2026 State of Mobile is Live!
Retail Media Insights · Sensor Tower · March 2026
Retail Media in 2025: A Year in Review
Retail Media continued to gain momentum in 2025. This macro recap explores the retailers, advertisers, and channels that fueled growth, and the shifts that may signal where the industry is headed next.
Amazon Set the Pace, While Growth Spread Across RMNs
In 2025, Amazon generated over six times more Retail Media impressions than any other RMN, a reflection of both its scale and its advertiser reach. More than 18,000 advertisers were active on Amazon, compared to just over 1,100 at Walmart, the second-largest network. While Amazon operated in a league of its own, the top 10 list also included a diverse mix of retailer types, including leaders from electronics, pet, beauty, and more.
Beyond Amazon’s outsized scale, Retail Media growth was widespread in 2025. Total impressions were up +11% YoY, with 18 RMNs posting YoY gains. Among the 10 largest networks, Instacart (+29%), Chewy (+24%), and Best Buy (+16%) all delivered double-digit growth.
Top Advertisers Scaled Across an Average of 18 RMNs
In 2025, P&G climbed 3 spots to become the top retail media advertiser, overtaking Nestle from 2024. P&G was active across 23 RMNs, supporting 75 different brands within their portfolio, led by Olay.
The breadth of this strategy wasn’t unique to P&G. On average, the top 10 advertisers operated across 18 RMNs and promoted 35 different brands, underscoring how leading parent companies are leveraging Retail Media as a portfolio-wide strategy.
Nestle ranked #2, driven by Purina PetCare, while Unilever followed at #3 led by support for Dove.
2025 Growth Favored Social Scale Over OnSite Placements
In 2025, retail media’s growth was concentrated in just five channels. While X posted the highest percentage increase (+135% YoY), it remained a relatively small contributor, accounting for just 1% of total impressions
The largest gains in absolute volume came from Facebook (+49B impressions) and Instagram (+22B), as brands increasingly leveraged retailers’ social extensions to build reach.
Meanwhile, OnSite Video (-42% YoY) and OnSite Display (-32%) were among the largest channel declines in 2025, suggesting a strategic shift toward OffSite environments for brands seeking broader visibility and upper-funnel impact.
Channel Strategies were Nuanced, with Facebook Often Leading
Channel strategies varied meaningfully across RMNs in 2025. Amazon stood out with its heavy reliance on OnSite Display, reinforcing its conversion-focused model. For every other top 10 RMN, Facebook generated the largest share of impressions.
Elsewhere, retailer priorities diverged. Walmart, for example, leaned into Instagram (20%), Best Buy emphasized OffSite Display (20%) and Instacart allocated a sizable share to YouTube (16%). In contrast, X and Snapchat represented a relatively small share of activity across the board.
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