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# Retail Media Networks Are Becoming Ad Industry Infrastructure
- URL: https://adjacent.media/signals/retail-media-networks-are-becoming-ad-industry-infrastructure/
- Published: 2026-05-27T16:12:45.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-27T16:12:45.000Z
- Description: What started as Amazon and Walmart squeezing incremental ad revenue from captive audiences has matured into a structural shift in how brands reach consumers.
- Author: Jonathan Greene
- Tags: #signal, theme-commerce, retail media networks, advertising monetization, marketplace platforms

Source: [Featured Blogs - Forrester](https://www.forrester.com/blogs/from-walled-gardens-to-working-media-the-rise-of-commerce-media/?ref=adjacent.media)

What started as Amazon and Walmart squeezing incremental ad revenue from captive audiences has matured into a structural shift in how brands reach consumers. Retail media now functions as a primary channel rather than a secondary tactic, forcing advertisers to rethink media planning around first-party retail data instead of third-party cookies. The shift redistributes power away from Google and Meta toward retailers who own both transaction data and consumer attention. It changes how CPMs are priced and measured across the industry. Retail has formalized as media infrastructure.