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A Full-Funnel, Brand-Building Opportunity

Once limited to paid search, RMNs now offer full-funnel solutions: CTV, digital video, branded content, influencer campaigns, and off-site retargeting. As Shoptalk 2025 emphasized, RMNs must now compete with broader media plans—not just complement them.

Kantar captures it best: “Media investment is no longer a funnel; it’s a value loop.” RMNs close that loop with real-time measurement, identity-based targeting, and brand-safe environments.

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Retailers Need It Too

For retailers, RMNs aren’t just a new revenue stream, they’re a strategic necessity in margin-squeezed environments. But it’s not one-size-fits-all. Successful networks like Sam’s Club’s MAP stand out by aligning with brand identity and delivering true shopper value - not just ad impressions.

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Data + AI = Scale and Precision

With AI, RMNs now go beyond targeting to personalizing in real time, delivering dynamic creative, predictive recommendations, and smarter media buys.

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Proving It Works - Not Just That It Ran

Measurement is evolving. The new gold standard is incrementality, as you consider what changed because of your campaign? Brands are building custom, collaborative measurement models that prove not just performance, but impact.

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Commerce Media Is the Future

The next evolution isn’t just retailers acting like media companies, it’s experience-driven businesses becoming media networks. Whether it’s a gym, grocer, travel app, or gaming platform, any brand with loyal users and transactional data can now enter the commerce media space.

For advertisers, this allows for more connected, measurable, and accountable media strategies than ever before.