2025 Marketing Trends in Review: Retail Media Networks (RMN) Moved to the Center of the Funnel

Retail media was no longer optional in 2025, it was a must have. As third-party cookies fade, brands followed first-party data straight into retailer ecosystems. Amazon's dominance in the retail media space is undeniable, with ad-supported tiers in Amazon CTV driving ad revenue growth by 19% in Q3 2024.

Retailers are now media platforms with unmatched intent data. RMNs sit mid-funnel to lower-funnel, but increasingly influence awareness via video and CTV.

In Practice:

CPG brands shifted meaningful budget into Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and Target Roundel, using these platforms not only for conversion, but for awareness via video, CTV, and audio formats. Retailers, in turn, increasingly behaved like media companies.

The expected growth for RMNs is $28.9 billion in just two years.

By 2030, they’ll command 50% of total ad spend,” says Andy Murray, Executive Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi X. Research and others have similar views. According to Horowitz Research survey (Digital World report), nearly half of U.S. consumers say social/shoppable media is a primary way to discover brands and products, and many have purchased through these channels, indicating acceptance of retail media formats as helpful rather than intrusive (TV Tech).

Skai 2025 State of Retail Media report shows that consumer willingness to interact with CTV retail media and shoppable options reflects growing acceptance of commerce-oriented ad formats in their media consumption (Skai).

Search Interest: 

Searches for “retail media networks,” “Amazon Ads,” and “Walmart Connect” showed steady growth in the U.S., even if they never broke into consumer “Year in Search” lists. That’s telling as retail media was high-intent and professional, not hype-driven.

Consumer Reaction: 

Most consumers barely registered retail media as advertising. Inside a shopping environment, promoted products felt like discovery and provided transparency and relevance were maintained.

What Is Clear:

By 2030, when RMNs approach 50% of ad spend, brands that don’t master retail ecosystems will lose distribution leverage.