Retail media networks (RMNs) have a lot of data and a healthy amount of inventory. But selling on-site inventory to advertisers can be complicated. Connecting retail media data with off-site ads on places like social networks and connected TV (CTV) is even more complicated. RMNs can’t do everything related to selling and serving ads on their own, especially if they want to capitalize on off-site placements.
RMNs partner with supply-side platforms (SSPs), demand-side platforms (DSPs), data clean rooms, and other ad techs to create, sell, and serve ads. This allows advertisers to target ads across the open web, streamline creative, control self-service campaigns, and measure campaign success. Even Amazon, which takes in more than 3 in 4 US retail media ad dollars spent in the US, per our forecast, uses third parties to power its RMN.
Here’s a look at some of the biggest ad techs powering retail media networks today.
Criteo
What it does: Criteo is a commerce media company with both an SSP and a DSP that allows retailers to create self-service solutions for advertisers. Criteo built its business off of ad retargeting, which relies on third-party cookies, and has pivoted to retail media in response to the decline of the cookie. Its Commerce Max DSP allows retailers, brands, and agencies to buy and sell inventory in one environment.
Big partners: Microsoft Advertising (just announced), Albertsons Media Collective, Dollar General
LiveRamp
What it does: LiveRamp is a data connectivity platform that provides information useful to both DSPs and SSPs for targeting. It has a data clean room collaboration with Pinterest, which allows advertisers to target consumers via Pinterest ads using anonymized data.
“We’re now able to bring even more precise attribution and stronger campaign optimization to our partners, and make it easier for CVS Pharmacy shoppers to discover new products,” Parbinder Dhariwal, vice president and general manager at CVS Media Exchange (CMX), told Retail TouchPoints about its partnership with LiveRamp.
Big partners: CMX, Albertsons Media Collective, Wayfair
The Trade Desk
What it does: The Trade Desk has a self-serve DSP that allows advertisers to compare potential ad buys across retailers on the platform. It empowers off-site retail media ad growth by marrying purchase information with off-site platforms.
For example, The Trade Desk’s partnership with Instacart allows buys across the open web that enable consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands to make ad-buying decisions based on Instacart purchase data. “Instacart-informed audiences will help The Trade Desk advertisers be a lot smarter with their media buying across the open internet, enabling them to reach their most valuable buyers. We’re excited to see how these advertisers can come up with new, innovative campaigns, especially on connected TV,” Ben Sylvan, vice president of data partnerships at the Trade Desk, said in a press release.
Big partners: CMX, Albertsons Media Collective, Macy’s, Instacart
TripleLift
Through its partnership with Amazon, TripleLift functions like an SSP, turning product copy and creative into ads that can run as display ads on other publishers’ sites. That means Amazon sellers do not have to spend time and money on ad creative, and can use TripleLift’s integration to serve display ads across the web, expanding off-site.
Big partners: Amazon
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