A new era of retail media

The retailer-publisher partnership could mark the beginning of a new era in retail media, according to Lipsman.

“The ability to understand whether somebody who’s exposed to ads on CNET then actually went and purchased through Best Buy—the ability to close the loop … that’s a totally new innovation,” Lipsman said.

In a January newsletter, he predicted that retailers—aiming to mimic the “flywheel” created by Amazon’s mutually beneficial media, ads and commerce businesses—would begin pairing up with relevant publishers to accelerate the growth of their retail media businesses.

He expects to see more partnerships in this realm: Think grocery chains pairing up with recipe publishers, pharmacies with health publishers or beauty retailers and fashion sites.

“This was an inevitability for the industry,” Lipsman told ADWEEK. “This is the first domino to fall.”