Retail media ad spending keeps climbing, but growth is slowing and the largest networks are tightening their grip. Off-site advertising, CTV, and AI shopping ads offer new revenue opportunities, while smaller networks face mounting pressure to stand out.

Commerce media has spent years expanding beyond retailers’ owned and operated properties. But getting inventory onto social platforms, connected TV (CTV), and the open web doesn’t create demand on its own. Advertisers need a reason to use it. That’s particularly true on social, where just $1.3 billion will flow from retail media networks (RMNs) this year, representing less than 2% of retail media ad spending, according to EMARKETER’s forecast. “As we've watched the market evolve, it's become pretty clear that building more inventory and more supply doesn't automatically guarantee advertiser demand, especially in channels where brands have established buying partners and workflows,” said EMARKETER principal analyst Sarah Marzano, in a talk at Advertising Week New York on Monday. For Instacart, the opportunity is to make advertisers’ existing media buys more effective rather than force them into another buying platform. Its partnership with Pinterest offers a test case for that strategy, combining Instacart’s purchase data with a platform built around product discovery.

AI is fueling a banner year for global advertising, pushing digital spending to new heights despite economic and geopolitical stresses. Retail media is surging worldwide, while Meta and Amazon gain ground in the battle for ad dollars.

Retail media ad spend will hit $300 billion by 2030: Advertisers are treating RMNs as a full-funnel channel, not just a tool for driving purchases.

Retail media tightens its grip: 73% of advertisers plan to spend more as RMNs pair scale with closed-loop proof.

This is the latest installment of our “UK Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.​

This is the latest installment of our “UK Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.​

Health and beauty ad spending jumps 50%+, while electronics swing with demand cycles, according to our industry KPI data.

Meta is targeting retail media budgets with product set optimization and insights to bring SKU precision and challenge onsite networks.

Amazon’s strong Q4 results were tempered by uncertainty as a $200 billion 2026 spending plan rattled investors.

This is the second installment of our “UK Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

This is the second installment of our “UK Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.​

This is the Q4 2025 installment of our quarterly “Ad Spending Benchmarks” series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

This benchmark covers how ad buyers can calibrate their retail media ad spending and budget allocations against the market, and how publishers and solution providers can assess whether their ad revenues align with industry trends.

The outlook for retail media ad spending remains bright throughout most of the world, even as ad budgets are increasingly constrained in the face of economic storm clouds.

A series of major milestones are on tap for total media and digital media ad spending around the world in 2025, although growth will be uneven across countries and regions.

2025 will bring significant change to the retail industry: Several of the main trends dominating retail—genAI, RMNs, and China’s ecommerce disrupters—will look very different this time next year.

What’s next for retail media? The rapidly expanding ad channel is facing growing pains as the majority of RMNs struggle to keep pace with Amazon and Walmart.

Amazon strengthened its grip on ecommerce in 2024: The retailer warded off growing competition from Temu and Walmart by improving delivery speeds, offering deals, and enhancing Prime benefits.

Just Eat Takeaway expands retail media offerings with Rokt partnership: The delivery company joins DoorDash, Instacart, and Gopuff in enhancing its ad capabilities