What: The Interactive Advertising Bureau forecasts retail media to generate $74.06 billion in ad spend by 2026, driven by first-party data and commerce media networks.

Why it is important: This forecast validates retail media's emergence as a crucial revenue stream, with industry leaders already demonstrating significant returns, as seen with Macy's generating $155 million from their media network and top retailers achieving 16% TSR through new revenue channels.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau's latest report highlights the substantial growth potential in retail commerce media, projecting $74.06 billion in ad spend by 2026. This emerging sector leverages purchase history and SKU-level data for targeted advertising across sponsored products, on-site displays, in-store signage, and off-site advertisements. The industry's strength lies in its ability to integrate advertising seamlessly across physical and digital customer journeys, utilizing millions of consented customer relationships through first-party data. This approach enables targeted, personalized, and measurable advertising while providing a compliant solution as third-party cookies decline. The transformation extends beyond advertising, prompting organizations to reimagine their go-to-market frameworks with commerce at the core. Despite challenges such as fragmentation and lack of standardization, the industry continues to innovate, finding new channels and tools to meet advertisers' needs.

IADS Notes: Throughout 2024-2025, retail media has demonstrated remarkable evolution. As reported in July 2024, retail media networks showed potential to double retailers' margins from 1.7% to 4.3%. Major retailers like Boots and Co-op expanded their digital networks in October 2024, while Currys' successful January 2025 expansion into in-store retail media projected 40 million annual impressions. However, February 2025 data revealed measurement challenges across multiple networks, even as spending was set to increase by $10 billion. This trajectory culminated in April 2025 with the introduction of Real-Time Bidding as a potential solution to fragmentation challenges.

Retail commerce media to drive $74B ad spend in 2026