Mercado Libre’s retail media sales grow 50% YoY—and there’s plenty of runway ahead

The result: Mercado Libre’s ad business is booming.

• The Latin America ecommerce giant’s retail media revenues jumped 50% YoY in Q1, lifting advertising’s share of gross merchandise volume (GMV) to 2.4%, by our estimates.
• The business has room to run, fueled by the recent launch of the Mercado Play TV app at the end of Q1. Available on more than 70 million smart TVs across the region, the app could significantly boost ad revenues—especially since fewer than half of Latin Americans pay for a streaming subscription.

We expect Mercado Libre’s retail media arm to capture 6.2% of digital ad spending in Latin America this year, up from 5.1% in 2024.