Discover how CTV is transforming retail media, merging first-party data with premium video ads to drive measurable sales and shopper engagement.
Retail media is undergoing a fundamental transformation. What began as on-site sponsored products and display ads within e-commerce platforms is rapidly expanding into new channels—none more significant than Connected TV (CTV). As consumer viewing habits shift toward streaming, leading retailers are seizing the opportunity to bring their powerful first-party data to the dominant screen in the household.
CTV is emerging as the next frontier for retail media, blending the broad, immersive reach of television with the precision and accountability of digital advertising. By activating first-party purchase and behavioral data, retailers are enabling brands to serve targeted, high-impact ads to consumers in a living-room setting, often at moments of shared attention and intent.
“Retail media brings first-party data about what people are actually buying, while CTV ensures that messaging reaches the right audience with maximum attention,” says Claude Spasevski, SVP of Data and Retail Media at Equativ
First, CTV leverages retail media’s first-party data (things such as purchase history, browsing behaviors, and product interests) to deliver more relevant and personalized advertising to shoppers. In this case, a household that regularly buys pet food could see a timely ad for a new line of pet toys, making the advertisement more of a helpful suggestion than a broad interruption.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, CTV allows for the direct measurement of advertising's impact on sales. This is feasible thanks to closed-loop measurement. It connects ad impressions with transactional outcomes (e.g., online and offline sales) by leveraging first-party retail data such as purchase history and loyalty information. This allows marketers to directly attribute sales to specific CTV ad exposures.
Retailers partner with CTV platforms (e.g., Roku, Disney+, Amazon Fire TV) via ad tech solutions or direct integrations, syncing targeting data for programmatic ad buys and customized creative, all without major technological complexity for retailers. Media buyers access CTV video ad slots programmatically through DSPs, often using auction-based or guaranteed deals. Formats include in-stream video (pre-, mid-, post-roll), overlay and brand new shoppable ads (ads that enable viewers to buy products through interactive elements or QR codes).
Such partnerships offer a significant strategic advantage. Retailers gain a new revenue stream and can enhance the value they provide to brands. Meanwhile, agencies can leverage actual shopping data for highly accurate targeting, moving beyond broad demographic profiles. Applying this “purchase-based targeting” to the CTV environment ultimately leads to a better ROI, a reduction in wasted impressions, and more refined campaign management.
Retail CTV ads offer seamless shopping experience, with consumers able to directly purchase products from TV ads. This capability saw a nearly 50% increase in purchases from shoppable CTV ads in the US between early and mid-2024.
The rapid rise of CTV in retail media signals a new era of growth and opportunity. This strategic pivot aligns with massive market growth of CTV, as eMarketer predicts a 15.8% year-over-year increase in CTV ad spend, reaching $46.89 billion in 2028, surpassing traditional TV ad spend in the US. Despite this rapid expansion, the CTV landscape faces several challenges like technological limitations, challenges in format standardization, silos between tech, TV, and retail players. Moreover, privacy regulations impose restrictions on data use, requiring innovative solutions to balance targeting effectiveness with compliance.
As the lines between commerce, content, and consumer data continue to blur, CTV is redefining what it means to advertise with intent. The convergence of retail media and CTV is still in its early innings, but one thing is clear: the device screen has become a critical touchpoint in the purchase journey. Brands that embrace this shift now by investing in infrastructure, data collaboration, and creative innovation will lead the next era of omnichannel retail success.
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Product Marketing Associate dans notre bureau de Paris, Arina soutient l'équipe de marketing des produits axée sur l'approvisionnement et les canaux émergents. En outre, elle poursuit actuellement une maîtrise en marketing numérique.
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