---
title: "Retail media boom creates measurement problems for marketers, audit finds"
description: "More than 200 commerce media networks now compete for ad budgets, with inconsistent metrics and little standardisation"
author: "rews desk"
published: 2026-09-30T11:00:01Z
modified: 2026-09-30T14:11:45Z
url: https://rews.cc/a/retail-media-boom-creates-measurement-problems-for-marketers-5fc549
language: en
tags: ["retail-media", "marketing", "advertising", "mcdonalds", "data", "business"]
publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)"
---

# Retail media boom creates measurement problems for marketers, audit finds

*More than 200 commerce media networks now compete for ad budgets, with inconsistent metrics and little standardisation*

By rews desk · September 30, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/retail-media-boom-creates-measurement-problems-for-marketers-5fc549

## In brief

- Retail media spending is forecast to surpass $320 billion by 2030 from about $203 billion this year
- McDonald’s aims to build its media network into a $1 billion business, CMO Morgan Flatley said
- An ISBA-MediaSense audit of five UK networks found five different definitions of an attributed sale
- Fewer than 50 of 200-plus networks generate revenue worth reporting, Fluent’s CMO said
- IAB Europe says 53% of ad buyers see lack of standardisation as a barrier to investment

A survey and audit of the fast-growing retail and commerce media sector has found inconsistent measurement standards across networks, complicating planning for marketers as more than 200 such networks compete for their budgets, according to Business Insider.

Global retail media spending is on track to surpass $320 billion by 2030 from about $203 billion this year, according to research firm EMARKETER.

McDonald’s and banking group Citi became the latest companies to enter commerce media last week, joining businesses from DoorDash to Dollar Tree that are building ad networks around websites, apps and screens.

At McDonald’s investor day, chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said the company aims to build the McDonald’s Media Network into “a $1 billion business over time,” offering advertisers access to its 70 million daily global customers through its app, kiosks, menu boards and other in-restaurant placements.

“It’s an opportunity to generate revenue for the system with little in the way of additional cost, no operational complexity, and no disruption to our customer experience,” Flatley said.

The pitch to advertisers is first-party data, placements near the point of purchase and closed-loop attribution showing whether an ad drove a sale. But marketers say the sector’s expansion has created difficulties.

This month, the British ad trade body ISBA and marketing advisory firm MediaSense audited five major UK retail media networks across more than 200 criteria and found significant inconsistencies in metrics, including five different versions of what counts as an “attributed sale.”

“Money exchanges hands at some point,” Clare O’Brien, associate media advisor at ISBA, told Business Insider, so it should be easy to agree on the definition of a sale.

Kevin Dunn, chief revenue officer of Experian Marketing Services, said a marketer working with six retail media networks is effectively running six different playbooks. “That makes it hard to plan, compare performance, and scale,” he said.

Rob Edwards, head of media and digital at dairy company Arla Foods, said the proliferation of networks is “quite comical at times” and that “there’s a little bit of snake oil” because the data does not always stack up. He said closed-loop systems let networks grade their own homework, echoing early criticism of walled-garden social media, and warned that poorly managed ad frequency “is going to turn people off.”

The networks themselves have struggled to turn the rush into earnings. Of the more than 200 companies that have launched retail media networks, fewer than 50 generate enough revenue to mention in earnings reports, and fewer than five can demonstrate a boost to company earnings, according to Jeanniey Walden, chief marketing officer of commerce adtech company Fluent.

O’Brien said the sector needs a standards body, as other media have. The IAB in the United States and IAB Europe began publishing retail media measurement standards in 2024, but IAB Europe’s own 2025 research found that 53% of ad buyers cited a lack of standardisation as a barrier to investment.

“This isn’t one side winning more than the other side,” O’Brien said. “It’s literally about making it easier and more straightforward to invest.”