RETAIL MEDIA'S DURABILITY IS TESTED AS EASY GROWTH FADES

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Retail media growth is slowing as the industry transitions from easy expansion to maturity, with IAB projecting 12.1% growth in 2026 compared to previous years of rapid acceleration. Most growth has come from reallocating existing trade and shopper budgets, with industry estimates suggesting 30 to 60% of retail media investment originates from these funds, but this source is now drying up. Future growth requires attracting incremental media budgets and solving complex challenges around measurement, particularly proving incremental sales versus capturing existing demand.