Commerce media has planted deep roots in Spanish-speaking Latin America (SPLA). Between 87% and 94% of marketers in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru surveyed plan to increase their commerce media investment over the next 12 months, according to new research conducted by EMARKETER for Google.

Adoption is not the same as returns. EMARKETER surveyed 166 commerce media ad buyers who work with at least two networks across Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. The results showed marketers are running large multinetwork programs without consistent measurement standards, without unified orchestration, without complete digital-to-physical attribution, and without consistent retailer-side privacy infrastructure. Marketers surveyed are clear about what is missing: They need the capabilities that turn the spend they have already committed into outcomes they can prove.

These capabilities will define the next phase of commerce media growth in SPLA:

• Marketers need to prove returns on their commerce media spend.
• The industry needs to scale privacy-safe data across the region.
• Networks need to close the gap between digital ads and physical sales.

The commerce media stack already in place is substantial. The typical SPLA buyer runs campaigns across roughly five commerce media networks at once. Funding comes primarily from brand and ecommerce budgets, which together account for roughly half to two-thirds of every market's commerce media spend. Campaign ownership inside advertiser organizations is just as fragmented as the funding.

These structural complexities underscore why investment alone will not determine success in SPLA commerce media. As marketers scale across more networks, the ability to unify measurement, attribution, and coordination will become increasingly critical.

Returns are the new currency

In SPLA, demonstrable return on ad spend (ROAS) has moved from metric to mandate. Some 58.3% of buyers across the region say it would do more to unlock additional commerce media budget than any other factor, well above lower CPMs (40.7%), more optimization control (22.2%), faster reporting (21.8%), or expanded inventory (18.9%).

Mexico is one of the most return-hungry markets. Buyers there ranked demonstrably higher ROAS as the top way to unlock additional retail media investment (67.2%), outpacing Argentina (61.7%), Chile (60%), Peru (56.1%), and Colombia (46.7%). Colombia's softer demand reflects where it sits on the curve. Acquisition still leads the Colombian objective mix. The proof debate has not arrived there at the same intensity yet.

A significant shift in maturity is underway across the regional commerce media landscape. While limited budget remains the No. 1 barrier to growth in almost every market, a transition toward ROI-driven constraints is beginning to surface. Peru is currently the leading indicator of this trend, marking the only market where proving incremental value has surpassed budget limitations. It signals a broader regional trajectory away from simple budget caps and toward strict performance metrics

The measurement gap is broader than ROAS. Some 37.9% of SPLA buyers flag proving incremental value as a top challenge. Another 29.8% flag the lack of standardized measurement. Both numbers describe the same problem from different angles. The brand half of commerce media budgets, the largest funding source in almost every market, cannot be managed against brand outcomes until brand-grade measurement arrives.

Closing this gap requires closed-loop, SKU-level measurement that ties media spend to actual purchases across networks, surfaces, and outcomes. Until that view exists, the channel keeps growing without proving effectiveness.

“Inconsistent metrics continue to be commerce media’s biggest barrier to scale,” said Matteo Ceurvels, EMARKETER’s principal analyst for Latin America. “Standardizing measurement—especially around incrementality and cross-channel performance—is critical to securing long-term advertiser budgets.”

Read the full report (written in Spanish)

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