蘑菇AV

Retail media ads are an important way to boost marketplace spend, but how brands go about advertising requires strategy. When setting up your retail media approach this holiday season, consider which products sell when, what kinds of ads drive conversions, and the importance of discovery in retail media.

Key stat: Ads for products on sale are the most effective form of retail media advertising, with 51% of US digital shoppers saying they pay attention to them and 44% of digital shoppers saying they purchase from them, per Integral Ad Science.

US ad spend on financial media networks (FMNs) will more than double in 2025 and again in 2026. But with just $710 million projected in US ad spend in 2025, per June 2024 蘑菇AV forecast, FMN ad spend will be 18 times smaller than retail media network (RMN) ad spend.

Targeted, relevant advertising that motivates shoppers to buy is the goal of any retail marketer. But with retail media advertising sitting so close to the point of purchase, the potential upside is even greater.

Advertising Week New York 2023 wrapped up yesterday. This year, conversations moved away from Web3 and NFTs and toward generative AI and retail media. Advertisers were focused on increasing market share and creating shoppable ads. Here are five key lessons we learned from the events.

Video ad spending continues to outpace overall digital ad spending and will power the fastest-growing ad-supported media.

The digital ad channel is hugely dominant in the UK, so there is increasingly less room for growth. But in the broader digital category, retail media is the main driver.

Dollar General Media Network (DGMN) has partnered with experiential retail media platform Recess on a sampling program that reaches consumers outside of the store, in their communities.

As more retailers recognize the value of leveraging their first-party data, the global retail media market will continue to expand and innovate. While the US leads the charge with $45.15 billion in spending this year, according to our forecast, other regions are showing similar patterns. In fact, Latin America is only four to five years behind the US, said our analyst Matteo Ceurvels on our 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: Around the World鈥� podcast.

The economy is still under pressure, but investment in digital advertising will continue apace. Retail will continue to lead the ranking for total spend. Travel will lead in terms of growth, followed closely by CPG and retail.

Amazon鈥攖he largest driver of spending in this channel鈥攈as recently seen modest retail media revenue growth relative to its past performance. As a result, we have revised our retail media forecast down from where it was in H1 2024.

Western Union has become the latest financial company to launch a media network, joining the likes of Chase and PayPal. 鈥淭he biggest advantage [financial media networks] have is just breadth. So, unlike a retail media network, they capture the entire spending history that a customer has,鈥� said our analyst Maria Elm on an episode of our Behind the Numbers podcast.

If sellers cannot pass on these extra costs or face inventory disruptions, they may cut back retail media investments to protect profitability. However, retail media is still in high-growth mode, giving it a larger cushion to absorb even a major downshift. Our worst-case scenario for retail media still entails 8.5% growth this year, a healthy figure by most measures.

This is the first installment of our quarterly 鈥淎d Spending Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

Global ad revenues surpass $1 trillion in 2024, says GroupM: Retail media and digital platforms drive rapid growth amid linear TV decline.

Advertisers and marketers can鈥檛 afford to waste budget, so we foresee a partial shift away from display ads and renewed emphasis on search鈥攚ith one big exception, retail media.

Lowe鈥檚 plans to link the creator network to its growing retail media network. Zooming out: Younger generations, especially Gen Z, are increasingly turning to influencers for advice鈥攁nd as these generations represent the next wave of homeowners, Lowe鈥檚 is using the creator studio as a key opportunity to attract an essential growth source.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss some of the moves commerce media players have made this year to stand out from the pack, why advertisers are investing in more or fewer media networks, and the main challenges for advertisers when it comes to working with media networks. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Analyst Arielle Feger, and Principal Analyst Sarah Marzano. Listen everywhere and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Search and retail media stand to benefit鈥攁nd Nielsen confirms this, showing that 65% of marketers believe retail media networks will play a growing role in media strategies in 2025. Our take: As economic uncertainty becomes the norm, advertisers will see greater adaptability, rather than increased ad spend, as their biggest advantage.