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Retail media networks (RMNs) have burst onto the advertising scene like a TikTok influencer in an 8 a.m. college class: unexpected, slightly chaotic, but impossible to ignore. Promising brands a golden ticket to first-party data and laser-focused targeting, RMNs are sitting at the cool kids' table of advertising—for now.

The question is, can they avoid becoming the table everyone wishes would just move to the cafeteria’s dark corner? Andrew Lipsman, Brian Monahan, Drew Cashmore, and others are painting a picture of 2025 where RMNs will either ascend to glory or implode under the weight of their own hype. Let’s dive into this murky future with a mix of skepticism, wit, and a stiff drink.

Brian Monahan, dentsu’s Global Client President and Head of Retail Media Solutions, is Betting big on regional unicorns, Brian Monahan predicts that EMEA and APAC will each birth retail media giants pulling in $1 billion in billings, effectively sending a not-so-subtle message to the U.S.: you're not the only game in town. His star picks? Seven & I Holdings in APAC and Ahold Delhaize in EMEA. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill players quietly tweaking banner ads—they’re primed for a global takeover. They’re not trotting; they’re saddling up for a full-on gallop to claim their piece of the retail media pie. Monahan underscores that these regions are perfectly positioned for such a rise, thanks to the solid groundwork already laid in retail media. Unlike the U.S., where RMNs are approaching saturation faster than a sponge at the bottom of a sink, EMEA and APAC offer wide-open fields ready for innovation.

But let’s pump the brakes before we declare this a global retail utopia. Andrew Lipsman, ever the pragmatist, warns that the $1 billion milestone comes with strings—big, tangled, messy ones. Over-monetization, which is just a fancy way of saying, “Let’s drown users in ads until they cry uncle,” is a ticking time bomb. Picture scrolling through an RMN platform only to find 42 ads clogging your feed before you’ve even spotted a single useful product. It’s the digital equivalent of someone aggressively upselling you in a department store—you’ll walk out empty-handed just to escape the madness.

And that’s just the consumer side. Lipsman points to cautionary tales of platforms that lost their shine—and their user bases—by chasing ad revenue at the expense of user experience. Trust? Loyalty? Gone faster than a Black Friday deal. Add in the ever-present privacy watchdogs ready to pounce, and you’re looking at potential fines and scandals that could make GDPR feel like a warm-up act. Lipsman’s advice? Celebrate the rise of retail media, but don’t get so drunk on success that you forget the hangover. The industry needs to address these pitfalls before it finds itself facing angry consumers, furious regulators, and a very public fall from grace.

Gone are the days when slapping a logo on an ad was like putting lipstick on a pig and calling it a beauty queen. Brian Monahan sees a creative renaissance brewing in RMNs, and it’s not the kind of “make it pop” creativity your cousin with Photoshop dreams up. He’s talking co-branded masterpieces—a bold fusion of brand identities that don’t just sell products but tell stories. Think less cookie-cutter banner ads and more Emmy-worthy mini-dramas that make you forget you’re watching an ad. Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) will graduate from being a glorified template-filler to a narrative powerhouse, with AI churning out personalized campaigns that actually feel human. Yes, AI might finally be good for something other than writing awkward poetry.

The vision? Ads so premium they practically wear designer labels—and they’ll be priced accordingly. These won’t be your everyday CPM deals; Monahan envisions RMNs commanding top dollar for bespoke creative that seamlessly merges brand storytelling with retail media targeting. Picture an AI engine humming in the background, tailoring every pixel to resonate with individual shoppers while maintaining a brand’s polished, overarching message. It’s like having a Michelin-starred chef design your cafeteria menu—fancy, functional, and entirely unexpected.

But here’s the rub: as Andrew Lipsman reminds us, with great creative power comes even greater potential for cringe. Nail it, and you’ve got an ad campaign that feels like it’s speaking directly to you. Miss the mark, and you’re the digital equivalent of that one uncle who tells bad jokes at Thanksgiving. Consumers have zero tolerance for ads that don’t hit home—one irrelevant or poorly targeted ad, and they’ll tune out faster than you can say “uninstall.” Lipsman likens it to walking a tightrope over a pit of spammy pop-ups. One wrong move, and you’re falling into the abyss of consumer annoyance, never to return.

But if done right—and that’s a big if—this creative evolution could redefine the industry. Lipsman sees the potential for RMNs to deliver ads that not only engage but also inspire, turning everyday shoppers into brand evangelists. Imagine ads so effective they become watercooler conversation—“Did you see that Walmart-Vizio collab ad? Pure genius!” It’s not just a pipe dream; it’s the golden carrot dangling in front of RMNs. The challenge is getting there without tripping over their own ambition or alienating their audience with a deluge of poorly executed ideas.

Remember when in-store advertising was the awkward middle child of the ad world—neither glamorous like TV nor cutting-edge like digital? Well, it’s back, baby, and it’s wearing a fresh coat of relevance. Brian Monahan predicts 2025 will be the year in-store advertising steps out of the shadows and into the retail media spotlight. RMNs are getting ready to add in-store inventory alongside their digital offerings, but don’t cue the confetti just yet. This comeback tour isn’t all smooth jazz and victory laps—it’s more like a garage band trying to land a stadium gig. Targeting will be as messy as a toddler with finger paint, measurement will resemble a calculus problem no one studied for, and outdated ads on endless loops could turn shopping into a cringe-worthy nostalgia trip to the era of bad mall music.

Why is this happening now? Monahan doesn’t sugarcoat it: this revival is less about consumer demand and more about RMNs desperately hunting for new revenue streams. In a landscape that’s getting more cutthroat by the second, in-store media is the low-hanging fruit that might just keep them afloat. Retailers are realizing they can’t leave those shiny in-store screens and aisle endcaps idle while digital rakes in all the dollars.

Drew Cashmore, Vantage’s head of strategy, thinks the solution lies in simplification. “Retail media is highly nuanced and complex,” he explains, which is his polite way of saying it’s a logistical dumpster fire. Cashmore argues that for in-store and digital media to truly integrate, the industry needs a tech revolution, not just a bandaid fix. Picture a future where your in-store ad inventory syncs perfectly with your digital campaigns, creating a seamless consumer journey from screen to shelf. Sounds dreamy, right? But getting there will require significant operational heavy lifting—think rewiring the proverbial house while the tenants are still living in it.

Andrew Lipsman sees the potential for greatness—if, and only if, RMNs can avoid their usual pitfalls. He points out that in-store media has the ability to create an immersive brand experience, the kind that makes you stop mid-aisle and actually notice the ad. Done right, this could be the advertising equivalent of turning a shopping trip into a theme park ride. But done wrong? It’s just another layer of noise in a world already buzzing with too much of it. The stakes are high, but for RMNs, the payoff could be even higher.

Connected TV (CTV) is where retail media networks (RMNs) could strut their stuff like a reality TV star walking onto a red carpet: flashy, ambitious, and determined to steal the spotlight. This is their chance to bridge the chasm between traditional TV’s unmatched reach and digital’s creepy-level precision. Monahan sees RMN audience extensions triggering a tidal wave of CTV ad spend, calling it a golden ticket for brands to finally crack national budgets wide open. Lipsman, never one to undersell, likens it to a “battering ram” smashing through the fortress of traditional media buying.

But let’s not pop the champagne just yet. Measurement, the unglamorous backbone of effective advertising, is still the industry’s Achilles’ heel. Right now, it’s more guesswork than science—advertisers tossing darts blindfolded and hoping they’ll land somewhere near the bullseye. Reliable reach and frequency metrics? They’re about as elusive as a unicorn at a discount store.

Lipsman insists that CTV’s potential hinges on building robust attribution models that don’t just track the "what" but connect the dots across the consumer’s entire journey. This isn’t just about knowing that an ad ran on Tuesday at 8 p.m.—it’s about proving that ad got someone to buy a pair of sneakers, a smart fridge, or, heck, even a $15 kombucha subscription. Monahan backs him up, emphasizing that RMNs can’t just play fast and loose with metrics. Transparency and accountability need to be more than buzzwords—they have to be the bedrock of any CTV strategy if RMNs want advertisers to trust them with their big-budget dollars.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Nail this, and RMNs could turn CTV into their crown jewel—a revenue stream that marries scale with precision like no other. Miss the mark, though, and it’s back to the drawing board, fighting to shake off the reputation of being all hype and no substance.

Monahan’s prediction of retailers investing heavily in branded entertainment is starting to look less like a bold theory and more like a headline ripped from the news. Case in point: Walmart actually bought Vizio. That’s right—Monahan called it, and now the reality is unfolding in 4K HDR. Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio isn’t just a corporate chess move; it’s a declaration that the retail giant is playing to win in the content game.

This isn’t your average merger—it’s a strategic power play that redefines how retail media networks engage with consumers. By owning Vizio, Walmart now controls a direct pipeline into millions of living rooms, turning every couch into a front-row seat for shoppable entertainment. Imagine watching your favorite cooking show on a Vizio TV and, with a quick click of the remote, adding every ingredient to your Walmart cart. Or bingeing a rom-com and seamlessly shopping the outfits worn by the leads, all without pausing the action.

Walmart isn’t just selling TVs anymore—they’re selling an ecosystem. This move is the first real proof of Monahan’s prediction that retailers would step into the content-creation arena in a big way. Walmart-Vizio could easily become the blueprint for other retailers eyeing similar ventures. Instead of fighting over ad inventory on someone else’s platform, Walmart now has the keys to its own castle—a content factory where they control the narrative, the ads, and the seamless shopping experience.

What makes this particularly genius is that it puts Walmart light-years ahead of its competition in retail media. While others are still dabbling in influencer partnerships and podcast sponsorships, Walmart is building an empire where content and commerce are inseparable. The integration potential here is massive. Walmart can now use its first-party data to fine-tune the ads running on Vizio TVs, making them more personalized and effective than ever. It’s retail media on steroids, blending the precision of digital targeting with the immersive power of TV.

Of course, this also serves as a wake-up call for other retailers. Monahan’s prediction wasn’t just a clever guess—it was a roadmap. The question is: who will follow Walmart’s lead, and who will get left behind in the dust of traditional advertising models? If this is the future, it’s a future that requires big bets, bold moves, and, as Monahan has proven, the ability to see what’s coming before anyone else does. Walmart didn’

The RMN landscape is about as organized as a toddler’s art project—chaotic, confusing, and somehow still taken seriously by proud parents (or in this case, advertisers). Drew Cashmore, the sage of Vantage, predicts that this mess is headed for some much-needed spring cleaning. His take? Smaller players will start banding together like a scrappy indie band trying to open for Taylor Swift, creating "one-stop shops" that make national advertisers actually want to stick around. It’s consolidation or extinction—survival of the savviest.

Let’s be real: this isn’t some warm, fuzzy kumbaya moment for RMNs. It’s more like a desperate group project where everyone reluctantly agrees to work together because, let’s face it, none of them are passing solo. Cashmore holds up The Home Depot’s self-serve platform as the gold standard, a sleek blueprint for how to stop being a clunky, fragmented mess. By pooling inventory—digital, in-store, you name it—and offering advertisers a seamless way to execute campaigns, Home Depot is flexing its ad-tech muscles like it’s been bench-pressing retail gold bars.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are basking in the glow of their meteoric rise, strutting around like the prom king who just discovered Instagram fame. But here’s the thing about meteors: they tend to burn out, and when they do, it’s not pretty. For RMNs, the stakes are higher than the heels at a product launch party, and the dangers are lurking around every corner. Over-monetization, shoddy measurement, and an ecosystem so fragmented it makes a shattered iPhone screen look smooth are all red flags. If they don’t get their act together, 2025 might be less of a victory lap and more of a cautionary tale.

The problem is that RMNs have started believing their own hype, and who can blame them? For a hot minute, they’ve been the shiny new toy of the advertising world, promising brands first-party data, hyper-targeted reach, and a golden ticket to consumer loyalty. But without smart execution, they risk going the way of overhyped startups and blockchain fads: all promise, no payoff. Dreaming big isn’t the issue—it’s the follow-through that’s looking shaky. If RMNs want to survive, they need to shift gears from "more ads, more dollars" to "better ads, smarter strategies."

And let’s talk about the consumer for a second—the one thing RMNs always claim to care about but often treat like an afterthought. Overloading platforms with ads may feel like a quick win, but it’s the digital equivalent of stuffing a turkey: too much, and the whole thing explodes. Consumers are savvier than ever, and they won’t hesitate to tune out, uninstall, or walk away from platforms that drown them in irrelevant junk. If RMNs want to stay relevant, they need to keep the consumer at the center—not just as a buzzword, but as a guiding principle.

2025 is shaping up to be the year of reckoning. The RMNs that survive will be the ones that balance ambition with discipline, innovation with execution, and revenue goals with actual consumer value. It’s a tightrope act, sure, but the payoff could be monumental. Done right, RMNs could redefine the advertising landscape, creating a future where ads feel less intrusive and more intuitive, less spammy and more smart.

But let’s not kid ourselves—it won’t be easy. The RMN ecosystem is littered with pitfalls, from privacy landmines to technology bottlenecks. Only the boldest, smartest, and most adaptable players will come out on top. The rest? They’ll be reduced to footnotes in some overly long marketing conference PowerPoint.

So, what’s the call to action here? Stay bold, stay curious, and don’t let the allure of quick cash overshadow long-term strategy. The dust will settle eventually, and when it does, we’ll see who’s still standing. Will RMNs become the kings of a new advertising kingdom or just another case study in squandered potential? Stick around—the ride’s about to get interesting.

Ah, the digital advertising industry is flexing its muscles again after pandemic-induced chaos. Ad revenues are climbing like a caffeinated squirrel—Google's up 10%, Meta's 19%, and Snap's enjoying a 15% jump thanks to their love affair with augmented reality and AI. No surprise, then, that the mergers and acquisitions game is hotter than ever, with adtech companies swooping in to grab the best of what’s left. We're talking a 118% year-over-year spike in dealmaking, fueled by a post-pandemic surge in digital ad spending growth.

But hold on, the game is shifting. First-party data is the new kingpin in the data-driven world. With privacy laws tightening like an overzealous belt, ad companies are scrambling to build better customer profiles through direct data collection. Out with the old third-party cookies, and in with data strategies that actually put the consumer first (no more creepy tracking, please).

And then there's AI, the industry's shiny new toy. It's not just about making ads smarter—it's about making them invisible to consumers. AI is the force behind better targeting, smarter bidding, and yes, even blockchain for tracking ad spend. We're talking about reducing inefficiencies so advertisers can get more bang for their buck without being seen as the villain.

What’s next? Oh, advertisers are going to use every platform under the sun to weave their tales, from CTV to social media, crafting seamless user journeys that feel less like an ad and more like an experience. And don’t forget about dashboards—adtech platforms are under pressure to create tools that actually connect data to real business outcomes. So buckle up, 2025's coming for us.

At ADOTAT, we had the privilege of an exclusive conversation with Skye Frontier, who shared her deeply thought-out perspectives on incrementality as a transformative force in marketing. Her insights go beyond the surface, urging brands to adopt incrementality not just as a tool but as a strategic imperative.

Incrementality as Strategy
Frontier firmly believes that the industry has misunderstood the true role of incrementality. “Too often, incrementality-based measurement is positioned as a tool, a report, or a scorecard—not as an integral part of the media decisioning process,” he told us. The real challenge lies in integrating incrementality into the media planning process without disrupting its speed or efficiency. Frontier highlighted that historical incrementality models often fell short because they were too slow or lacked granularity, creating a disconnect between insights and actionable decisions. “You need to shorten the value chain between incrementality insights and media actions,” he explained, emphasizing that acceleration and granularity are essential to bridging this gap.

Navigating Complexity
When discussing the operational challenges of advanced attribution, Frontier didn’t shy away from addressing the pitfalls. “E-commerce marketplaces like Amazon are not just platforms; they’re ecosystems where every element—price, assortment, content, ratings—can shift in real-time,” he noted. The complexity of these environments can overwhelm even the savviest media buyers. Her solution? Automation that reduces the burden of data collection and cleansing while simplifying the translation of insights into action. “Measurement providers need to make media buyers’ jobs easier, not harder,” he added, stressing that actionable, granular outputs are the antidote to analysis paralysis.

Future of Attribution
Looking ahead, Frontier sees incrementality becoming the cornerstone of marketing measurement. But the next breakthrough, he suggests, won’t come from better measurement techniques alone. “The real leap forward will be in making incrementality actionable,” he told us. This means tighter integration with media buying platforms and workflows, enabling rule-based and algorithmic optimizations based on incrementality signals. Frontier predicts that as AI increasingly plays a role in media planning, integrating incrementality into these systems will become essential. “Incrementality will no longer just inform strategy—it will drive it.”

Frontier’s vision is a call to action for marketers to rethink how they measure success, and her insights remind us that the true power of data lies in how it’s used to shape decisions. Stay bold, stay curious, and know more than you did yesterday.

Every eCommerce team has the same fantasy: standing in front of a boardroom, armed with perfect data, confidently declaring, “Here’s exactly how our ad spend made it rain dollars.” It’s the kind of dream that could put PowerPoint into the Hall of Fame. To make that happen, advertisers cling to Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) like it’s the last lifeboat on the Titanic. Prove your campaign drove sales, and you’re golden. Can’t prove it? Well, enjoy being the fall guy at next quarter’s budget meeting.