This FAQ explains how data clean rooms have become essential infrastructure for retail media, enabling privacy-safe data collaboration, closed-loop measurement, and proof of performance as ad spend grows and marketers demand greater accountability.

PayPal rolled out Transaction Graph Insights & Measurement at CES to gives advertisers and merchants a clearer, cross-merchant view of how people actually shop and purchase—and early results suggest meaningful impact.

Marketers across categories are calling for simpler, more intuitive advertising systems after years of growing fragmentation and technical overload. In interviews with EMARKETER, leaders from Criteo, LiveRamp, Reddit, Vistar Media, StackAdapt, and DoorDash all described a shift toward platforms that reduce effort, unify workflows, and provide clearer decision making. Buyers want fewer interfaces, standardized KPIs, easier activation, and more transparent insight into where ads run. The message is consistent: performance pressure amplifies the value of operational clarity. As the industry moves into 2026, platforms that eliminate friction—rather than add features—will gain share, while marketers who choose simplicity will gain speed and efficiency.

LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe says marketers are now fighting a “war for signals”—a race to collect, clean, and connect data fast enough to prove every dollar’s impact. Speaking alongside Q2 earnings of $200 million (up 8%), Howe described marketing’s new reality as “precision and proof.” LiveRamp’s clean room tech now lets brands merge data across partners like Netflix, Uber, and PayPal to tie spend directly to transactions. With AI acceleration and data collaboration redefining performance, Howe says growth depends less on scale and more on signal speed: “Access to better data gets the flywheel going—and determines who wins.”

LiveRamp kicked off its fiscal year with strong double-digit revenue growth and a 30% YoY earnings increase, driven by momentum across clean rooms, commerce media, and AI-driven infrastructure. CEO Scott Howe spotlighted Cross Media Insights’ early traction, growing adoption in non-retail verticals, and LiveRamp’s strategic shift to usage-based pricing to reach more SMBs. Netflix integrations continue scaling, despite technical complexity, while ROI remains a top sales focus—highlighted by new case studies and a Forrester-backed 300% return benchmark. With 75% of growth still coming from existing clients, LiveRamp is pushing hard to scale new business in a post-cookie, AI-fueled future.

Retail media is not just for retailers anymore. US commerce media ad spending is projected to hit $118.4 billion by 2029, growing at a 15.3% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), per a May EMARKETER forecast.

Retail media ad spending in France, Germany, and the UK continues to rise, outpacing all other ad formats. The space is developing rapidly despite fragmentation and a lack of standards.

LiveRamp CEO's growth strategy: Neutral positioning and network effects fuel commerce media and CTV expansion as ad budgets rebound.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the main challenges around extracting more value from first-party data, what happens when you create standardization, and the importance of measurement as we head into 2025. Tune in to the discussion with Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, Senior Analyst Max Willens, and Vice President of Product at LiveRamp Matthew Karasick.

Retail media networks (RMNs) have a lot of data and a healthy amount of inventory. But selling on-site inventory to advertisers can be complicated. Connecting retail media data with off-site ads on places like social networks and connected TV (CTV) is even more complicated. RMNs can’t do everything related to selling and serving ads on their own, especially if they want to capitalize on off-site placements.

LiveRamp broadens Pinterest collaboration: Global advertisers to benefit from enhanced data integration.

With some legacy identifiers already in the history books and the rest on the chopping block, the digital ad industry is finally getting serious about adopting targeting and measurement practices that don’t rely on cookies and mobile IDs.

Search is already a major component of retail media; social is the next integration. Advertisers still view social media as a discovery medium and retail media as a conversion-driver. But both platforms are “potentially full-funnel,” according to Liz Cole, executive director and US head of social at VMLY&R, speaking at our “Attention!” summit.

This report is a guideline to help marketers understand retail media through market size estimates, growth projections, and analysis of the complex landscape of buyers, sellers, and intermediaries.

Identity resolution is in a state of flux in the US advertising industry, with third-party browser cookies and mobile IDs being ushered out in the name of consumer privacy.

As cookie alternatives proliferate, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is stepping in to provide order: The newly launched id-sources.json framework is meant to clarify which new IDs are being used by ad networks and publishers.

The deprecation of the third-party cookie in Chrome will be significantly disruptive for publishers that monetize their sites with advertising. Here’s how web publishers are preparing for a future without third-party cookies.

Advertisers are embracing the popularity of connected TV by allocating more money to streaming platforms.

More people are leaving pay TV for digital alternatives, as TV networks increase their subscription costs and end promotional prices.

Most business-to-business (B2B) marketers do some sort of content marketing, but they often do not measure the payoff of their content efforts.