Retail Media

The Trade Desk is adding a new retail tool to its data marketplace toolkit – or a new element to its periodic table, if you will.

For proof of the uncertainty facing marketers in 2025, look no further than the industry’s ping-ponging projections for ad spending. WPP Media’s revised forecast is just the most recent example.

Google’s pivot on IP addresses shows it fears competition; the FTC investigates media watchdogs for advising brands not to spend on X; and Mondelez accuses Aldi of copying its snacks.

Michael Komasinski, Criteo’s newly-minted CEO, shares his vision for the company – and swears that Criteo doesn’t regret its huge investment in testing the Chrome Privacy Sandbox.

Ad spending across RMNs and CMNs is still hindered by incomplete data access and connectivity. Here’s how to bridge that gap.

At NewFronts, marketers weigh new budget priorities under the Trump tariffs; The New York Times isn’t letting tariffs temper its 2025 outlook; and video podcasting is taking over CTV.

Agentic AI aims to take the work out of campaign targeting; marketers are increasingly using retail media data in non-retail channels; and Puma drives sales by re-embracing its branding.

Sabrina Sierant joined Mondelez more than 12 years ago, which seems like a prior age in shopping terms. In December 2019, she took on marketing for the US Chips Ahoy business, as Mondelez orchestrated a major rebrand and reinvestment in its cookie brand.

Jason Colon, until recently Publicis’ EVP and managing director of retail media, has taken a new role as EVP of Commerce Media at Horizon’s retail media agency Night Market.

Whether it’s on a shelf, on Instacart or an online shopping page, a brand needs to take advantage of every inch it has to express itself and entertain potential customers. At least that’s always been the perspective of Oatly, the Swedish oat milk brand known for self-deferential marketing.

The Trump tariff situation is in constant flux, creating uncertainty that spells doom for any potential growth in US ad spending this year. Plus, how retail media and other emerging channels could be threatened by tariff turmoil.

The retail media agency consolidation trend is still going with the announcement on Tuesday that indie shop Acadia has acquired fellow ecommerce marketplace ad agency Crush.

Wonder Group, a restaurant tech and meal delivery company, snapped up Blue Apron in 2023, Grubhub a year later, then Tastemade earlier this month. Tastemade brings new capabilities, says Wonder Chief Growth Officer Daniel Shlossman. But it’s an important step in the company’s plan to become a 360-degree advertising player.

PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel dishes on sell-side curation, data fees, how the business model differs from buy-side curation and how publishers can control pricing for curated deals.

“There were some lessons early on,” Dawn Brodehl, Tillamook’s manager of omni-shopper marketing, tells AdExchanger of the company’s expansion to a national brand. For one thing, did you know that ice cream and dairy products can explode when they’re shipped over the Rocky Mountains?

Target reported $649 million in revenue from its Roundel advertising business in 2024, up about 25% from 2023, during its Q4 and full-year earnings report on Tuesday.

Today’s roundup deals with an uncomfortable topic that, at some point, retail media companies must reckon with. It’s not transparency, or MFA, or standardization. It is the issue of rising return rates.

Walmart’s ad business is starting to click. The company generated $4.4 billion in global ad revenue in 2024, up  27% year-over-year, the company disclosed in its latest earnings report on Thursday.

Not every retailer has a solid handle on emerging AI tech. While some thrived, others stumbled – sometimes spectacularly. Here are some lessons to learn from Q4 campaigns.

Making TripleLift stand out among the pack is one of Helmreich’s top priorities, as is ensuring supply chain health. And, he said, the company has no plans to shy away from its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Last week, at an industry event hosted by RTB House, a group of retailers took the stage to discuss their plans (and frustrations) with data-driven advertising this year.

The convergence of on-site retail and shopping across the web got a little more converged on Tuesday with the news that Kevel has acquired Nexta.

Criteo’s Brian Gleason shared how it is working with agencies to capitalize on curation and measurement opportunities in retail media and CTV.

Chinese advertisers and ecommerce companies have become a force in American shopping. What happens now?

This year, expect ad tech consolidation to center on the biggest growth opportunities in advertising: retail media, connected TV and addressing the gaps in measurement.

The first half of this decade has left publishers reeling from a pandemic jab and an AI uppercut that rearranged our reality and knocked us to our knees. Here’s how pubs and their ad tech partners can punch back in the years ahead.

Lauren Newman, a news publishing and affiliate marketing vet, has high hopes for commerce media to turn things around.

Brick-and-mortar retail is blowing it – and their efforts were on full display at the NRF’s Big Show in New York City last week.

Pinterest’s main focus is making it easier for users to buy through its platform. “We’re all in on shopping,” CRO Bill Watkins told AdExchanger.

2024’s most popular guest columns offer a snapshot of an industry in flux – and one that’s grown cynical due to repeated promises of unrealized change.