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Retail media is ad tech’s favorite new shiny object. (Other than CTV, of course.)
Ad spending tied to retail media is expected to grow by more than 31% this year to $40.81 billion, according to Insider Intelligence. That number it set to hit $61.15 billion in 2024 and make up almost 20% of all digital ad spend.
But there are some obstacles standing in the way.
One of the biggest roadblocks is a lack of standardized measurement – but buyers are starting to demand it, says Kristi Argyilan, SVP of retail media at Albertsons Companies, which she joined in 2021. Before that, Argyilan was the driving force behind the launch and rollout of Target’s Roundel media network.
Consumer-packaged goods companies in particular, which are the heaviest buyers of inventory on retail media networks, need more accessible tools to buy and measure across multiple RMNs or they’ll burn out.
There are only so many mini walled gardens an advertiser can be expected to navigate.
CPG bands are “in a place where they’re having to build out their team so that they can manage the differences between [RMNs],” Argyilan says on this week’s episode of AdExchanger Talks. “Retail media networks are mature enough now to be able to derive more from an industrywide conversation.”
There has been some progress in that industry organizations, including the Association of National Advertisers, are putting buy-side pressure on retail media networks to work together on cross-platform measurement initiatives.
“One of the things we’re hearing loud and clear from our clients,” Argyilan says, “is that it’s too complicated for every one of us to have our own little walled garden and our own unique platform that they have to go to in order to transact.”
Also in this episode: The skinny on why Albertsons took its retail media network in house, noodling the question of whether there’s enough RMN supply to meet demand (which is where programmatic comes in), why retailers need to band together in the name of measurement standards à la broadcasters and Argyilan’s personal connection to Transylvania.
