Retail-media
State of Play
Revised Sep 3, 2026The moment. WARC Media put global retail media at $200.4 billion for 2026 and $223.4 billion in 2027, growth of 11.5%. In the same week EMARKETER counted retail media ad impressions falling to 107.4 billion in Q2, and Mark Ritson argued in Adweek that the category is cannibalizing brand-building budgets rather than adding new dollars — point-of-sale promotion rebranded. The FTC’s auction suit landed on the largest retail media network there is.
The tension. The spend forecast keeps climbing while the inventory those dollars buy contracted last quarter, which means the growth is being priced rather than delivered. That is also why the newest networks lead with proof: Ace Hardware’s RedVest added incrementality measurement at its first upfront, one year in, because buyers stopped taking the network’s word for it.
Who’s moving. WARC, on the forecast. EMARKETER, on the impressions that went the other way. Ritson, on where the money actually came from. Amazon, bundling shoppable video, a campus block party and a Prime Video concert into one back-to-college push while Alexa starts nudging shoppers before they ask. Ace Hardware, adding DoorDash and weather-triggered campaigns. Nike, hiring Walmart’s Jane Ewing as commercial chief.
What the desk is watching. Whether Q3 impressions recover into a forecast that assumes they do, and whether incrementality proof becomes the entry price for every network without Amazon’s scale.
EMarketer: commerce media spend hits $83.71B as focus shifts to trust, ROI
EMarketer forecasts US commerce media spend at $83.71 billion this year, 20.5% of digital ad spend. Its analysts say the channel is maturing past growth-for-growth’s-sake into a phase demanding measurable results and consumer trust.
Topgolf launches media network to sell out-of-home ad inventory
Topgolf’s new CEO David McKillips is building out a retail media and licensing business, launching Topgolf Media Networks in July. The unit combines sponsorships, retail media and licensing across 103 venues, 28,000 screens and a mobile app.
Ad frequency capping fails despite mature retail data tools, eMarketer finds
Colgate-Palmolive’s Keith Lehmann says the tech to stop retargeting past buyers already exists, but campaign volume and disconnected data cause repeat ads anyway. One pharma brand hit him with 24-25 ads in a single session.
Urban Outfitters mines Reddit and 27,000 brand ambassadors for dorm trends
Back-to-college spend tops $100B this year, with $14B on dorm furnishings. Urban Outfitters’ merchandising chief details using an Insiders ambassador program and Reddit to catch trends like “bed parties” before rivals do.
Commerce media growth accelerates to 25% in Q2, outpacing retail
Madison & Wall reports U.S. commerce media grew 25% year-over-year in 2Q26 excluding political spend, up from 24% in 1Q26. E-commerce sales grew 12% versus 6.7% for total retail, fueling the channel’s lead.
Walmart, Target ad units post double-digit growth in Q2
Walmart’s global ad revenue grew 38% year over year, with Walmart Connect up 43%, prompting a raised full-year guidance. Target’s Roundel grew 28.6% to $279 million, helping fuel the retailer’s broader recovery.
Walmart’s ad business grows 38%, fueling raised full-year guidance
Walmart’s global ad revenue jumped 38% in Q2, with Walmart Connect up 43% in the U.S. excluding Vizio, prompting the retailer to raise its full-year earnings guidance amid strong ecommerce and tariff refund tailwinds.
WARC: Retail media to top $200B in 2026 as growth slows to single digits
WARC projects global retail media spend hits $200.4B in 2026, $223.4B in 2027. Excluding Amazon, growth falls to 9.8% in 2027, the category’s slowest pace since WARC began tracking it.
Target’s ad business Roundel grows 29% as retailer’s profits double
Target’s Q2 net sales rose 5.3% to $26.5 billion while profit more than doubled to $1.87 billion, aided by tariff refunds. Roundel, its ad network, grew ad revenue 28.6% to $279 million, outpacing overall retail growth.
ANA warns marketers not to over-rely on retail media data
ANA is urging marketers to lean more on independent third parties rather than trust retail media networks’ own numbers. The warning comes as truly neutral measurement vendors in the space grow scarcer.
Retail media becomes brands’ stake in AI shopping recommendations
Epsilon argues AI shopping agents lean on retailers’ first-party data to decide what to recommend, so brands with weak retail media presence cede control over how they’re described to third-party feeds.
Walmart closes $1.4B Vibe.co deal, pushes into ad-supported streaming
Walmart finalized its acquisition of Vibe.
Citi buys Kard Financial to build its own financial media network
Citi acquired Kard Financial, instantly giving it a financial media network to rival Amex, Chase and PayPal. It can now monetize transaction data from 35 million cardholder accounts via targeted merchant offers.
Academy Sports launches retail media network, teams with Instacart
Academy Sports + Outdoors debuts its own ad business and strikes an Instacart Marketplace deal for same-day delivery. It’s another mid-size retailer proving retail media has spread well past grocery and mass merchants into specialty categories.
Electronics shoppers research for weeks, wait for deals to buy
Criteo finds 39% of electronics shoppers research two-plus weeks before buying, far longer than fashion or beauty. That gives challenger brands a real window to win consideration before Black Friday or Prime Day discounting even starts.
Walmart, Target, Best Buy reshuffle C-suites around AI and retail media
Big-box retailers are elevating execs who built AI, retail media and e-commerce units over traditional merchandising leaders. It signals org charts built for buying and selling inventory no longer match where the growth and power actually sit.
Walmart, Amazon lead AI search on groceries, but name brands aren’t shut out
EMARKETER data shows Walmart’s and Amazon’s private labels top ChatGPT mention rates, but gaps to name brands stay narrow across most categories. Grocery brands can still compete by optimizing content for LLMs and striking retailer partnerships before ground is ceded.
Walmart Connect adds negative keywords after years of advertiser pressure
Walmart Connect now lets sponsored-products advertisers exclude search terms, six years after Amazon added the feature. It curbs wasted spend on irrelevant or branded queries, a change brands and agencies had pushed for since the pandemic e-commerce boom.
Delivery apps pitch themselves as game-day retail media networks
Delivery apps like DoorDash and Instacart are positioning game-day ordering data as a commerce network for advertisers targeting sports fans. It gives marketers a closed-loop way to reach fans mid-event and tie ad spend directly to purchases.
Walmart Connect adds TikTok, Snapchat, Roku to retail media network
Walmart Connect now lets brands buy TikTok, Snapchat and Roku inventory through its own platform, keeping first-party data and measurement in-house. It’s a bid to chase Gen Z dollars and close the gap with Amazon’s ad business.
Non-endemic brands quietly become Amazon’s next ad growth engine
Banks, airlines and pharma firms are targeting shoppers who’ll never buy their products through Amazon, using its consumer-behavior data instead.
Walmart closes $1.4B Vibe.co deal to build streaming ad muscle
Walmart finalized its acquisition of streaming adtech startup Vibe.co, reportedly for $1.4 billion. The deal signals retail media’s biggest player is now racing to build its own ad-supported streaming stack to compete directly with Amazon.
Stingray’s Purdy pitches retail media audio and CTV audio ads
In a three-part video series, Stingray CRO David Purdy argues in-store audio and CTV audio ads are underused opportunities, while flagging Europe’s slow FAST growth. His pitch: captive audiences alone don’t work without format tweaks.
Ace Hardware’s RedVest bets its late retail media entry is a feature, not a bug
Ace’s new retail media network skips legacy tech debt by plugging straight into Pacvue and CitrusAd, and leans on in-store signage since most sales still happen in physical aisles.
Guideline’s Q4 outlook: buy retail media and CTV now, wait on TV
Guideline’s Q4 forecast says retail media and programmatic CTV prices keep climbing into the holidays, while national TV scatter pricing is softening. Buyers who lock in early on retail/CTV but hold off on broadcast could save money this quarter.