The rise of retail media networks continued in 2024, and this year shoppers can expect to spot even more ads on retail websites.
The last two years have seen new retailers emerge and launch retail media networks. Among the top 100 retailers in the US, 80% have already started building or are working with a third-party to build out a retail media network.
Although Amazon dominates the retail media space with roughly 75% of retail media ads, other retailers have also begun reporting double digit growth in their ads business. Take Walmart Connect, for instance, which grew quickly in 2024, and posted 26% growth in the third quarter, Walmart reported. Emarketer expects Walmart’s ad business to grow 31.6% for the full year in 2024.
Looking ahead, experts told Retail Brew, retail media networks will become more mainstream in 2025. Standard ad units like—display ads, sponsored search ads, and product ads—will become widely available across ad platforms like Amazon, Trade Desk, and Criteo, among others.
“I do think that 2025 will be a defining year for scale, specifically on reporting and integrating retail media into broader national level media plans, as opposed to more of a siloed or ad hoc media channel,” Greg Carlucci, senior director analyst at Gartner, said.
When it comes to reporting, Carlucci above is referring to the way in which retailers report campaign data for ads run on their sites back to the advertisers. This will shift from more of a managed setup to self-serve in 2025, giving brands more autonomy over their campaigns, he added.
“2025 will be more of a self-service model, which is the idea of [advertisers] being able to connect directly into the retailer, and the connectivity around tying back to sales, too,” Carlucci added.
When asked to pick one defining word for retail media in 2025, Carlucci said, “standardization,” because the retailers that are able to create that will get more share of those retail media ad dollars.
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“I think that word also applies to consumer goods companies that are trying to internally standardize their retail media planning and decision process,” he added.
Rise in streaming ads: Moving along, ads within streaming TV will get more prominence in 2025, after Amazon opened up its Prime Video service to advertising, Andrew Lipsman, independent analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, told Retail Brew.
“That’s one of the biggest opportunities, and one that’s really still just starting to get off the ground.” Lipsman said. “What’s different is that Amazon with Prime Video opened up a lot of inventory, and so that has set the foundation for the market, and it’s getting underway.”
In December, eMarketer reported that streaming ad inventory has grown “so much lately” that ad prices are dropping.
“And, now, with Walmart’s Vizio acquisition closing, you have a second key, scaled player with really strong closed loop measurement,” Lipsman added.
Partnerships galore: Last year, retailers piggybacked with digital publishers to expand their reach. In 2024, Instacart partnered with the New York Times, and Best Buy integrated with CNET. Such partnerships are expected to rise in 2025, because of a natural synergy between the two.
“Part of the rationale is that each one has what the other one needs,” Lipsman said. “In the case of RMNs…they want to reach a more scaled audience, but also a qualified audience,” Lipsman added.
On the other side, publishers need to prove that their content can drive sales, which then helps them get the value in advertising spend that they deserve, Lipsman added.
Carlucci agreed. He said retail partnerships with TV, or media publishers will become mainstay, because that’s one way retailers can get more money for their RMNs. “In 2025, it will be a primary revenue source and focus source for a lot of retailers,” he added.