In 2025, retail media found itself at a turning point as networks, advertisers, and platforms pushed into new territory and redefined what the channel could be. Here are five of our top stories from the year, from the challenges of tracking CTV campaigns to the evolving competitive landscape shaped by Amazon, Walmart, and a wave of innovative smaller networks.

The automotive dashboard is evolving into a media hub. By 2029, 203 million connected car drivers will give advertisers access to captive audiences through AI commerce, in-vehicle ads, charging sessions, and rideshare integrations.

Walmart’s OnePay adopted Google’s Agent Payments Protocol (AP2) to drive agentic commerce as a credentialled provider, per a press release. With Chrome remaining consumer’s most popular browser, Gemini is narrowing the gap with ChatGPT as the most used chatbot: We forecast that by 2029, Gemini will hold 53% of genAI market share. That in turn could give Google’s AP2 a large share of agent-driven consumer spend in the long term, as consumers develop loyalty and use patterns around AI platforms.

On today’s EMARKETER Miniseries—AI-Driven Media Management—we explore how to break down the media manager role into workflows that can be automated or augmented by agentic AI, what agencies misunderstand about AI, and which agency tasks are ripest to hand off to AI right now. EMARKETER Senior Director of Content Jeremy Goldman speaks with Adam Epstein, co-founder and CEO of Gigi. Listen everywhere you find podcasts, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

"The retail media landscape is only becoming more crowded, but Target's guest insights are often cited as a key differentiator," said our analyst Sarah Marzano during EMARKETER's recent Commerce Media Summit.

Digital ad spending remains resilient although economic signals are wobbly. AI-driven optimization, richer first-party data, and surging digital video will keep growth strong even as search shifts and traditional budgets fade.

LinkedIn is proving the power of its ad offerings, delivering promising results from both its Reserved Ads format and video ads. Recognizing LinkedIn’s ability to foster measurable ad results will prove valuable for B2B marketers looking to build credibility with other business professionals. Other features, like auto-targeting tools to reach key audiences, AI tools to create ads, and platform recommendations to maximize ROI contribute to LinkedIn’s ability to drive action.

Klarna launched the Agentic Product Protocol, an open standard that makes products on the internet discoverable and understandable by AI agents, per a press release. All payment providers need to meet consumer demand for AI-powered commerce that allows them to save time and money on shopping. However, to speed up adoption of agent-driven checkout, platforms need to ensure safety and privacy with AI agent transactions: 65.5% of US consumers still have misgivings about agent-led payments, per Omnisend.

Consumers are integrating AI into everyday health searches as tools grow more conversational, even though output reliability remains uneven. The balance of speed, accuracy, and trust will shape how people use AI for information and care.

New York has enacted the first US laws requiring disclosure and consent for AI-generated performers and posthumous likenesses in advertising and entertainment. The measures mandate clear labeling when synthetic or digitally altered performers appear onscreen and require approval from estates before deceased individuals’ likenesses are used commercially. The laws sharpen a state–federal divide: President Trump has warned states against AI rules that could hinder US competitiveness, favoring a single national framework instead. For media companies, New York’s move creates immediate compliance obligations—and a preview of regulatory uncertainty ahead.

Amazon's recent business moves, examining corporate layoffs, AI-powered shopping features, and new smart glasses technology for delivery workers paint an interesting view of its immediate future and what it could mean for consumers.

Disney will invest $1 billion in OpenAI and allow Sora users to create short-form videos featuring more than 200 Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars characters. User-generated material opens a new potential spigot of low-cost content for Disney+, which is under increased pressure to compete with YouTube. The move marks a major shift for a conglomerate that has historically held its IP close to the chest.

BNY will integrate Google Gemini Enterprise into Eliza, its in-house AI platform. Gemini will give Eliza deep research tools and let BNY’s employees build AI agents that draw from and act on the bank’s vast libraries of financial data. The haves and have nots of banking’s AI era are coming into relief. The top strata are institutions that have invested heavily in data infrastructure that supports AI’s needs. The next strata are developing dedicated AI strategy but aren’t building as much in-house. Banks in the final strata haven’t found ways to use AI at scale but need to now.

AI enters 2026 facing energy bottlenecks, regulatory battles, and a gap between promise and performance. From market corrections to voice assistant limits and physical AI’s unreadiness, hype is meeting reality.

For social platforms, AI hype is colliding with user fatigue and rising regulations. In the US, they face stalled engagement and tougher rules as people demand more control and more human experiences.

US ad spend growth will grow a total of 11% in 2025, excluding political spending, per an updated Madison & Wall forecast cited by Mediapost. The figure is well above Madison & Wall’s previous estimate of 3.6% growth and follows 13% YoY growth in Q3. Even as total media ad spending continues to grow, growth doesn’t entirely negate the overall climate of uncertainty that will undoubtedly affect the ad industry in the year ahead. Slowing growth expected from Madison & Wall in 2026 and ongoing economic headwinds indicate that advertisers are still operating in an era of caution.

The EU’s regulatory environment will hinder investment in AI-generated ads and agentic commerce in 2026. But TikTok Shop’s expansion will be a catalyst for live commerce.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how AI has already changed search, whether Google is in a better or worse position today because of AI’s rapid rise, and how AI will transform search in the next 6–12 months. Join Senior Director of Podcasts and host Marcus Johnson, along with Principal Analyst Nate Elliot and Analyst Jacob Bourne. Listen everywhere, and watch on YouTube and Spotify.

Canada’s digital economy is entering a faster, more competitive phase in 2026 as ad spending accelerates, short video surges, ecommerce climbs, and AI-driven search reshapes how audiences discover content.

The New York Times filed a lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity on Friday, adding to the more than 40 current court cases between AI companies and copyright holders. Lawsuits like The Times’ underscore how AI is impacting the overall health and future of the digital advertising ecosystem—requiring advertisers to rethink traditional strategies.