As the retail and commercial media sector grows, the space is ripe for new deals between retailers and publishers.
In April, ADWEEK announced the news of Best Buy partnership with CNETand some analysts see this deal as a preview of what’s to come. Through this deal, Best Buy and CNET have combined their advertising inventory and audiences, which, in theory, gives both companies greater reach and advertising revenue opportunities.
These types of deals address a fundamental problem in retail media that is likely to persist in 2025: advertisers need to evolve. Retailers and businesses of all sizes got up advertising companies in recent years to reduce advertising revenue, but advertisers must reach large swaths of consumers.
ADWEEK asked three experts to let their imaginations run wild and share the types of similar partnerships they’d like to see in 2025. Here are five partnerships they envision happening.
ADWEEK reached out to all five retailers for this story. We have included retailer information where indicated.
Dick’s Sporting Goods and ESPN co-sell ads
In a similar vein to the Best Buy and CNET deal, a partnership between sporting goods retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods and ESPN could help both companies, independent retail media analyst Andrew Lipsman told ADWEEK.
Dick’s Sporting Goods launched a retail media network in 2022 and the company claims to have a reach of 45 million shoppers, according to its website. ESPN, for its part, had an average of 723,000 viewers anytime in 2023.
Combining this data could allow the two companies to sell ads in multiple formats across various platforms, giving advertisers broader reach to audiences with many overlaps.
For this to work, you need websites like ESPN that “are big enough to generate enough traffic,” Lipsman said. Even though some smaller publishers may have stronger brands, more traffic means more data, and that’s what brings value to the business partner.
“The key is you have access to a much broader audience, but it’s also a very relevant and qualified audience,” Lipsman said. “You have exactly the types of customers who are most likely to be in market for these brands.”
CVS and WebMD become a health powerhouse
The same logic applies to the world of health.
CVS created its own retail media network, CMX, in 2020, leveraging data from its 74 million loyalty program members. And WebMD had 79.2 million visitors on its site in November, according to Similarweb.
“I’m looking for WebMD because I potentially have a disease,” Lipsman said. “If you’re a prescription drug that solves this problem, or you’re an over-the-counter drug, that’s exactly where advertisers would want to be.”
More than half (52%) of CVS shoppers visit a store to make a purchase within 48 hours of browsing the pharmacy’s website, said Parbinder Dhariwal, vice president and general manager of CMX. WebMD is already part of RMN’s premium publisher network that uses retailer data to target off-site ads. These ads generate a return on ad spend 1.6 times higher than programmatic display, he added.
Walmart and Tinder exchange data
Why not swipe directly on retail media?
A data sharing agreement between Walmart and Tinder could create new opportunities to impress your next match, suggested Eric Brackmann, vice president of business media at Koddi.
“Once a match is made, offer a package of sponsored products on Tinder as part of a ‘date night’ package,” Brackmann said.
A tie-up between Walmart and Tinder, combining data from 145 million customers and 50 million monthly users, could also infuse more storytelling and experiential marketing into retail media, noted Claude Spasevski, vice president senior retail data and media at Equativ.
“Retailers are the new publishers,” Spasevski said. “Publishers were connecting to media sources, stories and environments. Retailers will do the same with content because they will need to provide emotional content [into the store].”
Home Depot and Apartment Therapy target the home projects
Large home improvement retailers and interior design websites also make sense under the publisher-retailer deals mentioned above. People doing DIY projects, home repairs or renovations often turn to websites like Apartment Therapy for inspiration, then head to a retailer. like Home Depot to achieve this, Lipsman said.
By combining data and ad inventory, Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media 198 million customers and apartment therapies 12 million monthly visitors could offer a unique solution for advertisers who want to reach DIYers throughout their home improvement journey, Lipsman suggested. According to the retailer, about 80 percent of Home Depot customers research online before purchasing. And 50% of online orders are fulfilled through stores, and 15% of all transactions take place on the website.
Kroger and all the recipes make recipes purchasable
Finally, grocery stores and recipe sites naturally complement each other, as evidenced by the partnership between the New York Times Cooking and Instacart which debuted earlier this year.
Lipsman suggested a deal between grocery giant Kroger and Allrecipes, which saw 158 million visitors last month, to share first-party data and advertising inventory. This would create advertising solutions for consumer packaged goods brands.
