer Marketing." 200 US brand and agency enterprise marketers were surveyed during July-September 2024.

Recognizing that globalized commerce, AI, and crypto, embracing new tech and forging partnerships charts a way to weather鈥攁nd profit鈥攆rom these changing winds.

The news: President Donald Trump signed an executive order to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a US Digital Asset Stockpile. The Bitcoin reserve will hold Treasury Department Bitcoins that were forfeited as part of criminal or civil proceedings. The stockpile will consist of digital assets other than Bitcoin that were forfeited to the Department of Treasury. These assets may be sold or held.

Car commerce is just beginning. Both Apple and Google have partnered with apps to integrate payment options for services like gas or parking. Most carmakers have teamed up with finance companies to provide payment solutions in cars. The actual level of in-car commerce remains small, but rapid growth seems likely. A rich media and commerce landscape means native advertising should follow.

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

Prediction 4: A major US issuer will pilot a digital-only consumer credit card by the end of 2024. While virtual cards grew in popularity in 2024, issuers still offered physical cards alongside them. No major issuer in the US launched a digital-only card, likely due to consumers' reluctance to ditch their physical wallets.

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%).

In May, Roblox opened its Commerce API that allows brands to sell physical and virtual goods on-platform. What they play: Gamers鈥� focus on integrations means AAA games are no longer the top dog鈥攑layers want the ability to create in-game content. That鈥檚 where user-generated content (UGC) games come in. Monthly active user (MAU) numbers are consistently growing on Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite.

Generative AI (genAI) is fundamentally changing how consumers shop online, potentially eliminating the "treasure hunt" experience that drives impulse purchases and changing how marketers push products.

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.

In-app commerce is driving results for brands willing to put in the effort. TikTok鈥檚 US audience reached 112.4 million at the end of 2024, with those ages 18 and older spending an average of 51 minutes a day on the app. That鈥檚 significantly higher than the averages for Instagram (35 minutes) and Facebook (31 minutes).

Department stores face an uphill battle as discounters, online retailers take share: Our Industry KPIs show foot traffic declined during the holiday season, emphasizing the sector鈥檚 challenges.

Ad revenues surged 23% YoY, reinforcing its growing influence in the digital media landscape. But while growth was impressive, signs of tension remained. Q3 guidance for Amazon鈥檚 overall business fell below expectations, sparking investor unease around escalating AI infrastructure costs and the unpredictable impact of global tariffs.

The results: Amazon鈥檚 first four-day Prime Day event helped push US ecommerce sales to $24.1 billion from July 8鈥�11鈥攁 30.3% YoY increase, according to Adobe Digital Insights. Our take: Prime Day has cemented its place as a mid-summer shopping tentpole鈥攁nd not just for Amazon. Other retailers, ranging from Dollar General to Walmart, leaned into the promotional window, turning July into a new retail battleground. Beyond sales, the event is a massive advertising opportunity. One of the under-the-radar reasons Amazon doubled the event鈥檚 length was to provide more ad inventory. Stretching Prime Day to four days gave brands more time to reach high-intent shoppers鈥攁nd Amazon more room to expand its already-massive high-margin retail media business.

Zooming out: The deal is part of Publicis' $1.5 billion acquisition spree over the past six months, including Influential, Mars United Commerce, and BR Media. Publicis plans to invest $800-$900 million in additional M&A in 2025, focusing on first-party data, digital media, and AI-driven solutions.

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.

While holding companies focus on cost-cutting, private investors enable agencies to expand AI capabilities, automate workflows, and explore new revenue models (That is, of course, until they eventually cut costs to flip the business, like when Mountaingate Capital sold Mars United Commerce to Publicis last fall). AI is a key driver of investment.

Others have been pulled to Meta platforms and TikTok, leaning on their large audiences and shoppable commerce features instead. Influencer and affiliate marketing are also valuable channels, though ROI can be harder to determine鈥攁n increasingly important metric during high-sales volume events like the Cyber Five.

Interest in shoppable ads is growing among consumers and advertisers. 46% of consumers have made at least one purchase via shoppable commerce, according to an October 2024 survey from 蘑菇AV and Bizrate Insights. 38% of US ad buyers will focus at least somewhat more on shoppable ads in 2025, according to December 2024 data from IAB.

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.