Amazon is growing into an advertising titan: The company’s ad revenues jumped 26% in Q3 thanks to football and a strong hold on retail media.

Retail media networks are rolling out more advanced targeting capabilities as advertisers seek to more accurately and effectively reach their audiences. Here are two recent examples.

The Hershey Co. found a way to apply retail media data from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to other consumer packaged goods ads. The company learned that shoppers were buying shapes of Reese’s Cups based on their chocolate to peanut butter ratio, so it made two new products—one for peanut butter lovers and one for chocolate lovers, said Vinny Rinaldi, US head of media at The Hershey Co.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Netflix's ad business is coming along; the streaming giant's first live sports broadcast; and its new retail, dining, and live experience destinations. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

Physical stores are a massive untapped opportunity for advertisers, and as retail media evolves, more networks are beginning to explore in-store media formats. Here are three recent examples.

Retail media and connected TV (CTV) are like peanut butter and chocolate, Danielle DeLauro, executive vice president at the Video Advertising Bureau, said at Advertising Week New York last week. “Together, there’s nothing better.”

During the season of giving, one gift that retailers can truly bank on is partnership marketing. Partnerships not only provide a host of benefits like extended reach and enhanced credibility, they can also make the holiday season considerably more profitable.

Over one-third (38%) of US adults have decreased their impulse spending this year, up from 14% in 2022, per a study commissioned by Slickdeals and conducted by OnePoll. As we enter the holiday season, there are still a few ways retailers can encourage impulse purchases, from experimenting with shoppable media and putting seasonal products front and center to anticipating the last-minute needs of customers picking up orders in-store.

Advertising Week New York kicks off next week. Last year, speakers discussed everything from Web3 to connected TV (CTV) to social media. This year, we’ll be watching for updates related to retail media, AI, and social media’s era of transformation.

US retail digital ad spend will grow 14.2% next year to reach $84.00 billion, or 28.6% of total digital ad spend, per our forecast.

Retail will account for more US digital ad spend (27.9%) in 2023 than the five lowest-spending industries combined, according to our forecast.

In 2023, we predict that walled gardens will lose share of total programmatic digital display ad spending for the first time since 2017, when we first began forecasting this segment, according to our Programmatic Ad Spending Forecast Q3 2023 report.

US omnichannel retail media ad spend will increase by 22.6% next year for a total of $55.64 billion. One thing that could unlock spend even further? Standardization.

France will see stronger growth in digital ad spending than both Germany and the UK this year. Most industries aren’t contributing to that growth, though, with only travel and retail seeing any significant investments.

Brands need to align internal goals and present a united front when working with a retail media network on strategies. In turn, retailers should give more access to performance data and enable brands to optimize via self-service options. To expand audience reach beyond bottom-of-funnel retail channels, collaborations between brands, retailers, and media companies will play an even bigger role going forward.

As brands look for innovative ways to keep customers engaged with their loyalty programs, they are shifting their focus from just offering incentives and rewards to generating real relationships with customers based on what they actually want and need, said a speaker during a recent Tech Talk Webinar. Here are three ways that brands can put the customers at the heart of their loyalty program in order to create long-lasting connections.

The threat of recession is holding back digital ad spending in Germany, particularly in influential industries like automotive. If the worst case can be avoided, though, 2024 offers promising signs for growth.