Analyst CornerAnalyst Corner: What’s Ahead for Retail Media in 2026, with Sujeet Naik Sujeet Naik, Analyst Sector Lead: Anand Kumar, Associate Director of Retail Research January 18, 2026 Reasons to ReadDiscover how retail media will evolve into a more collaborative, standardized and full-funnel channel by 2026—and what that means for advertisers, retailers and technology providers. Read this report to discover answers to these and other questions: How large will the global retail media opportunity be in 2026, and what forces are driving its continued double-digit growth? How are retail media networks evolving from performance-focused platforms into full-funnel, brand-building channels? Why is in-store media emerging as the next major growth frontier, and how influential is it at the point of purchase? How will measurement standardization, industry frameworks and third-party verification reshape confidence and comparability in retail media performance? Why is 2026 a critical inflection point as the market shifts from rapid network proliferation to optimization and differentiation? Companies mentioned in this report include: Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Media Rating Council (MRC), Albert Heijn, Circana, Comscore and Nielsen. Please Login to read the full report. Not a member? To access this content for free, register for a free account. This document was generated for Other research you may be interested in: US Tariffs: Divergence Between Consumer and Business Sentiment and What It Means for RetailThree Data Points We’re Watching This Week, Week 35: US Home and Home-Improvement FocusPlaybook: Strategic Responses for Brands and Retailers to the GLP-1 Consumer BoomResearch Preview: Agentic Commerce—Retail Moves to Product Visibility and Checkout on ChatGPT
