News and content portals represent a strategic opportunity for retail media expansion

A global trend in retail and advertising, retail media marketing has been gaining popularity in Brazil, with several initiatives announced by retailers from around the country. The country should end 2024 in the lead of investment growth in the modality, estimated at 42.3% more than double the global average, which is forecast for 20.3%, according to data from consultancy Emarketer.  

Retail media has two well-known actors - retailers and advertisers - but publishers & news sites on the open Internet & PUBLishers & publishers are also willing to benefit from retail media.Like retailers, publishers have a lot of primary user data, but they differentiate themselves by reaching customers at the top of the funnel.  

For portals, the strategy constitutes new sources of revenue through “commerce media” (trading media), while for brands it represents new media inventories, from off-site activations to shopping ads or affiliate marketing. Users, in turn, experience enhanced shopping experiences that allow them to discover and buy items more easily while browsing the open Internet. 

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According to the “A Large Degragmentation”, conducted by Criteo with more than 1,000 professionals, including advertisers, agencies, retailers and publishers, from nine countries including Brazil 83% publishers said they were open to incorporating product offerings into their web pages as a way to leverage investments with retail media ads, and 69% of them consider obtaining revenues through retail media as a priority (between high or moderate) for the next year and a half (12 to 18 months).   

An example of such a successful partnership was announced in the US in April by electronics retailer Best Buy with the CNET content portal ithraditional publication on technology trends, known for reviews and analysis of products and services. According to the two companies, the agreement includes content curation and the publication of recommendations on the website, application and physical stores of the network.  

“The incorporation of retail media by content and news portals enables a new configuration of the purchase journey, in which all phases of discovery, research and conversion (ARE grouped into a single complete journey”, explains Tiago Cardoso, Managing Director for Latin America at Criteo. 

To operate in this market, publishers need to activate their primary data sets and seek new long-term partnerships with brands, agencies or” retailers.  

However, there is still a lot of work to be done: half (50%) of the publishers interviewed consider the formation of long-term partnerships with advertisers and retailers as a priority. Almost one third (28%), however, pointed out to lack opportunities for expanding ties with ad buyers, while one in five (20%) publishers revealed to feel a lack of establishing direct relationships with advertisers. 

The good news for publishers, according to the survey, is that one-third of retailers (31%) and brands (34%) globally considered forming new partnerships a much more important marketing goal in 2024 compared to 2023.  

As retail media matures, publishers emerge as valuable players in this ecosystem.The strategy allows them to earn new revenue from off-site activations for audiences matching their primary data, while the possibility for new ad formats attracts brands and agencies seeking opportunities as they scale up their initiatives in the area.