Category: In the News

This State of the Industry report, with partner insights from Instacart, explores how brands and agencies are expanding their audience reach through off-site retail media advertising.

Retail media advertising’s popularity has surged over the past few years, with many retailers increasing their investments in this space as others venture into retail media for the first time. There are now more than 200 retail media networks in various states of growth or stasis, according to data from Mimbi.

However, while retail media remains one of the fastest-growing areas of advertising, maintaining that growth is becoming harder to achieve. According to a January report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, commerce ad spend is expected to grow 15.6% in 2025, compared to 25.1% growth in 2024. EMarketer, meanwhile, is projecting that retail media will grow by 17.5% this year, but by just 10.4% by 2029.

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Claire Nance, head of gaming business success strategy, Activision Blizzard Media

What began three years ago as a forum to validate gaming’s potential has evolved into something more. This November, Gaming Day returned to New York City for its third year, initiated and organized by 4As and hosted by Activision Blizzard Media. The questions driving the day — which featured keynotes, panels and breakout discussions led by industry pros — centered on something more actionable: how to communicate gaming’s value internally, how to equip teams with the right language and how to elevate gaming within broader marketing narratives.

Across every session, one takeaway stood out: Gaming is no longer a specialty channel. It is a mass-reaching media environment shaped by audience choice, cross-platform fluidity and measurable business outcomes. Jonathan Stringfield, vp of global business strategy, analytics and trust at Microsoft Advertising, noted that the scale of gaming has advanced far beyond lingering perceptions, driven in part by a generation that has grown up with gaming as native media. “Even if you’ve never played a game, it’s almost impossible not to be exposed to gaming IP by merit of where it’s showing up across multiple forms of media,” Stringfield said, referring to the influence of gaming extending well beyond active players.

A medium defined by scale and participation

With 3.6 billion people worldwide playing games, gaming has evolved far beyond traditional definitions to become the leading entertainment channel it is today. Panelists spoke to authenticity in gaming and underscored how the term “gamer” feels increasingly outdated, often creating unnecessary distance between people and the behaviors they already participate in daily. The reality is that it’s difficult to find someone who isn’t gaming in some form. Commuters on mobile devices, families on consoles and office workers opening a puzzle during their break all contribute to a global entertainment behavior that has become fully mainstream.

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