I spent yesterday at Ascendant Network's RMN Ascendant in Palo Alto, participati
By andrew-lipsman-10b2162 · September 18, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I spent yesterday at Ascendant Network's RMN Ascendant in Palo Alto, participating in sessions on Creators + Retail Media and Why RMNs Need to Take Back their Data from media partners looking to disintermediate them.
On the one hand, there's plenty in retail media to be excited about. On the other hand, the sector is under greater threat than ever before (And no, not by agentic commerce 🙄).
One thing that’s become clear to me in recent weeks: The knives are out for retail media.
In my latest article for Media, Ads + Commerce, I unpack why retail media is getting attacked from all angles--from brand marketers, big tech platforms, agentic commerce folks, and ad tech.
With Amazon Ads now under FTC scrutiny, certain criticism may be warranted. And it’s a stain that could spread to the rest of the sector.
What RMNs do (or don’t do) next will determine how they’re seen by advertisers: as legitimate drivers of marketing effectiveness or as platforms cynically gaming attribution to their benefit.
RMNs still have a powerful value proposition—better shopper data, contextual relevance, closed-loop reporting, and proximity to purchase. Whether they can mature into credible, incremental, full-funnel platforms for advertisers remains to be seen.
I lay out three moves RMNs need to make now to distance themselves from Amazon and get back in the good graces of advertisers:
1. Advance incrementality research
2. Get serious about third-party measurement
3. Play nice with TV advertising
The harder path is also the smarter one: build trust, tell advertisers the truth, and prove retail media can grow brands—not just capture budgets.
Full article below.
#retailmedia
https://lnkd.in/g52wvHY4