Retail spending on ads is coming off an enormous growth spurt. Retailers’ total media ad spending will surpass $100 billion in 2024 for the first time, nearly double the $51.66 billion spent in 2019.
For five years, retail’s outsize increases were driven by growth in digital ad spending as more shopping moved online, and retail media networks (RMNs) emerged to target consumers closer to the point of purchase. This year, we will see moderate retrenchment as retail digital ad spending grows at the slowest rate since we began tracking this metric in 2017.