Why retail media is becoming a brand-building channel

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Retail media is being recast from a conversion channel into a brand-building system as retailers extend ad inventory beyond sponsored listings into off-site video, connected TV and in-store screens. The timing matters: U.S. commerce media spending is forecast to grow 12.1% in 2026, faster than the 9.5% increase expected for the overall ad market, according to IAB. For CMOs, that makes retail media a budget-allocation question, not a shopper-marketing side bet.

Andrew Lipsman argues that retail media can create reach and mental availability across on-site, off-site and physical-store environments. His column cites eMarketer estimates that retail media represents 29% of search spending, 16% of connected TV, 15% of digital out-of-home and 11% of programmatic display and video. “Not only is retail media capable of brand-building, in the future the smartest advertisers will depend on it,” Lipsman writes.

The catch is measurement. IAB’s commerce-media guidance says incrementality measures marketing’s causal impact against what would have happened without the activity, a higher bar than attribution or ROAS. NIQ reports that 67% of CMOs plan to increase retail-media investment in 2026, while only 53% believe current retail media networks provide adequate measurement and attribution.

That gap is the strategic signal. Retail media’s combination of commerce context and first-party shopper data can help brands find high-value or net-new buyers, but closed-loop reporting can still over-credit ads for sales that were already likely. Brands should test higher-funnel retail formats with control groups, track brand lift alongside incremental sales, and shift budgets only where both improve. Retail media can earn brand-building dollars; it should not receive them by default.