How media network operators can win retail advertisers

Media networks are gaining a bigger share of brands' digital advertising budgets, creating a powerful, ongoing revenue opportunity for network operators. But with these added budgets come added pressure to innovate and deliver on higher advertiser expectations.

The 2026 Commerce Media Investment Index, which surveyed 291 advertisers actively working with retail media networks (RMNs) and commerce media networks (CMNs), reinforces the growth potential:

• 30% of organizations allocate 30% or more of their total digital advertising budget to media networks.

• 85% plan to increase their spend in the next 12 months.

• 54% of advertisers partner with 2-3 media networks, 26% with 4-6, and 10% with seven or more.  

This booming interest has already sparked fierce competition as more organizations fight to attract advertisers and deliver proven value to retain their partnerships. 

How can your network stay ahead of the heightened competition? Prioritize retail, e-commerce, and consumer goods advertisers. 

Companies in this space have already proven strong ROI from their media network spend and are actively refining their strategies. As a result, these retail organizations are pivotal in driving network growth and directly influence which operators thrive. 

To better understand what retail advertisers expect from media network operators, we examined findings from the 62 retail industry leaders who participated in the 2026 Commerce Media Investment Index. 65% of these leaders directly approve their organization’s RMN/CMN strategy or vendor selection, and 45% own or influence their RMN/CMN budget, making their insights a powerful resource if you’re looking to keep pace with competitors and deliver the value advertisers are seeking.

Media networks are a primary advertising tool for retailers

You likely won’t need to fully educate retail companies about the potential value of advertising on a media network. 

Nearly half (44%) of the retail organization leaders surveyed allocated 15-29% of their total digital advertising budget in the last year toward RMNs/CMNs. 27% invested 30-49% of their budget. Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 87% will increase their RMN/CMN spend. 

Retail organizations are making significant investments in media networks, and they aren’t all-in with one partner. Most retail advertisers work with multiple media networks, so the overall experience and delivered value strongly influence retention. 52% of retail advertisers work with 2-3 networks and 26% work with 4-6. 

It’s safe to assume your network is compared alongside at least two other active network partners, but don’t worry: Retailers are largely satisfied with their current media network advertising ROI. Most have achieved ROI somewhat above their target (44%) or have met their ROI target (32%), while 19% say they’ve achieved ROI that’s significantly above their target. 5% have not achieved their desired ROI, however, which will likely prompt them to seek new partners. 

These insights signal strong headwinds for operators. Your actual growth will depend on whether you deliver the capabilities and results advertisers expect. 

The most common media network advertising objectives for retailers

Media networks achieve a distinct set of primary objectives for retail advertisers. Appeal to this group by proving you can help them:

• Launch or promote new products, a priority cited by 40% of retailers 

• Drive online sales (39%) and in-store sales (39%)

• Reach high-intent shoppers (34%)

• Increase loyalty or repeat purchases (32%)

Measurement to prove results is also crucial. Retail advertisers expect your network to meet success metrics aligned with these objectives, including the number of new customers reached, total sales from RMN properties, and increased customer lifetime value. 

The report reinforces that your media network must meet retail audiences on a diverse mix of on-site and off-site channels; their shopping journeys are highly omnichannel. Retail advertisers currently use RMNs/CMNS to activate campaigns through email (58%), on-site display (55%), on-site search/sponsored products (47%), in-store digital screens (47%), off-site social (44%), and direct mail (40%). 

What has pushed retailers away from specific RMN investments?

Although retailers show high satisfaction with their current media network advertising ROI, there are a few factors that have caused them to reduce, pause, or reconsider their investment:

• Measurement and attribution gaps (35%)

• Cost relative to other channels (35%)

• Limitations in audience availability or quality (34%)

• Inconsistent experience across media network partners (29%)

• Difficulty proving ROI to leadership (27%)

Retailer respondents echoed these concerns throughout the report. We’ll explore several of these areas in depth so you can get ahead of these concerns and better position your network to deliver ongoing value. 

What retailer advertisers want from retail media networks in 2026 and 2027

The report validates how your network can meet current advertiser needs and address critical gaps in what advertisers want moving forward. 

User experience and audience quality are two of the biggest factors in attracting and retaining your network advertisers. When asked about how they choose media network partners, retailer advertisers said the following are most important:

• Ease of campaign setup and activation (cited by 55%)

• Audience targeting capabilities, reach, and segmentation depth (48%)

• Pricing and fees (44%)

• Access to rich audience data, including behavioral, demographic, and interest-based data (42%)

• Reporting transparency and data quality (40%)

While this list may look black-and-white, the report revealed several nuances across these categories.

Media networks need accurate, high-reach audiences

Your media network’s audience catalog is the most important factor in attracting advertisers. Audience accuracy (53%) and reach/scale (44%) were most cited as important audience capabilities, followed by the ability to combine media network data with their own first-party data (34%) and build more niche or granular segments (31%).

Media network operators will increasingly compete on audience quality and proven ability to drive action from those audiences. Retail advertisers can easily justify investing in your network if you give them better visibility into the audiences they need and results that prove their value. 

Clear measurement supports ongoing media network spend

Although audience breadth and depth are critical to network satisfaction, measurement capabilities are a close second. That’s because measurement is a critical part of communicating ROI to marketing leadership and justifying further investment. 

This is where many operators can improve. 6% of retail advertisers are not very confident in the incrementality measurement provided by their RMN/CMN partners, and 50% are only somewhat confident. These are major problems to address. 

Retail advertisers said network partners can increase their confidence by:

• Providing metrics consistent with other RMN/CMN partners (48%)

• Enabling faster access to post-campaign results (42%)

• Reporting on sales lift and/or new-to-brand customers (42%) 

Network operators often underestimate the importance of real-time measurement in the age of agentic marketing. AI is the new engine for retail marketing, delivering the speed, scale, and personalization shoppers expect. Advertisers need real-time insights to optimize campaigns while they’re still active, instead of getting stuck in reactive optimization cycles that significantly stall growth. 

Most operators still don't provide true real-time visibility, but reporting is getting faster. Make this a key focus for your network evolution. 8% of advertisers can receive campaign results on the same day, but same-day reporting will one day be commonplace. 

First-party data integration improves overall advertising success

First-party data will take greater priority in media network partnerships and overall marketing program success. 66% of retail advertisers use networks that allow them to upload their own customer list to suppress existing customers from their target. 21% can access the capability but do not use it.

Advertisers use media networks not just to reach new audiences, but also to activate known audiences in increasingly personalized ways. The best media network partners help advertisers develop deep audience insights and continually improve targeting performance. 

Greater visibility from networks helps with purchase decisions

Another way to build advertiser trust and increase budget share is to provide greater transparency into your audience data and measurement. Retailers specifically say network operators should improve their data methodology and measurement transparency (60%) and share audience reach and size before activation (50%). 

Several other areas can help your network stand out and deliver the transparency vendors need to fully trust your network. Address the following areas in your network roadmap and current messaging: 

• Audience overlap across RMN/CMN partners (39%)

• Frequency and exposure reporting (39%)

• Incrementality measurement (37%)

• Real-time campaign performance (35%)

Data security remains critical

Of course, data security emerged as a top consideration for advertisers. The reputational and financial consequences of data misuse or exposure are too great for retailers to ignore.  

40% of retail advertisers surveyed strongly agree and 52% somewhat agree they’d be more likely to invest in an RMN/CMN if they could activate audiences without exposing personally identifiable information. 

How you build and maintain your media network has lasting implications for data security. Omnichannel marketing strategies span dozens of activation platforms and tools. An integrated media network foundation ensures you can deliver the required audience management and activation capabilities securely, with room to scale as new channels and technologies emerge. 

Measurement, transparency, and audience accuracy remain top-of-mind for retailers

Retail advertisers are actively investing in media networks as a proven way to drive new sales and nurture customer loyalty. Media networks currently compete on audience quality and reach, but measurement capabilities and first-party data integration will become increasingly influential in guiding advertiser spend. 

Your media network architecture will greatly influence how you enable new features and whether you can keep pace with advertiser needs. A warehouse-native retail media solution helps you bring the audience depth and transparency advertisers want, and closed-loop measurement gives them confidence in your network’s ability to deliver brand reach. GrowthLoop’s commerce media solution provides this scalable foundation so you can close higher-value CMN deals today. 

For more insights into what brand advertisers are looking for in their commerce media network partners, download the full 2026 Commerce Media Investment Index for the cross-industry findings and additional segment insights from ROI Leaders, High-Investment Advertisers, and Multi-Network Power Users.