Retail media networks generated over $140 billion globally in 2025, officially surpassing linear TV advertising for the first time. Amazon alone accounts for nearly $60 billion. Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, and Instacart Ads are carving up the remainder at a pace that would have seemed impossible five years ago.
Why Retail Media Is Different
Retail media is not digital advertising that happens to be on a retailer’s website. It’s closed-loop commerce marketing with first-party purchase data at its core. You can measure the exact impact of an ad impression on a purchase decision, at scale, without cookies. This is simply not available anywhere else in the marketing ecosystem.
P&G reported in their 2025 annual report that their retail media investments were generating 3-5x the measurable return of equivalent TV spend for several key brands.
The Three Layers Most Brands Are Missing
Layer 1: Search is table stakes, not strategy. Most brands put their retail media budget into sponsored search placements and call it done. This is necessary but insufficient.
Layer 2: Off-platform extension. Every major retail media network now offers off-platform advertising using first-party data to target known shoppers across the web. This is powerful for upper-funnel brand building with purchase-intent audiences.
Layer 3: Closed-loop measurement as a learning engine. The brands generating compounding advantage use attribution data not just to optimize ad spend, but to inform product development, pricing strategy, and assortment decisions. The data flywheel is the real moat.
What To Do Next
For any brand selling through major retail channels, the immediate priorities are: establish clean data partnerships with your key retail media networks, build dedicated retail media budget lines separate from shopper marketing, and hire talent that understands both media buying and retail commerce. The window to gain structural advantage in retail media is closing. Move in the next 12 months or cede the advantage to competitors who already have.