• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 16, 2025

A growing part of retail media is coming via connected TV (CTV) efforts on those retail media networks that see the combination resulting in strongly engaging customers.

“We expect retail media CTV to account for a significant portion of retail media display growth,” says eMarketer in a recent report. “Advertisers will spend just shy of $5 billion on retail media CTV in 2025.”

Retail media networks like Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and Target Roundel are using CTV advertising to expand their reach and offer advertisers more targeted campaigns. This year it is expected that retail media CTV spending would have a 15% share.

By 2028 -- after three years of 27.2% compounded annual growth -- the ad spend of this year’s results is expected to double -- exceeding $10 billion, according to eMarketer.

By comparison, retail media display ad spending is estimated to near $23 billion this year -- rising to $35 billion in 2027.

In three years' time, retail media CTV will be more than a quarter of all retail media display and nearly 22% of CTV ad spending overall.

Retail media CTV advertising can be found on websites/apps of a retailer’s media network or via a demand-side platform. This includes Amazon Ads (on Amazon Prime Video and Freevee), Walmart Connect (with its own self-service CTV platform) and Target Roundel (using The Trade Desk for programmatic CTV buys).

Analysts say combining retail media with CTV ad execution offers rich storytelling and high-level branding of TV ads paired with granular targeting. This can come with closed-loop measurement of retail media.