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Retail media is officially moving from growth-at-all-costs to proof-at-all-costs.
At CES 2026, industry leaders signaled a clear inflection point: retail media networks (RMNs) have entered an accountability era. In 2025, global commerce media investment hit $174.2 billion, capturing a 15.6% share of total ad spend and officially eclipsing the spending on linear and connected TV for the first time.
As spending continues its trajectory toward $196.7 billion in 2026, brands are no longer satisfied with proximity to the "Buy" button; they are consolidating budgets around the networks that can prove incremental impact.
The Three Pillars of the "Accountability Era"
The pressure on RMNs has shifted from expanding inventory to hardening infrastructure. Networks must now deliver on three fronts:
Standardized Measurement & Incrementality: Advertisers now manage an average of 11 different RMNs, up from just six in 2024. With 85% of CPG brands running campaigns across four or more networks, the demand for a "unified taxonomy" is no longer optional.
Off-Site & CTV Dominance: The "walled garden" is expanding. US ad spend on off-site retail media grew 27.1% in 2025, reaching $13.52 billion. Brands are now using first-party retailer data to reach the vast majority of households globally that are addressable through authenticated identity graphs.
AI & Agentic Commerce: AI is moving from back-end optimization to the front-end shopping experience. Agentic commerce is projected to be a $136 billion market in 2026, on its way to $1.7 trillion by 2030. Networks must prove they can influence these "non-human" buyers.
Around The World
Walmart Connect Expands Agentic Advertising at CES 2026
Walmart announced AI-powered ad integrations within its Sparky search experience and introduced an agentic advertising assistant in its Marty platform, enabling sponsored prompts alongside organic results. The launch builds on Walmart Connect’s 33% ad revenue growth in Q4 2025 following its Vizio acquisition.
TikTok Shop’s Rise Brings Viral Success and Retail Disruption
Retail brands are increasingly turning to TikTok Shop to drive sales as viral products influence demand forecasting and product strategy, with the marketplace accounting for about one-fifth of the social commerce segment in 2025. However, as the platform matures and competition increases, brands face profitability and operational challenges while adjusting to its algorithm-driven model.
A New Peer Community for Retail Media Practitioners
As retail media teams scale across regions and formats, one gap keeps showing up: there are very few neutral, practitioner-led spaces to learn from peers - without vendor noise or sales agendas.
Retail Media Lounge was created to address exactly that. It’s an invite-based community focused on real-world retail media execution - where practitioners share frameworks, experiments, and on-the-ground learnings with each other.
No selling. No pitches. Just peers learning from peers.
What’s Already Happening Inside
The community recently hosted its first Circuit Evening - a closed-door, peer discussion with retail media leaders and practitioners. Conversations ranged from RMN evolution and AI adoption to where human judgment still plays a critical role.
A few insights that stood out:
“AI is making a huge difference in mundane tasks, but strategy, shopper experience, and ad design are still human problems.” - Ashish Mehta
“Without product differentiation, retail media quickly becomes a budget war instead of a value game.” - Prateek Rai
“AI is narrowing the gap between head and tail advertisers.” - Anuj Nagpal
The evening reinforced the need for a space where these nuances can be discussed openly - beyond surface-level takes. These are the kinds of conversations that usually happen behind closed doors, and without access to them, it’s easy to miss how retail media is really evolving.
Learn More about Retail Media Lounge
