2025年程序化零售媒体现状

The state ofprogrammaticretail media E X P LO R I N G O P P O R T U N I T I E S F O R R E TA I L E R S ,B R A N D S , A N D AG E N C I E S Contents Introduction Programmatic buying has long been a path to scale and efficiency in digital advertising.As new channels emerge andgrow, they often join the programmatic ecosystem, just as traditional publishing did during the shift from print to digitalformats, and more recently, as CTV evolved from linear formats. Today, it’s happening in retail media. To maintain a relevant, consumer-friendlyshopping experience, many retailers initiallyavoided programmatic activation, defined asusing demand-side platforms (DSPs) for buy-sideaccess and supply-side platforms (SSPs) for supplyaggregation. After all, sponsored media activationrequires server-side integration, strict creativeand brand controls, custom auction optimization,and relevancy algorithms tailored to retail-specificenvironments. At the time, the only way toguarantee yield performance and protect the userexperience was to build proprietary solutions andrely on direct joint business plans (JBPs) or retailer-specific self-serve platforms. As the worlds of programmatic and retail mediabegin to merge, retailers have a healthy degreeof skepticism. Retail media began with Amazonand Walmart, which today, dominate retail mediawith$56.2Band$4.4Bin annual ad revenue,respectively. In an attempt to replicate their success,over 200 retail media networks (RMNs) haveemerged, often with their own unique ad formats,targeting parameters, and ad buying experiences.While Amazon and Walmart built custom, in-housead platforms, most of the 200+ additional RMNsutilize third-party technology in an effort to launch,scale, and compete for ad spend quickly. They face limitations in platform usability, targetingflexibility, and measurement transparency.Campaigns are often executed through a patchworkof managed services, self-serve platforms, andretail media marketing tools. Scaling these acrossdisparate RMNs requires constant adaptation,which creates operational inefficiencies andmuddles performance evaluation. While retailmedia continues to remain highly performant,that success is at risk if buying complexity andfragmentation increase. At the same time, RMNs are struggling to expandadvertiser demand, manage yield effectively, anddeliver high-quality user experiences.Shoppermarketing budgets—long the primary fuel forretail media—are increasingly stretched, expectedto support not only lower-funnel activations butalso broader objectives, like in-store media,digital content, and co-branded campaigns. Thisfragmentation limits the channel’s growth potential. Despite providing access to on-site, off-site, andin-store inventory within their own “walled gardens,”many RMNs still struggle to match the capabilitiesand demand commanded by the leading players.The current model—built around direct spend andbespoke self-serve platforms—is now slowinggrowth. According toeMarketer, Amazon andWalmart will account for a combined 84.2% of retailmedia ad spend in 2025, leaving hundreds of otherretailers to compete for just 15.8%. But today, advertisers express concerns aboutpersistent friction in the retail media buyingprocess.Despite retail media performance, fueledby access to high-fidelity first-party data and highuser engagement and intent signals, brands wantmore. Advertisers want transaction level data theycan plug into their own media mix modeling (MMM)to understand true incrementality. The solution: Using programmatic technologyto grow retail mediaThere are two reasons why programmaticadvertising accounts for over90% of US digitaldisplay advertisingand75% of CTV advertising:it’s efficient and it’s effective. Knowing this,advertisers are calling for that same simplicity inretail media. Agencies and brands increasinglywant a single point of access to reachaudiences across multiple retail and publisherenvironments without the burden of managingdozens of fragmented, separate buys. At thesame time, retailers want to unlock new adspend and drive growth.For retailers, enabling programmatic accessunlocks incremental demand and streamlinesadvertiser access to ad placements whilepreserving their existing ad serving controls.To break into national budgets, retail mediamust appeal to a broader set of advertisergoals by demonstrating that retail media candeliver results across the full funnel—fromdiscoverability and awareness to conversionand loyalty. Retailers that offer measurableoutcomes, precision targeting, and seamlessactivation through programmatic access canmove beyond dependence on trade dollarsand position retail media as a core part ofomnichannel brand strategy.Such a shift allows RMNs to capture budgetsfrom media teams focused on scale,efficiency, and reach, unlocking new streamsof investment while maintaining control overthe shopper experience. When paired withguardrails around data, exclusive formats,and curated deals, this approach drivesd