The race by retailers to build media business will see the sector surpass television television revenue in the next five years, according to advertising industry forecasts.
The latest GroupM forecasts predict retail media will be 15.4%, or $US175.7 billion, of total global advertising revenue by 2028.
In the same year television is forecast to hit $US172.95 billion with a growth rate of just 1.7%.
Retail media this year is forecast to lift 9.9% to $125.7 billion this year, the third-fastest growing advertising channel behind digital out-of-home and CTV.
The forecasts are more subdued than those of Insider Intelligence’s eMarketer which sees retail media retail jumping traditional television ad spend in 2025.
GroupM says global expansion of retail and e-commerce platforms is more challenging logistically than scaling a fully digital product such as short-form video.
In some cases, retailers face entrenched incumbents, requiring investment in marketing and user acquisition, such as online shopping platform Temu which used two Super Bowl spots to raise awareness this year.
However, established players such as Amazon are leveraging platforms efficiently.
Amazon's global ad business will grow nearly 19% this year to $44.88 billion, according to forecasts by Insider Intelligence.
That would give Amazon a 7.5% share of the global digital ad market.
The rise of retail media is something of a frenzied climb, according to research by Publicis’ Epsilon and CitrusAd, via a survey of 689 mid- to large-sized brands and retailers in 12 countries this year.
“We’re so caught up in the hype around the latest offerings that we ignore the fact that fragmentation leads to poor advertising experiences and frustrated shoppers,” says Joe Doran, chief product officer at Epsilon.
“We believe that solutions that focus on messaging individual shoppers across channels deliver better performance. Brands want to talk to existing and potential in-market shoppers.
“Retailers should facilitate those conversations at scale and across channels that can reach in-market shoppers wherever they may be in the consumer journey.
“So, when we put the individual shopper at the centre of the advertising, everyone wins.”
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