Just a few years ago, retail media was a niche, often overlooked corner of digital advertising — limited to sponsored product placements on major marketplaces.
Today, it’s a multibillion-dollar global powerhouse. Retailers of all sizes — from Amazon and Walmart to Zalando, Farfetch, and Carrefour — are rapidly transforming their digital properties into full-scale retail media networks (RMNs).
As a result, retail media is not only reshaping how brands advertise but is also challenging the dominance of Google and Meta in performance marketing.
Is retail media market viral nowadays? Driven by strong ROI, access to first-party shopper data, and the profitability of closed-loop ad systems, the retail media ecosystem is becoming the fastest-growing segment of online advertising.
Global ad spend is projected to reach $177.7 billion in 2025 (WARC), giving space to trends shaping the retail media and providing this industry with the status as the new frontier of digital marketing.
Retail Media Market Overview & Growth
Retail media is a fast-growing digital channel that successfully competes with social networks and television in terms of ad inventory. Companies choose it due to its precise targeting of the target audience segment ready to purchase, short sales funnel, and the ability to quickly increase brand awareness. Recently, this channel transformed itself from a small segment to the comprehensive retail media market.
Retail Media Is Outpacing Broader Ad Market Growth
Retail media offers lucrative additional business for retailers on the one hand, and enables brands to target consumers precisely on the other. There is great potential in the intelligent use of first-party data and its combination with AI tools.
Currently, retail media market is driven by measurable ROI, first-party data, and closed-loop attribution. Retail media ad spend is rising from $50.7B in 2019 to ~$165.9B in 2025 (~3.3× growth), with YoY increases of 15–20%.
U.S. retail media market is growing at ~20% YoY in 2025, while overall digital ad growth is in the single digits. At the same time, Europe’s retail media market grew 22.1% in 2023 vs only 6% for total ad spend.
Dominance of Walled Gardens, Especially Amazon
The market is highly concentrated around a few platforms with significant shopper traffic and advanced ad tech. With the Amazon Retail Ad Service, Amazon is significantly expanding its presence in the retail media market. By making its advertising technology available to external retailers, Amazon can not only generate additional revenue but also collect valuable data that contributes to the further development of its own technologies.
Emerging players (e.g., Carrefour, Tesco, Instacart) are also contributing to the retail media market and gaining traction.
- Amazon Ads leads the global retail media market with $56.2B in 2024.
- In the U.S., Amazon and Walmart are projected to absorb over 84% of retail media budgets in 2025.
- In the UK, ~73% of retail media spend goes to Amazon.
Retail Media Expanding Beyond On-Site Sponsored Listings
The definition of retail media is broadening to include off-site, in-store, and CTV integrations — turning it into a true omnichannel strategy.
- In the U.S., >20% of spend in 2025 will go to off-site channels (ads on third-party publisher websites).
- In-store retail media is growing: screens and digital signage are projected to surpass $0.5B in 2025.
Europe Is Rapidly Catching Up
Europe’s retail media spend is projected to reach €17–18B in 2025 and €31B by 2028 — nearly doubling in three years. The UK leads, followed by France and Germany.
Growth is driven by retailer investment in media network infrastructure and advertisers shifting budgets from TV.
Europe is roughly 2–3 years behind the U.S. in adoption, but it’s accelerating, with strong growth in grocery-led networks and more pan-European media alliances forming.
Shift in Budget Allocation and Advertiser Behavior
Retail media is no longer experimental — it is now a core budget line, pulling funds from traditional search, programmatic display, and even trade marketing.
The buzz around the new advertising channel is created not only by retailers but also by brands that are actively investing in it. According to IAB, more than 80% of digital advertisers have allocated a budget for retail media, and the majority of them plan to increase their retail media ad spend in the coming year. Some experts also call retail media “a new element of the marketing mix.”
- In the U.S., three-quarters of advertisers plan to increase their retail media budgets in 2025.
- Retail media is taking a larger share of total digital spend, now approaching 18% in the U.S. and 16% globally.
High Data Quality
Retail media operates with first-party data — the most complete and valuable type of information about Internet users. Purchase history, page visits, adding to favorites and baskets, average check, abandoned basket statistics — these and many other data are known to online platforms.
No other Internet advertising tool (except for the CRM system) has access to such information — Google, Meta, etc. These are files that are installed in Internet users’ browsers and collect data about their activity on the Internet.
Almost all contextual and targeted advertising works based on the information they accumulate.
Forecasts Suggest Continued Expansion Post-2025
- U.S. retail media is projected to grow from $62B in 2025 to ~$98B by 2028 (CAGR: 17.2%).
- Global retail media is forecast to exceed $200B by 2026.
Growth is not peaking. The channel is still scaling with new formats (video, CTV, shoppable media), new players (non-retail publishers adopting RMN principles), new retail media marketing patterns, and expanding geographies.
What It Takes to Succeed in Retail Media
Retail media advertising offers mutual benefits for retailers and consumer goods manufacturers through collaborative partnerships. Retailers can generate high-margin advertising revenue while delivering more relevant ads to their customers. At the same time, consumer goods brands gain valuable, privacy-compliant insights and services that help them allocate their ad budgets more effectively.
To use the full potential of retail media, both retailers and consumer goods companies need to invest in closer collaboration and infrastructure development. Retailers can benefit from high-margin ad revenues and offer shoppers more relevant, personalized experiences. Meanwhile, brands gain access to privacy-compliant, first-party data that helps optimize targeting, improve campaign performance, and track ROI in real time—especially through metrics like ROAS.
To strengthen our position in this space, we should:
- Build robust and transparent ad ecosystems that allow for real-time measurement and campaign optimization.
- Prioritize data privacy and compliance to foster trust with consumers and partners.
- Develop scalable, automated RMNs that enable cross-retailer campaign execution and unified reporting.
- Bridge the gap between trade marketing and retail media budgets by aligning internal priorities and demonstrating incremental value.
- Establish clear standards and best practices for ad formats, measurement, and attribution to make retail media more accessible and effective.
Overcoming current challenges—such as fragmented platforms, limited reach, and underdeveloped tech stacks—will require strategic alignment, technical investment, and education on the value retail media can bring across the full customer journey.
Future-Ready Infrastructure for Commerce-Led Advertising
One of the biggest retail media trends today is the rise of retailers building their own ad platforms. By turning their digital spaces into monetizable media channels, retailers are gaining new revenue streams and greater control over their data and customer experience.
Retail Media Platform by Adtelligent is a powerful solution designed to help retailers and marketplaces open new monetization opportunities by turning their digital properties into scalable media platforms.
The solution gives retailers full control over the ad inventory, monetization & shopper experience. With the Adtelligent Retail Media Platform, retailers can fully manage and monetize their media inventory across on-site, off-site, and in-store channels – all from one interface. It streamlines targeting, delivery, and reporting, giving retailers full ownership of their retail media infrastructure.
As we look ahead, understanding the dynamics of the retail media market will be crucial for brands and retailers alike.
What is the retail media market?
The retail media market refers to advertising opportunities on retailers’ owned digital and physical channels, such as websites, apps, in-store screens, and point-of-sale systems. It enables brands to target shoppers close to the point of purchase using first-party data provided by the retailer.
What is an example of retail media?
An example of retail media is a sponsored product ad appearing on a retailer’s website, like Amazon or Walmart, when a user searches for an item. It can also include in-store digital displays promoting specific brands or programmatic ads delivered through a retailer’s app.
How big is the retail media industry?
As of 2025, the global retail media industry is valued at over $145 billion and continues to grow at a double-digit rate. In the U.S. alone, retail media ad spend is projected to exceed $65 billion, accounting for a significant portion of total digital advertising budgets.
What is the retail media market forecast?
The retail media market is expected to see sustained growth through and beyond 2025, driven by increased advertiser demand, improved targeting with first-party data, and expansion into new formats like CTV and in-store digital signage. Analysts forecast continued double-digit annual growth across key regions.