Retail-media
State of Play
Revised Sep 18, 2026The moment. Measurement stopped being a complaint and became a subtraction. ARF research across 13 major buyers found five have cut or dropped retail media investment over measurement problems, with two naming it the primary reason. It landed in the week GroupM put global retail media at $101 billion this year, 18% of digital advertising and 11% of all ad spend. Kroger Precision Marketing posted 24% profit growth in the second quarter, its best since 2021. Sam’s Club Connect launched tools that predict future purchases rather than retarget past ones, including churn-prevention segments and audiences likely to buy big-ticket items. Walmart is adding marketplace data, custom dashboards and a deeper Marty AI agent to Scintilla next year.
The tension. The category crossed 11% of all ad spend and lost buyers in the same week, over the one thing it has promised since it started: proof. And the newest placement carries a misreading nobody has priced. Research covered by The Drum found more than half of shoppers believe an ad placed inside an AI tool makes a brand more likely to be recommended by that tool. Shelf placement was always understood as paid. An ad inside an answer is being read as the answer’s judgment, which is a borrowed credibility the networks did not earn and cannot guarantee.
Who’s moving. The ARF, putting a number on buyer withdrawal. GroupM, sizing the category at $101 billion. Kroger, on 24% profit growth. Sam’s Club Connect, moving from retargeting to prediction. Walmart, deepening Scintilla and testing endcap screens carrying live inventory and pricing. Walgreens, rebuilding in-store retail media and fitting 1,200 stores with Looma displays from October. Grocery TV, finding 62% of shoppers bought a product after seeing an in-store ad and front-end screen acceptance up 23 points since 2023. Target, hiring former Hilton CMO Mark Weinstein to oversee Roundel and Target+. Taboola’s Connexity, quietly buying Howl’s creator affiliate business.
What the desk is watching. Whether the five buyers who pulled back come back on better measurement or on better prices, and who takes responsibility for the shopper who reads a paid placement in an AI answer as a recommendation.
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.
Academy Sports launches retail media network with closed-loop measurement
Academy Sports + Outdoors debuts Academy Retail Media, linking 320+ stores, e-commerce and first-party data to track ads from exposure to purchase. It’s another specialty retailer joining the closed-loop measurement race reshaping retail media beyond Walmart and Amazon.
Retailers’ AI shopping assistants are already lifting order values and conversion
Walmart’s Sparky drives 35% higher average orders, and Amazon’s Alexa for Shopping now converts 44% of sessions, up from 34% a year ago. Retail media operators now have early proof AI assistants outperform traditional search, not just replace it.
Vusion to acquire in-store retail media firm In-Store Media
Vusion is buying Barcelona-based In-Store Media, pairing its shelf-tech platform with ISM’s retail media network relationships across 90 banners and 1,600 brands. It’s a bet that in-store screens and shelf edges become the next retail media inventory after online.
Perion joins Walmart Connect Partner Network
Perion has joined the Walmart Connect Partner Network, pairing its AI-driven creative optimization with Walmart’s first-party shopper data and closed-loop sales measurement.