Walmart

The IAB gave us new retail media standards for Christmas. But will the industry actually adopt them? Plus: how AI will be used in advertising in 2025.

Here are 12 essential tips to help advertisers optimize their retail media investments and thrive in this fierce new arena, based on insights from the ANA’s Retail Media Networks Fair.

Walmart’s latest data play: an app for unlocking barricades on store shelves; training generative AI may rely more on scraping big-name sites than previously thought; and tracking the issues that mattered most to Trump and Harris, based on ad spending.

Nielsen has received accreditation from the MRC for a product that integrates a broadcaster or media company’s first-party streaming data into Nielsen’s TV panel ratings.  Plus, Google launches a curation service that bundles ad inventory within its own Google Ad Manager.

Is it time to retire references to the advertising “duopoly?” Plus, Omnicom wants to bring its major agency brands under unified leadership.

In today’s newsletter: Walmart’s hottest growth drivers are ads and subscriptions; why The Trade Desk’s UID 2.0 could be regulators’ next target; and how the growth of CTV content fortresses is preventing breakout streaming hits.

In today’s newsletter: To boost its ads biz, Walmart will show in-store ads for non-endemic brands; Hyve Group buys Possible; and the Senate advances KOSA and COPPA 2.0, but the bills face obstacles in the House.

Upfront negotiations might take longer than normal this year. Plus, Meta is already in hot water with the EU’s new digital regulations.

In today’s newsletter: Google tries to buy its way out of a jury trial in the DOJ’s antitrust case against its ads business; Walmart sees some of its best margins on ad sales; and TikTok tests 60-minute videos.

In today’s newsletter: Companies looking to sell data target the US market; which media companies to bet on at TV upfronts; and generative AI data licensing is the new publisher revenue stream.

Roblox CEO David Baszucki said advertising “will not be material this year” during the company’s Q1 earnings call on Thursday.

In today’s newsletter: Closing arguments begin in the DOJ vs. Google Search antitrust trial; the sports betting ad bubble might be set to burst; and Etsy struggles to stand out among ecommerce competitors in audience scale and marketing spend.

In today’s newsletter: Online news revenue is being throttled around the web; Roblox is on a mission to build a $1 billion ad business; and TikTok is circumventing the Apple App Store’s 30% fee by directing users off iOS to purchase TikTok coins.

Ibotta’s evolution since it was founded 13 years ago – it went public last week – is emblematic of the industry’s overall transition from third-party data marketplaces to first-party and retail media data.

In today’s newsletter: The marketing data ecosystem is key for fin tech; media buyers acknowledge YouTube as part of their TV strategies; and Threads will launch ads later this year.

US digital ad revenue grew at a slower rate in 2023 compared to 2022, hampered by inflation, climbing interest rates and advertising industry layoffs, according to the IAB/PwC Internet Advertising Revenue Report released Tuesday.

In today’s newsletter: Yum Brands feasts on cross-brand customer data; YouTube’s focus has shifted away from services to software and APIs; and Walmart Connect announces updates to its DSP, including allowing conquesting in sponsored search listings.

In today’s newsletter: Google’s ad strength meter could push advertisers to adopt Google’s campaign preferences; Home Depot hosts an “InFront” to show off its RMN, Orange Apron Media; and the Privacy Sandbox rollout could do serious damage to the online ad industry.

The US ad market is set to grow this year, according to a Magna forecast released Thursday. Streaming and political advertising play outsized roles in that growth.

In today’s newsletter: Brands risk having their organic sales counted as paid conversion conversions on multiple platforms; Facebook’s Project Ghostbusters spied on Snap, YouTube and Amazon; and DTC brands bow out of brick-and-mortar.

In today’s newsletter: Meta will shutter news benchmarking service CrowdTangle; Reddit rolls out a new ad format to monetize its user activity; and the ANA readies a report analyzing the programmatic supply chain.

If you’re using retail media or commerce marketing for the bottom of the funnel only, then you’re missing out on major opportunities.

In today’s newsletter: IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework operates under threat; DSPs frown upon ID bridging; and Google Ads is getting into marketing mix modeling.

In today’s newsletter: Viant sees double-digit CTV growth powered largely by direct deals; Target launches a new paid membership program; YouTube makes a bid to compete with TikTok on video editing.

Data has not only become the new oil for marketers; it is also the oxygen breathing life into TV advertising with new branding and performance opportunities.

In today’s newsletter: Can Etsy and Wayfair compete against Temu?; audience data dominates the TV upfronts; the FTC sues to block the Kroger/Albertsons deal.

Don’t get me wrong – Walmart is going to sell a lot of Vizio TVs. But its bigger interest in Vizio stems from data and advertising.

Walmart buys smart TV maker Vizio to boost its ads business with streaming inventory, viewership data and, of course, shoppable TV ads.

In today’s newsletter: Walled gardens are turning into an interconnected network of fortresses; Walmart eyes a Vizio acquisition; Dentsu stumbled in 2023.

The question isn’t whether Google will fall, but whether its time is near. And, if so, what will finally bring it down?