In the pitch for brand dollars, retail media networks turn to creators

In the midst of the retail media network boom over the past two years, retailers including Walmart, Amazon and Target, have increasingly started trying to monetize their creator networks and affiliate programs, according to six agency retail media executives Digiday spoke with for this piece. RMN execs see those monetization efforts as a play to take in more ad revenue, especially the brand marketing dollars retailers have spent the last year vying for.

These tactics are formalizing their respective influencer programs as the demand for influencer marketing grows — even as RMNs still face challenges in incremental measurement. Notably, influencer marketing has become a vital part of the media mix with marketing spend in the U.S. influencer marketing ecosystem expected to reach $9.29 billion this year, per eMarketer.

“The impact creators and influencers are having on marketing strategies can’t be ignored, and retail media networks are well aware of the potential,” David MacDonald, evp and head of retail and commerce experience at marketing agency Razorfish, said in an emailed statement to Digiday.

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