As retail media enters its next phase, marketing efforts are moving up the funnel toward new formats like open web, social, and streaming TV. By leveraging partnerships with social media companies, streaming platforms, and publishers, retail media networks can reach consumers earlier in the buying cycle and build brand awareness.
Here are five partnerships emerging from this trend.
1. The Kroger Co. and The Walt Disney Co.
Last week, Kroger teamed up with Disney Advertising to help brands target audiences via streaming media. The partnership will launch with a beta test on Hulu’s streaming content and with PepsiCo as its first advertiser before the program rolls out to the general market in the second half of 2023.
Why it matters: Hulu’s connected TV (CTV) dominance. The platform will reach 127.8 million users this year, representing 37.6% of the US population, per our forecast. Among CTV platforms, Hulu sits at the top, generating $3.63 billion in US ad revenues this year, more than YouTube, Roku, and Peacock.
2. Albertsons Companies and Omnicom Media Group
Albertsons is also targeting CTV with its partnership with Omnicom Media Group. By combining their data, the two companies are enabling brands to purchase CTV advertising directly from within The Trade Desk and measure the ROI from their ad buys.
Why it matters: The AI opportunities. During the inaugural Possible conference last week, Kristi Argyilan, senior vice president of retail media at Albertsons Media Collective, said AI may play a role in making retail media networks more effective.
“Think of a lot of the tasks that humans still have to touch—simple things like optimizing campaigns—and how AI can accelerate that and get us to a place to do more optimizations in any given campaign,” Argyilan said.
3. Dollar General and Meta
In March, Dollar General became the first retailer to offer Meta’s new closed-loop ad solution, which enables advertisers to tie campaigns to in-store sales. Marketers can target ads to Dollar General’s 90 million-plus unique customer profiles across Facebook and Instagram’s news feeds, Stories, and Reels.
Why it matters: When combined, the two companies have a massive reach. Dollar General says its media network—DGMN—can reach more than 90% of customers through paid media, with an emphasis on rural communities, while over half (52.4%) of the US population will use Facebook this year, per our forecast.
4. Walmart and Roku, TikTok, and Snap
Walmart’s retail media network, Walmart Connect, is partnering with Roku, TikTok, and Snap to expand its reach and better measure how social media and CTV ads influence consumers’ purchase decisions.
Why it matters: In addition to its partnerships with social and streaming platforms, Walmart has enhanced the search relevancy of Walmart Connect and switched to a second-price auction model, growing its US advertiser base by 136% YoY last year. Walmart’s US digital ad revenue growth will outpace Google, Meta, and even Amazon this year, according to our forecast.
5. Lowe’s and Yahoo
Lowe’s and Yahoo partnered last year to give advertisers on the home improvement retailer’s One Roof Media Network access to more inventory, including off-site media placements, and help improve omnichannel experiences.
Why it matters: This year, Lowe’s moved up in our list of top 15 US ecommerce companies by sales, rising from No. 13 to No. 12, the spot which we expect it to hold through 2024 when it reaches $11.06 billion in US retail ecommerce sales, per our forecast.
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