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.

Retail media networks may be working on standardization, but a universal measurement system is still a dream. Aside from a sluggish move toward standardization, here are four predictions about the future of retail media networks our analysts gave on our “Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail” podcast.

The continued growth and success of retail media hinge on achieving measurement standardization, according to Jeffrey Bustos, vice president of measurement addressability data at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Walmart has the largest audience of any digital grocery platform. But our survey found that Amazon Fresh customers were more active and willing to try new products.

Brands must balance personalization with privacy considerations and ensure product pages are comprehensive and complete. Lower-funnel ad tactics and easily accessible shipping and returns info also help to encourage purchases. Here are four strategies to boost online conversion rates.

Travel will see the fastest growth in US digital ad spending of any industry in 2023, according to our forecast. Travel, retail, healthcare and pharma, automotive, and entertainment will outpace the national digital ad spending growth rate.

Recent news of Walmart’s expansion of in-store ads, including audio and product demos, plus The Kroger Co.’s planned roll out of digital ads in the cooler aisle, has intensified the spotlight on the rise of in-store retail media. This fast-emerging segment is perhaps the most critical development in the digitization of the store, retail’s next mega-trend. Physical stores have enormous—and almost completely untapped—potential as the next major media channel, yet US retailers have been remarkably slow to adopt.

Retail’s resilience and its outsized role in digital ad spending will help offset the impact of a broader slowdown in growth in the US digital advertising market.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss what we are paying close attention to this holiday season, how much more the holiday season has been pulled forward, and besides being earlier than everyone else, which holiday strategies will work? Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank one projected winner and one retailer that needs help this holiday season. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman and analyst Zak Stambor.