Retail media is the new programmatic. Same margin, new name.

Retail media networks are the fastest-growing line in many consumer budgets and the least governed. The lessons from a decade of programmatic apply directly.

If you sell through large retailers, their media networks are now a significant and growing line in your budget, often funded from trade spend and managed by a different team from the one that runs your brand media. It is measured by the retailer, planned by the retailer, and priced by the retailer.

We have seen this movie. It was called programmatic, and it took a decade for advertisers to get transparency, independent measurement, and fair pricing. Retail media is at the beginning of the same curve.

The same problems, earlier

Measurement controlled by the seller. Attribution that credits the network for sales that would have happened anyway. Pricing with no benchmark. Inventory quality that varies enormously between placements that cost the same. Fees taken by the technology layer between you and the retailer. Agencies with their own incentives layered on top.

What to do now

Bring retail media into the same governance as the rest of the media budget. One owner across brand and trade. Independent incrementality testing, even if the retailer resists it. A price benchmark across networks. Contracts with the retailer and the technology partner that specify data access and audit rights.

And be honest about the strategic trade. Some retail media spend is the cost of shelf position dressed as advertising. That may be a fine decision. It should be a decision.

Advertisers who apply what they learned from programmatic will get to fair terms in two years instead of ten. The ones who treat retail media as a trade-marketing relationship will pay for the lesson twice.