蘑菇AV

In our exclusive survey, CPG and general merchandise ad buyers shared their opinions of retail media network attributes across metrics including traffic, targeting, and ad cost.

Even an influx of new retail media networks (RMNs) will not chip away at the share of ad spending allocated to the top two powerhouses.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are expanding beyond retailers' websites and apps, pushing into connected TV (CTV) and in-store displays. As the industry matures, experts predict 2025 will be marked by significant growth in these off-site channels, with new technologies and partnerships reshaping how brands reach consumers throughout their shopping journey.

An increasingly fragmented retail media ecosystem has made it difficult for advertisers to track campaign performance across multiple retail media networks (RMNs), said Liz Roche, vice president of measurement and media at Albertsons Media Collective.

The National Retail Federation (NRF)鈥檚 Big Show is happening in New York City this weekend, and will offer an opportunity for retail media networks (RMNs) to pitch themselves to advertisers. Even though retail media is huge鈥攅xceeding $62 billion in US ad spend this year per our forecast, most of those ad dollars will go to the biggest RMNs. The remaining players are vying over the same $8.58 billion that isn't scooped up by Amazon, Walmart, or Target.

Currys expands retail media network into stores: The electronics retailer is betting that its unique access to 80% of UK households and extensive network of digital screens will appeal to advertisers.

As retail media networks (RMNs) clamor for advertiser budgets, the channel鈥檚 measurement shortcomings are moving into the spotlight. Advertisers cite a lack of cross-platform standardization among their top RMN-related challenges, but an overcorrection on measurement could do more harm than good.

Retailers are forging closer relationships with creators. Retail media networks (RMNs) have partnered with creator networks and social platforms to satisfy advertiser demands for incrementality and stay relevant as shopping becomes more social.

Consumers typically buy consumer packaged goods (CPG) more frequently and often in-store, making those purchases different from general merchandise. Nonetheless, ad-buying on retail media networks (RMNs) is somewhat more established with more sophisticated options for CPG than for general merchandise because retail media has been a staple of CPG ad-buying for longer. That means CPG ad-buying habits could be a model for future trends in retail media.

Retail media has swallowed up the shopper and trade marketing budgets of CPG brands. Incrementality is the top KPI for RMN advertisers, but it鈥檚 not the only one.

Walmart and Target reported their Q3 earnings last week. Despite varying retail success, both reported strong growth in their retail media networks鈥擶almart Connect鈥檚 US business grew 26% while Roundel鈥檚 growth was in the mid-teens, per CEO Brian Cornell.

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.

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.

Marketers are interested in exploring upper-funnel tactics while continuing to invest in lower-funnel strategies, requiring retail media networks (RMNs) to provide a combination of ad formats for a full-funnel effect. In addition, marketers want access to high-quality data for better targeting and personalization, and look to RMNs for enhanced measurement and optimization techniques.

Spend from current retail media network (RMN) advertisers is showing signs of cooling, forcing RMNs to look to non-endemic advertisers outside their existing ad networks for new ad dollars.

Two in three advertisers don鈥檛 plan to invest in new retail media networks (RMNs) in the next couple of years, according to Association of National Advertisers (ANA) data. 鈥淭he majority of dollars used to fund investments in retail media are being borrowed from existing budgets within advertisers鈥� organizations,鈥� said our analyst Sarah Marzano.