AI is having a significant impact on Europe’s digital landscape. But tight regulatory constraints in some markets and a broader fragmentation across the region is resulting in uneven development. Brands, retailers, agencies, and ad platforms need to adapt to best ride the AI wave.​

Retail media is reshaping search advertising. Costs are rising unevenly while performance gaps widen, forcing advertisers to rethink where spend delivers real results as traditional search dominance fades.

In-store is retail media’s biggest missed opportunity. Ecommerce-first design, weak measurement, and internal friction keep budgets small, even as stores drive most sales. Closing the gap demands new standards, aligned incentives, and real infrastructure investment.

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

With US retail media ad spend hitting $60.32 billion in 2025, retailers and advertisers alike are exploring how non-endemic partnerships can expand reach, unlock new revenue streams, and deliver relevant advertising experiences to shoppers.

Out-of-home (OOH) ad spending keeps climbing, powered by digital screens, in-store placements, and programmatic buying. Growth is steady, but budgets still lean on traditional formats as automation reshapes how brands plan and buy.

Retail media is entering an execution era; advertisers are now judging networks on speed, flexibility, and clarity, not just closed-loop performance or topline growth.

To simplify shopping for customers in 2026, retailers will provide curated product selections online and in-store, experts told EMARKETER. This will also strengthen loyalty and improve the shopping experience, attracting new customers and encouraging them to return regularly in the year ahead.

Agencies are increasingly acting as commerce media guides, helping brands move past outdated structures, sort through measurement standards, and bring AI into their planning. While commerce media networks (CMNs) have expanded to capture more than just retail media dollars, the silos between brand, retail, and sales teams make integration a challenge.

Retail media’s early free-for-all is giving way to a more deliberate approach. At last week’s EMARKETER Summit, leaders from Kellanova and Every Man Jack described how marketers are sharpening their focus, rethinking measurement, and preparing for an AI-driven discovery landscape.

The commerce media landscape is bracing for a defining year. Pressure is building across retailers and platforms to rethink how shoppers discover, evaluate, and buy products.

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.

Exclusive survey findings benchmark retail media network structures, capabilities, and priorities as the landscape continues to take shape.​

As more brands build retail media networks (RMNs) to connect advertisers with shoppers, the once experimental channel has grown pivotal to marketers. US retail media search ad spending alone is projected to rake in $38.42 billion this year, according to our March 2025 forecast.

This sponsored article by Fetch will explore AI in the consumer goods sector.

Digital markets are being reshaped by genAI search and shifting platform and monetization dynamics. These 10 charts reveal the forces that will define 2025 and beyond.

Latin America’s retail media ecosystem is expanding fast as new players, formats, and solutions draw in more ad dollars. But limited self-service offerings and the lack of standardized metrics hinder its full potential.

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

In-store retail media is Europe’s next big ad opportunity. But as retailers digitize stores, standardization and measurement challenges are dragging advertiser adoption.