How the largest retail media networks are stacking up

Faced with tariffs and a potential pullback in consumer spending, major retailers popped the hood of their businesses this earnings season, giving investors a look at their burgeoning retail media networks.

Let’s dive into the numbers.

Amazon is still king, and in 2024, it brought in $56.2 billion in advertising revenue. The e-commerce juggernaut still sits comfortably behind Google and Meta as the No. 3 ad platform in the US.

Walmart, the “every day low prices” retailer, brought in $4.4 billion in advertising revenue in FY24, a 27% YoY increase. That could soon be bolstered through the company’s expansion into CTV now that it has finalized its $2.3 billion acquisition of Vizio.

For the first time, Target—or should we say Tarzhay—broke out its advertising business, and in 2024, its retail media network Roundel brought in $649 million in revenue. In January, the company shared that the business was on pace to deliver nearly $2 billion “in value,” which Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo described in an email as inclusive of “ad revenue and the offset to cost of goods.”

Though grocer Kroger hasn’t broken out its ad business yet, its “alternative profit businesses” generated $1.35 billion in profit in 2024, with media growing 17% YoY. That was less than expected thanks to “slower growth in advertiser spend,” Kroger’s interim CFO, Todd Foley, told investors.

While not exactly a retailer, “commerce media” ad-tech platform Criteo, which works with retailers like Macy’s and Best Buy and helps Microsoft sell retail inventory, brought in $1.9 billion in revenue in FY24, relatively flat YoY.

Buckle up: Turbulence is expected. During their earnings calls, executives at Target and Walmart tamped down investor expectations, emphasizing the uncertain economic climate, including a global trade war that could reignite inflation, weaken consumer spending, and send the US economy into a tailspin.

Retailer insights can serve as a canary in the coal mine for the US economy. In February, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon shared that, toward the end of the month, some consumers are buying smaller package sizes because their “money runs out before the month is gone.”