New ad tools and markets are paying off, but unproven returns could limit ad spending.

ChatGPT sells more ads, but underdeveloped buying tools and limited shopping use may curb its revenue goals.

Tools and home improvement delivered the strongest ad returns of any industry at $4.56 for every dollar spent in Q4 2025, nearly 2.5x the return clothing, shoes & jewelry advertisers saw ($1.86), according to a Q4 2025 report from SellMetric.

Walmart is aligning Walmart Connect, Walmart Connect International, and Sam's Club Connect (formerly Sam's Club Member Access Platform) around shared technology, platforms and capabilities while maintaining separate brand identities. The goal is to simplify how advertisers buy, measure, and scale retail media campaigns.

Reddit opens Shopify to all advertisers: Global rollout ties community intent to DPAs, easing catalog setup and courting retail budgets.

As pressure to prove incrementality grows, marketers are rethinking where performance actually happens. The Transaction Moment is gaining attention as a measurable, high-intent opportunity.

Media mix modeling is evolving from a reporting tool into a decision engine, but most marketers aren’t ready. AI, data, and new measurement frameworks are creating a gap between insight and action, making it hard to improve marketing effectiveness.

US CPG advertisers are expected to spend nearly $59 billion on ads in 2026, according to an EMARKETER forecast. How that budget gets activated across retail media networks matters more than ever as brands navigate fragmentation, demand better measurement, and push for industry standardization.

Commerce media is capturing a growing share of advertiser budgets by targeting consumers at a moment traditional channels miss: when they're actively making a purchase. This year, commerce media is expected to reach nearly 21% of digital ad spending and nearly 17.5% of total media spend, according to EMARKETER's April forecast.

Commerce media spending is projected to surpass $80 billion in the US this year, according to EMARKETER’s forecast, but not every network is winning buyers’ trust equally. “Trust is earned campaign by campaign, and even the earned have to keep earning it," said Rob Rubin, head of EMARKETER Advisory, at EMARKETER’s Ad Buyer Strategies Summit. He shared findings from a new survey of 231 senior ad buyers collectively responsible for more than $8 billion in commerce media spend.

Reddit proves its CPG pull: Reddit shoppers drive 1.5 times ROAS and up to 17% higher LTV as trust-rich threads steer buying decisions.

As retail media networks use different attribution models, it’s becoming harder for advertisers to compare performance across platforms. Incrementality offers a clearer view of which investments are truly driving growth.

New Snapchat ad formats and strong engagement aim to sway marketers despite a modest ad revenue share.

Brands will face more pressure to prove results, pushing them toward cleaner data and AI tools that improve spending decisions.

When ChatGPT rolled out ads on February 9, retailers moved quickly to test the format. The retail and grocery category accounted for 44% of ad impressions on ChatGPT during the two-week period from February 12 to 26, compared with 37% on Google Search, according to data from Sensor Tower.

LinkedIn tops B2B campaign results, posting 121% ROAS—outpacing Google and Meta and capturing 41% of paid social budgets.

Comcast and Adara are linking ad exposure directly to confirmed travel bookings; with this move, TV and streaming are moving closer to performance accountability.

Dentsu is entering repair mode; a record impairment and leadership shift mark a pivot toward cost control and disciplined capital allocation.

As commerce media ad spend shifts, clear gaps emerge in buyer maturity and execution. From setup friction to system-level optimization, spend levels signal today’s constraints and what it takes to unlock scalable growth.