Retail media is reaching an inflection point.
Two years ago at the Cannes Lions festival, it seemed like every company with a loyalty program was launching an advertising business. This year, companies need to prove that their ad businesses are working.
Despite commerce media’s growth over the past couple of years, the industry is now on the defense. After initial tests with dozens of retail media networks, marketers have spent the last year raising questions about retail media’s premium pricing and inconsistent measurement. And economic uncertainty, largely due to tariffs and the Trump Administration’s shifting landscape, is putting all this into a pressure cooker.
“Brands are going to hold back, hold back, hold back—and then want to turn something in 24 hours or less,” said one retail media source. “Retailers will win if they can lead with that theme: Flexibility, and then fidelity of measurement.”
Going into the second half of 2025, advertisers want better measurement and the ability to quickly turn on and off ads to keep up with changes to tariffs, the source added.
Still, retail media is growing at more than 15% year-over-year, making the category a rare growth area for the ad industry. It’s expected to hit $169 billion in global ad spend this year, according to Emarketer. The Cannes Lions festival is even introducing a dedicated subcategory in the Media Lions and Creative Commerce Lions this year to award advertisers that have successfully used retail media to engage consumers and enhance brand relevance.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a growing prominence in retail media in the Festival and across the industry,” said Marian Brannelly, awards director for Cannes Lions. According to WARC Media’s global ad spend forecast, she noted, retail media spend is expected to overtake linear TV spend by 2026.
The new subcategory “will recognize work that strategically harnesses retailer-owned channels to engage consumers at crucial decision-making moments, using targeted insights to enhance brand relevance and drive measurable business outcomes,” Brannelly said.
Where commerce media is headed
Depending on who you talk to, commerce media’s inflection point either looks like a reckoning or simply a honing of strategies and tools.
Many brands are already sold on the concept. Now, advertisers want to hear how the lofty visions that commerce media has promised translates to outcomes, said Lauren Wiener, managing director, senior partner, and global head of marketing practice at Boston Consulting Group.
That means building out more detailed and timely measurement, better attribution tools, and partnerships that simplify the whole ad-buying process.
“You’re going to see a lot about cross-industry data collaboration through clean rooms,” Wiener said. “That’s what the tech companies are going to be talking about. That’s what the agencies are going to be talking about. They’re empowering the holy grail partnerships.”