Retail-media
State of Play
Revised Nov 1, 2026The moment. In-store is the consensus frontier and the hardest place to stand. A new IAB and SMG study found 46% of commerce media professionals see in-store as the sector’s top growth opportunity while 40% call it the hardest channel to connect, and only 14% consistently plan unified multichannel campaigns. Instacart has now retreated from the smart-cart hardware that was meant to anchor its in-store ad and data business. eMarketer’s Karen Jacobs has networks multiplying across retailers of every size and competing harder for the same dollars, and DoorDash, expanding its tools across Wolt and Deliveroo, says commerce media needs room for brand storytelling rather than lower-funnel performance alone.
The tension. The workarounds are arriving ahead of a standard. Retailers are looking at free in-store Wi-Fi as a way to capture shopper data at the point of purchase; Disco has put advertiser-funded cash back of up to $30 directly into Shopify checkout, moving the money off the retailer’s own media and onto the transaction; and Circana is selling AI-driven signals that flag shoppers likely to enter a category or switch brands. Creators are becoming the creative engine for off-site campaigns. QVC is running the oldest version of the bet, pairing 60,000 annual hours of live TV with 200 weekly hours of TikTok livestreams after leaving Chapter 11 with more than $5 billion of debt cut.
Who’s moving. The IAB and SMG, with 46% and 14%. Instacart, pulling back on smart carts. DoorDash, across Wolt and Deliveroo. Disco, funding checkout cash back from advertisers. Circana, adding predictive signals to Complete Audiences. QVC, at 200 TikTok livestream hours a week. Life360, naming Donna Sharp to run its ad business. eMarketer’s Karen Jacobs, on a crowded field.
What the desk is watching. Whether in-store gets a measurement standard before it gets more screens, and who picks up the in-store ground Instacart just gave back.
Moloco is first ad-tech firm to earn IAB Europe retail media certification
ExchangeWire reports that IAB Europe certified Moloco under its Retail Media Certification Programme, the first ad-tech company to pass after retailer Albert Heijn and network Nectar360.
Advertisers plan to boost retail media spend, but doubt the measurement
MediaPost’s Ray Schultz reports that a GrowthLoop study, conducted by Ascend2, finds 85% of advertisers plan to increase retail and commerce media network spend over the next 12 months.
Cotswold Outdoor brings retail media in-store with Broadsign, IUF
ExchangeWire’s Sheila Obeng-King reports that Cotswold Outdoor Group has deployed 149 till, shelf, totem and front-of-store screens across 23 stores with Broadsign and IUF.
Chobani uses in-house MMM to judge commerce media beyond ROAS
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that Chobani’s Erica Culley says the brand has spent several years building an internal media mix model to standardize performance evaluation across retail media partners and tactics.
McDonald’s eyes drive-thru screens as retail media inventory
The Drum’s Kristina Kaganer reports that McDonald’s is turning its drive-thru screens into advertising inventory as part of a broader retail media push, raising the question of what value customers actually get back.
Brian Monahan exits Albertsons Media Collective in leadership shake-up
Digiday’s Kimeko McCoy reports that Brian Monahan, who led Albertsons Media Collective for just over a year, has left the company, with the retail media unit now folded under CMO Emily Turner.
Kroger-Vidmob study links creative scoring to conversion forecasts
MediaPost reports that Kroger, working with Vidmob and trade group MMA Global, found predictive creative scoring can forecast ecommerce purchase conversions with 81% accuracy before a campaign even launches. The study ties specific creative attributes directly to business outcomes in retail media.
Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse agent while Shopify opens the door
Retail TouchPoints’ Kate Robertson reports that Amazon has blocked Meta’s Muse AI shopping agent, saying it captured customer credentials without permission, while Shopify merchants let Muse buy directly from their stores.
Amazon’s AMC is a full-funnel weapon, but it can’t see creators or AI search
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Amazon Marketing Cloud lets brands fuse five years of retail sales data with ad exposure across Prime Video, Twitch and partner data from holding companies like Omnicom and Publicis, delivering attribution marketers have long wanted.
Sallie Mae’s ad arm targets students seeking scholarships
Adweek’s Mitchell Parton reports that Sallie, the brand behind Sallie Mae student loans, is now serving ads for brands like cars and apparel to students and parents browsing Sallie.com for scholarships and grants, through its Backpack Media ad business launched in March.
Amazon pushes a 12-month sales metric to capture credit it says it’s missing
Digiday’s Seb Joseph reports that Amazon found roughly a fifth of a brand’s sales value on its platform lands after the typical seven-to-30-day attribution window closes, based on studying over 2 million June campaigns.
Amazon blocks Meta’s Muse AI shopping agent from its marketplace
eMarketer’s Gadjo Sevilla reports Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse AI agent from its store last week, citing lack of notice about account access, while Meta has lined up Walmart, GameStop, Sephora, Expedia, OpenTable and Shopify as Muse partners.
Amazon advertisers skip the AI hype, flock to new review-generation tool
The Drum’s Kiri Masters reports that at Amazon’s unBoxed expo, advertisers paid less attention to Amazon’s new AI agents than to a simple new tool built to generate customer reviews.
Retail media’s measurement mess is piling up on CMOs
Business Insider’s Lara O’Reilly reports that with over 200 retail media networks now competing for budgets, an ISBA and MediaSense audit of five major UK networks found five different definitions of an “attributed sale.”
Kroger, Vidmob study ties creative scoring to 81% conversion accuracy
Marketing Dive’s Chris Kelly reports that Kroger, Vidmob and MMA Global found predictive creative scoring can forecast e-commerce conversion with 81% accuracy, with aligned creative driving a four-times lift in conversion rates before media even runs.
Commerce media plans still lag consumers’ cross-channel path to purchase
eMarketer’s Christopher Wood reports that commerce media planning remains siloed even though the customer journey now spans retail media, social, search, and in-store touchpoints in no fixed order.
Amazon gives brands more control over AI shopping conversations
eMarketer’s Rachel Wolff reports that Amazon is letting brands shape how its AI shopping assistant describes and recommends their products during conversational search.
Best Buy to sell nearly 10,000 items on TikTok Shop
Retail Dive’s Tatiana Walk-Morris reports that Best Buy will launch on TikTok Shop in late October with nearly 10,000 products from brands like Microsoft, Dyson, Bose and Oura.
McDonald’s tests third-party ads on menu boards
Campaign US reports that McDonald’s is trialing third-party ads on digital menu boards at select US restaurants, shown post-order on self-service and drive-thru screens, per Bloomberg, opening a potential new retail media revenue stream.
Everyone is an ad network now: McDonald’s launches $1bn retail media arm
ExchangeWire’s Sheila Obeng-King reports that McDonald’s has unveiled McDonald’s Media Network, a new advertising venture targeting $1 billion in revenue.
Retail media’s measurement win is squeezing out brand spend, MediaPost argues
MediaPost’s Jessica Haley argues that as Amazon and Walmart perfect bottom-funnel measurement, defensive search spend becomes a fixed cost that absorbs brand-building budget, leaving price and promotion as the only levers when competitors bid on identical keywords.
Delta launches its own media network to sell ads against flyers
eMarketer’s Zak Stambor reports that Delta is building a media network to monetize its flyer base, joining a wave of airlines turning loyalty and trip data into an ad sales business.
eMarketer: AI is collapsing the marketing funnel for retailers
eMarketer’s Christopher Wood reports that AI is collapsing the traditional marketing funnel, forcing retailers to rethink what comes after search and discovery.
DoorDash’s Inventory Insights lets brands target by local stock levels
eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that DoorDash’s new Inventory Insights tool gives brands local marketing versatility, letting them adjust ad targeting based on real-time product availability at nearby stores.
McDonald’s pilots ads on drive-thru digital menu boards
Inside Radio reports McDonald’s has begun piloting a McDonald’s Media Network at 450 company-owned U.S. restaurants, letting outside brands buy digital menu boards, kiosks and app placements, including post-order drive-thru screens while customers wait.