Retail Media Networks in 2025: Full-Funnel Marketing

A brand marketer's guide to retail media buying strategies for sustained growth

Key Facts:

• Retail media will account for one in eight digital ad dollars, with the US market reaching $45.15 billion in 2023.

• Amazon dominates with 75.2% market share — more than 10 times larger than second-place Walmart Connect.

• RMNs are evolving beyond last-touch conversion to offer full-funnel experiences including CTV, programmatic, and brand awareness campaigns.

• Retail media CTV ad spending is projected to grow 45.1% in 2025, with Walmart controlling over 20% of the US TV market through Vizio.

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With retail media set to account for one in eight digital ad dollars, mature retailers are already growing sales by expanding how they reach consumers and the ad products they offer to brands.

Historically, retail media networks have focused on lower-funnel tactics, but Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and an ever growing list of other retail media networks are now offering a full-funnel experience to advertisers and media buyers.

What is a retail media network (RMN)?

According to RetailTouchpoints.com, "Retail media is the broader term used to describe the concept of retailers using their systems, infrastructure, data and access to their shoppers to help advertisers reach consumers. A retail media network is the actual platform that retailers put in place to do this."

These ads can appear in various formats and locations, including search results pages, product pages, category pages, and even in-store displays. But what sets retail media networks apart is their access to valuable first-party data—the key to effective targeting and personalized advertising.

What are the top retail media networks?

Amazon is, by far, the top retail media network, commanding 75.2% of the $45.15 billion US retail media advertising market in 2023, more than 10 times that of No. 2 Walmart Connect.

Other big RMNs include Target's Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, Alibaba, Instacart Ads, and Costco Media Network. More are popping up every day!

This blossoming of RMNs offers advertisers more opportunities to put their products in front of their target audience when they're already in a purchasing state of mind, but the downside is a lack of consistency or standardization across the platforms. A media buyer or agency that is well-versed on many different platforms and can pull data from each one together into a holistic media strategy can be helpful in allocating your brand's advertising budget efficiently.

Why is retail media important for media planning and buying?

The expansion of retail media from a last-touch converter into a full-funnel experience is a game-changer for brands and their media planners.

Here’s why retail media is so important to any media agency or CPG brand marketer:

Holistic Consumer Engagement

Retail media networks allow brands to engage consumers at every stage of the buyer’s journey. From awareness to purchase, these networks provide a seamless experience.

Demand Generation

Amazon’s sponsored brand videos and CTV-based offerings create demand by capturing consumer interest. Brands can showcase their products effectively, driving curiosity and desire.

Measurable Impact

With robust attribution and conversion tracking, advertisers can measure the impact of their campaigns accurately. Retail media networks provide the data needed to optimize strategies.

Explosive Growth

The exciting growth of the retail media space presents a lucrative opportunity for brands and advertisers to reach customers in new ways.

Attractive Margins

Retailers face the challenge of covering the incremental expenses and complexities associated with digital ordering and fulfillment operations. High-margin incremental revenues from (RMNs) serve as a means to offset these costs. These networks allow retailers to monetize their shopper data effectively, delivering accurately personalized messages and offers on behalf of brands.

Latent Value

Brands are continually seeking more targeted and efficient ways to reach consumers. Retailers possess valuable loyalty and transaction data, which can be harnessed to achieve this critical task. By leveraging these insights, brands can enhance their targeting precision and engage consumers effectively.

Advertiser Mindset

Brands and agencies have become accustomed to the self-service methods of “programmatic” digital advertising. Retail media networks align with this mindset, connecting brands with consumers efficiently. As a result, media planners and buyers recognize the value of these networks in achieving their advertising goals.

What are the upper funnel uses of retail media?

No longer relegated to the last touchpoint before purchase, RMNs like Amazon Ads and Walmart Connect are offering more features and options to reach new customers and lift brand awareness, too. Some examples of upper funnel retail media tactics include:

Amazon CTV-Based Offerings with Enhanced Targeting

Amazon's expanded DSP capabilities now allow targeting across Roku and Fire TV devices, delivering 40% more unique reach and 30% less ad repetition. This enhanced cross-platform targeting makes Amazon's CTV offerings the gold standard for upper-funnel brand awareness campaigns.

Walmart's Integrated Vizio CTV Ecosystem

Walmart is launching beta tests for advertisers to access Vizio CTV inventory, with retail media CTV ad spending projected to grow 45.1% in 2025. With control over more than 20% of the U.S. TV market through Vizio, Walmart is positioning itself as Amazon's primary CTV competitor.

Shoppable CTV Video Ads (Cross-Platform)

The integration of shoppable CTV ads into streaming content is becoming reality, with companies like Disney, Amazon and Roku pioneering this space. This represents the evolution of traditional video advertising into actionable commerce experiences.

Programmatic Retail Media for Full-Funnel Campaigns

Media buying executives are pursuing full-funnel strategies across programmatic, with retail media ready to transform traditional upper-funnel mediums into lower-funnel drivers. This programmatic approach enables sophisticated audience targeting beyond traditional retail environments.

Amazon Sponsored Brand Video

Your original entry remains highly relevant as it bridges awareness and conversion seamlessly. These CPC ads continue to be fundamental for brands seeking to drive both consideration and direct sales through video content.

Retail media: Gold mine or budget sinkhole?

The truth is, retail media can be both a goldmine and a budget sinkhole, depending on how you use it.

The goldmine: closed-loop attribution, high-intent audiences, and endemic relevance -

- especially when paired with strong creative and smart sequencing.

The black hole: fragmented networks, sky-high CPMs, and opaque reporting.

Many retail media networks prioritize margin over performance, which means your media dollars may be going to prop up retail partnerships rather than drive actual growth.

The smart play? Treat retail media like part of your broader media plan, not a separate obligation.

It should work with your other channels, not in isolation. That means aligning measurement, creative, and budget logic across the funnel.

Action items

Audit your retail media investments quarterly. Audit more often than that, and you'll miss longer-term trends; less often, and you'll miss opportunity.

• Map each placement to a funnel stage

• Identify overlap or redundancy, and

• Hold your retail partners accountable to the same standards as your other media by evaluating the same metrics like reach, frequency, and sales incrementality.

Parting thoughts for brand marketers

E-commerce is growing rapidly, and the advertising capabilities of retail media networks are expanding as well. Instead of focusing on providing only lower funnel tactics to advertisers, Amazon and other RMNs are becoming more advanced by offering a full funnel experience.

Critically, the time is now for brands to leverage the two largest retailers, Amazon and Walmart, as complete advertising ecosystems.

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This piece originally appeared in our weekly Paid Media Insights newsletter. For more tips, research, and analysis; subscribe for free here.