蘑菇AV

Retailers that aimed to be media giants are hitting headwinds as ad growth slows. To stay competitive, retail media networks must rethink org structure, sharpen media skills, and plan smartly to thrive in a more challenging landscape.

Growth rates in retail media ad spending are slowing YoY. The channel鈥檚 contribution to total digital ad spending continues to rise, however, highlighting the increasing influence of retail media on holistic advertising strategies.

With origins in performance advertising and a focus on efficiency, retail media is likely to remain resilient, even amid an economic upheaval exacerbated by US tariffs. However, impacts won鈥檛 be evenly felt, leaving some players better positioned to withstand headwinds.

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 is highlighting how retail media is moving beyond performance marketing into broader applications across brand storytelling, in-store influence, and customer experience. Executives like Victoria Usher and Jim Kane are calling attention to how brands now activate retail data for segmentation, planning, and innovation across media touchpoints including CTV and search. Our take: This shift reflects growing demand for privacy-safe, first-party data solutions amid signal loss and rising complexity. Cannes will underscore retail media鈥檚 potential to support creativity and full-funnel integration. The future isn鈥檛 just attribution鈥攊t鈥檚 about making retail platforms vital to brand equity and long-term engagement.

The news: China is outpacing the US in retail media鈥檚 global rise, with nearly half of its digital ad spending now flowing through retail platforms. While Amazon still leads globally, its growth is slowing鈥攅xpected to rise just 18.6% in 2025. Meanwhile, players like Uber Eats, Meijer, and Albertsons are growing ad revenues at triple-digit rates. Our take: Retail media is becoming more fragmented and competitive. Success now requires portfolio diversification, especially as new channels鈥攍ike last-mile delivery and in-store signage鈥攇ain momentum. What began as an Amazon-centric, US-led trend is now a worldwide shift reshaping how consumers discover, consider, and buy.

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 marked a shift in retail media strategy, with platforms like Pinterest and Reddit forging deeper ties with retailers. CVS announced a clean room data partnership with Reddit to allow targeting based on shared first-party data, launching a Sensodyne and Advil campaign this fall. Pinterest partnered with Instacart to enable shopping from pins and connect ad exposure to sales via closed-loop attribution. Our take: Social platforms are becoming full-funnel retail media environments. By fusing community context with purchase signals, these integrations aim to blend discovery and commerce in real time鈥攑aving the way for more data-rich, measurable campaigns.

This sponsored article by Roundel will explore the fast-moving retail media landscape.

Retail media ad spending in France, Germany, and the UK continues to rise, outpacing all other ad formats. The space is developing rapidly despite fragmentation and a lack of standards.

The news: Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods鈥� retail media arm, Dick鈥檚 Media, is partnering with Roku to bring its shopper data to connected TV, per Adweek. Our take: Dick鈥檚 sees retail media as a long-term growth engine, and its partnership with Roku should enhance its ability to compete with larger players by combining rich loyalty data with precise streaming insights. While Dick鈥檚 Media already offered brands a robust mix of in-store and digital ad opportunities, the expanded Roku partnership enables more targeted, measurable, and high-impact campaigns鈥攅specially as connected TV becomes a core pillar in the modern advertising mix.

As retail media networks expand, one of the biggest challenges facing marketers is measurement. In fact, 42% of US retail media buyers believe that more effective and accurate campaign measurement is the most important issue in retail media advertising today, according to March 2025 data from Koddi. To help advertisers better assess the effectiveness of their campaigns, Sam鈥檚 Club Member Access Platform (MAP) has introduced Omni-Impact鈥攁 new AI-powered measurement solution.

Retail and commerce media were huge topics at last year鈥檚 Cannes Lions festival, and this year, the festival is doubling down on the channel by introducing a new retail media sub-category in the Media Lions and Creative Commerce Lions awards. However, 鈥渢he tone is definitely shifting鈥� as the industry matures鈥攁nd faces the threat of tariff-related impacts, according to our analyst, Sarah Marzano.

As advertisers navigate Google鈥檚 recent search changes that favor its emerging AI models, retail media strategies could offer them heightened visibility and control.

Even though most retail dollars are spent in physical stores, experts say retail media dollars have been slow to meet those consumers

For the first time in its history, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity awarded medals in retail media鈥攁 sign that commerce-driven creativity has fully arrived on the global stage.

H-E-B is expanding its retail media footprint with the launch of a new self-service advertising platform, developed in partnership with Epsilon.

On this special edition podcast episode, learn about the rise of off-site retail media advertising with 蘑菇AV Principal Analyst, Sarah Marzano and Google鈥檚 Head of Retail Media, Shawn McGahee. This conversation is from the May 9th 蘑菇AV virtual summit, Commerce Media Trends 2025. Listen everywhere you find podcasts, or watch on YouTube and Spotify.

This sponsored article by CVS Media Exchange will explore the new rules of relevance.

础尘补锄辞苍鈥檚 retail media ad revenues will exceed $60 billion, per WARC: The change represents its steady growth despite broader economic setbacks.

Brazil鈥檚 digital advertising economy continues to thrive, driven by retail media investment, growing video ad spend, and slower social ad spending. This report explores trends shaping Brazil鈥檚 digital advertising landscape in 2025.鈥�

鈥淎蝉 retail media has grown, the landscape has become increasingly complex and fragmented, said 蘑菇AV principal analyst Sky Canaves during last week鈥檚 蘑菇AV's summit on Commerce Media Trends 2025. 鈥淐omparisons are hard when standards vary across channels and platforms.鈥�

Latin America鈥檚 digital revolution is marching full steam ahead, with consumers spending more than a third of their day online. As social commerce and retail media propel the region鈥檚 digital economy to new heights, the runway for growth remains long.鈥�