Retail Media Breakfast Club

The retail media landscape is getting more crowded by the week. McDonald’s, Simon Property Group, Delta, and a growing list of other companies are launching commerce media businesses. But does the world actually need more retail media networks? In this episode, I share Matthew Fantazier's latest 'hot take' on the explosion of commerce media and add my own perspective on the biggest question facing these new networks: who is this actually for?
I also dig into the rise of consumer-facing AI agents and what it could mean for advertising, commerce, and consumer trust. If AI agents start making purchases on our behalf, who gets paid, how will brands compete for those transactions, and could paid placement quietly become the next evolution of retail media? There are some big questions ahead, and I’m not convinced we’re ready for the answers.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:58] - Why the retail media network boom shows no signs of slowing down
[02:20] - The question every new commerce media business needs to answer: “Who is this for?”
[03:31] - Why brands may not want to add another 10 retail media networks to their media plans
[04:34] - The problem with retailers copying Amazon and Walmart instead of building on what makes them unique
[06:18] - What consumer-facing AI agents could mean for shopping and advertising
[09:15] - Who pays for AI agents — and why that question could transform retail media
[10:30] - Why paid rankings inside AI agents could create a major consumer trust problem

Links & Resources
Today's newsletter is contributed by Matthew Fantazier, Vice President, Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk. Matt's newsletter, Matt's Hot Take is one of my personal favorites. You can subscribe to it on LinkedIn or Substack. 
Follow Matthew Fantazier on LinkedIn
Here's the links to the various 'Hello World' announcements from the various new retail media networks' GMs on LinkedIn, if you want to see how they are crafting their USPs in real-time:Chris Lindquist , VP/GM at McDonald’s Media Network
John Carlson, VP, Simon Property Group
Arvin Nuldloll, SVP Revenue and Audience Strategy at Citi
Keri Paison, MD & Head of Delta's Media Network

Read my related articles:Some Retailers Want to Power Other Retailers' Ad Businesses. Will It Work?
Retail Media's Fermi Paradox
RMNs Have A Marketing Problem

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

There’s a lot of talk in retail media about better measurement, incrementality, and finding the one metric that finally tells us what’s really working. But sometimes the metrics we’re using are… well, bulldust. In this episode, I dig into why measurement looks so different depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on, and why retailers and brands can both feel like they’re doing the right thing while talking completely past each other.
I also revisit the question of why ROAS refuses to die. Is it actually a useless metric, or does it persist because brands genuinely need a common currency and early signals to guide media planning? I look at sales lift, incrementality, MTA, basket lift and other signals — and why the real challenge may be less about finding a perfect metric and more about getting both sides to agree on what they’re actually trying to measure.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:00] - Why “purchase intent velocity” is the perfect example of a bullshit retail media metric
[01:00] - Why retailers and brands see measurement gaps very differently
[02:16] - How methodological choices can dramatically change incremental ROAS
[03:22] - Why sales lift may be the closest thing retail media has to a standardized measurement currency
[04:30] - The media-planning problem that makes ROAS so difficult to replace
[06:33] - Why ROAS persists, and the case for using it with much more context
[09:55] - Why retail media measurement ultimately comes down to incentives

Links & Resources
Check out my latest skit video for the Basket Case podcast from The Drum & QSIC featuring a brand CMO with main-character energy who is quite pleased with herself for inventing a new performance metric! Watch here
Albertson's and Ovative group's recent iROAS Demystified white paper found that  methodological choices alone can swing incremental ROAS by 6.5x
See the full range of comments under my Why ROAS Refuses To Die post on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:iROAS results can be easily gamed. But we shouldn't just throw it away
RMNs Are Launching MTA. Do Brands Want It? [Part 1]
Why ROAS Refuses To Die

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I recently took a closer look at what Best Buy Ads is building, and what it tells us about where retail media is heading. Best Buy was one of the early retailers to launch sponsored product ads, but at its latest showcase, that familiar ad format was barely part of the conversation. Instead, the spotlight was on connected TV, creators, TikTok Shop, its production studio, and new measurement capabilities.
I think that shift tells us something important about the future of retail media. Brands increasingly want retail media to do more than drive an immediate sale, while AI is changing how shoppers arrive at retailers in the first place. In this episode, I unpack why Best Buy may be looking beyond the traditional search-results-page model, what its new measurement research says about the brand-building potential of retail media, and why the retailers with the most distinctive assets may be best positioned to move beyond sponsored products.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:15] - Exploring the gap between brands’ interest in retail media brand-building and where their budgets are actually going
[01:15] - What Best Buy Ads showcased beyond sponsored products, including CTV, creators, TikTok Shop, and measurement
[03:30] - Why Best Buy’s showcase suggests its growth ambitions are moving beyond the search results page
[05:15] - How AI and LLMs could change the shopper journey—and potentially reduce traditional sponsored product opportunities
[08:30] - Breaking down Best Buy’s Circana marketing mix model and its findings on ROAS, media contribution, and brand equity
[10:24] - Why Best Buy’s distinctive retail assets could help it move beyond interchangeable retail media networks

Links & Resources
Follow Patrick Albano, Chief Revenue Officer at Best Buy Ads, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:Best Buy Wants To Become An Ad Platform, Not Just Another RMN
Best Buy's Marketplace Bet Is Really About Ad Revenue
Why Agentic Shopping Poses an Existential Threat to Retail Media (Part 1)
Agentic Shopping Poses An Existential Threat To Retail Media (Part 2)
Everyone's Going Gaga Over Creators. I Had Some Questions.
The Fairy Godmother Of Retail Media, Cara Pratt, On Her New Agenda At Circana

I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
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A couple of years ago, two neighborhood cats started visiting our house. We fed them, they kept coming back, and then one day they turned up wearing collars that said, “Do not feed unless starving.” It turned out we weren't the only ones feeding them: and nobody really knew who was feeding them, how often, or how much.
Brands have their own version of this problem. When they add up all the attributed sales from every retail media network they spend with, somehow the total can come out bigger than their actual sales. So when Albertsons and Best Buy launched new multi-touch attribution (MTA) capabilities within a week of each other, I wanted to understand what problem they were actually trying to solve. Are brands really asking for MTA? Why did MTA fall out of favor in broader marketing? And has retail media simply never moved beyond last-click attribution? 
In this episode, I expand upon my recent article for The Drum, and dig into what brands, consultants and the retailers themselves are saying. I also set up the bigger question I'll tackle in Part 2: even if retailer-operated MTA is in the retailers' interests, can it still be useful and credible for brands?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:43] - Why retail media attribution can add up to more sales than brands actually have
[01:50] - Albertsons and Best Buy launch new multi-touch attribution capabilities
[03:22] - Why brands may be turning to media mix modeling and cross-network measurement instead
[04:15] - How privacy restrictions and ecosystem fragmentation helped push MTA out of favor
[07:47] - A CPG perspective on why MTA may not answer the incrementality question brands actually care about
[10:04] - What SharkNinja, EOS and other advertisers say they need from commerce media measurement
[11:00] - Why Best Buy and Albertsons say advertisers are asking for MTA

Links & Resources
On 17 September 2026, Albertsons Media Collective announced Retail Media Incrementality-Based Multi-Touch Attribution, built with LiveRamp and piloted by PepsiCo.
My article for The Drum: Why retail media networks are resurrecting multi-touch attribution
Skye Frontier, executive vice-president at Incremental, gave a valuable lesson about marketing mix models and MTA on the Measure Up podcast last year.
Follow Skye Frontier on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:This Agency Abandoned MTA, Here's Why
Retail Media's Measurement Problem: It's Not Just the Retailers
'Not 100% altruistic': ad measurement veteran on what retail media is really optimizing for
The Other Side of the Story: Why Retailers Struggle with Media Measurement & Standardization

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I’m revisiting one of my most popular episodes from last year: the retail media doom loop. The basic idea is pretty simple — a retailer sees the ad revenue being generated by Amazon and Walmart, launches a retail media network, and quickly grows by moving existing trade and shopper marketing dollars onto a media line. But what happens when that easy growth runs out?
In this episode, I look at what the latest data and conversations with retail media leaders suggest about where the industry is actually headed in 2026 and beyond. I dig into why sponsored search and on-site display remain the backbone of retail media, why some of the industry’s newer “sparkly” offerings are struggling to gain adoption, and why the unglamorous work of fixing ad tech may matter far more than the flashy announcements getting all the attention.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:59] - What the latest eMarketer and Bain research says about retail media growth expectations in 2026
[01:52] - Why sponsored search and on-site display still dominate retail media ad spending
[03:04] - The “add sparkles” phase of the retail media doom loop — and why shiny new formats can distract from core problems
[04:00] - How a legacy ad server created major forecasting problems for one mid-sized retail media network
[05:15] - The hidden cost of manual retail media operations and the potential for missed seven-figure ad opportunities
[06:43] - Why creators and off-site media are struggling to gain adoption among some brands
[08:41] - What consolidation could mean for the future of commerce media

Links & Resources
Sarah Marzano, principal analyst for retail and commerce media at EMARKETER, presented findings from work with Bain at Groceryshop last week.
Follow Sarah Marzano on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:The Retail Media Doom Loop
Why Good Retailers Make Bad Ad Tech Decisions (The Drum)
The Hallucination Is That Everything Is Just Fine As It Is
Are RMNs finally getting the hang of this collaboration thing?

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn