What does 2023 have in store for retailers? The answer is a bit of a mixed bag.

We lowered our expectations for digital ad spending next year amid ongoing data privacy challenges, post-pandemic normalization in investment, and overall market instability.

Retail media is one of the hottest advertising and retail topics of 2022. Why? For starters, it’s growing—and fast.

Better-than-expected earnings for Etsy and eBay give retailers a glimmer of hope: But continued losses for Wayfair and Peloton show some categories have a longer, difficult road to recovery.

Kroger plans to acquire Albertsons, a nearly $25 billion deal that will result in a retail media network capable of reaching 85 million US households, according to the company.

On today's episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss the retail media implications of a Kroger-Albertsons pairing, why in-store retail media is such a big deal, and the likelihood of this merger going through. Then for "Red-Hot Retail," our analysts give us their very specific—and potentially risky—predictions about three potential big deals in retail media. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analysts Andrew Lipsman and Zak Stambor.

In-store retail media’s power isn’t dependent on personalization: That makes it significantly easier to deploy.

Retail media is going to be digital advertising’s “third big wave,” following search and social as “must-haves” for marketers. But some marketers are struggling with how to implement and optimize, shared Nikhil Lai, senior analyst at Forrester, during an Advertising Week session on Tuesday.

Retailers are realizing their stores are monetizable media assets: In-store digital media can help brands reach and influence consumers at scale in brand-safe, contextually relevant environments.

Retail media is following in the footsteps of search and social as digital advertising's third big wave, and has already established itself as a force. Built on a foundation of valuable first-party purchase data, contextually relevant ad experiences, and closed-loop reporting, retail media is seeing advertiser budgets quickly migrating in its direction. This fall, Amazon’s exclusive rights to NFL Thursday Night Football will “kick off” the first of retail media’s next three phases of growth and prove why digital advertising’s third big wave is destined to be the biggest.

Drizly is the latest company to roll out an ad network: The Uber-owned alcohol delivery service’s ad products may enable advertisers to run finely targeted multimedia campaigns.

Walmart has big plans to grow its ad business: Its ad tech platform is working with TikTok, Snap, and Roku to measure how social media and CTV advertising affect sales.

Retailers look for more ways to monetize their customer bases: Kroger, Sam’s Club, and Best Buy keep seeking new ways to entice advertisers to their retail media networks.

It’s not the fastest-growing channel, but paid search is still a vital component of the digital advertising ecosystem, especially as privacy changes and a potential recession put ad budgets in jeopardy.

A new set of digital winners is emerging amid the market turmoil of 2022. Using our forecasts, we showcase how ecommerce, social media, fintech, and more are being transformed.

The digital shelf has grown more competitive for CPG brands amid the rise of grocery ecommerce and increasing retail media ad spend.

On today's episode, we discuss who is most likely to win the short-video race, the significance of Lyft's new media division, the potential of Apple's ad business, whether buy now, pay later is too good to be true, Chewy's new insurance and wellness service CarePlus, an unpopular opinion about retail media, who's buying all the electric vehicles, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Ross Benes, Blake Droesch, and Max Willens.

Banks’ continued investment in marketing, led by the sales of products and solutions to the mass affluent, signals sustained growth in digital ad spending on the heels of a historic snap back in budgets since the pandemic—despite a looming economic downturn.

In the US, digital retail media and the ecommerce channel are growing faster than any other major ad format except connected TV. This report analyzes our latest retail media forecast and examines the role market uncertainty could play in this space.

In a survey of marketing decision-makers from 163 leading organizations, more than 80% say they plan to increase their retail media spending next year, showing the popularity and continued growth of the channel.