IAB and MRC’s new retail media guidelines target the industry’s measurement issues

One of the biggest problems in retail media is getting some fresh attention. Today, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Media Rating Council are together unveiling a set of guidelines that tackle the category’s measurement consistency issue. Initially presented at IAB’s Commerce Summit in New York, the 51-page document of strategies will be open to public comment and feedback until Oct. 13.

The new preliminary guidelines propose a universal standardization that includes audience measurement, the way in-store digital ads are measured, ad delivery and transparency. It also offers advice on data collection and processing, in-store audits, and traffic sources.

Measurement has been a constant challenge for advertisers amid explosive growth in retail media, a category boasting hundreds of networks that is expected to reach $45.15 billion in the U.S. this year, a 20% rise over 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.

The IAB has been examining the issue for several months; earlier this year, it launched a working group to address the challenges for brands and advertisers, for example. Also today, the IAB released a report examining the retail media trend, finding that 62% of buyers cited lack of measurement standards as a growth challenge.

The report found that ad spend for retail media, which IAB estimates will be $45.38 billion this year, is nearing that of TV’s $61.31 billion estimate for 2023.

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“Everything we’ve learned in this study points to the fact that the continued growth and success of retail media hinge on achieving measurement standardization,” said Jeffrey Bustos, IAB’s VP, measurement, addressability, data center, in a statement.

The guidelines answer a growing number of industry calls for improvement. Early this summer at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, a group led by Albertsons that included Omnicom Media Group, Unilever, Pinterest and R3 proposed more standardization and transparency in retail media. The group posited a framework of standard definitions for a host of metrics including third-party measurement, return on ad spend and conversion rate.

In its report, the IAB surveyed 200 ad buyers of retail media and spoke with 30 senior-level executives at retailers, brands, agencies and intermediaries. The organization found that the majority of advertisers, or 52%, are reallocating funds from digital platforms into retail media; some 36% are taking funds from linear TV, print and out-of-home. The IAB expects retail media advertising dollars to grow by 11% this year compared with 2022.