The Rise of the Ecosystem RMN

When “Everything is an Ad Network,” It Might be Time for an Ad Network

Eric Seufert of Mobile Dev Memo perfectly captured the imminent retail media zeitgeist in his November 2021 article, “Everything is an Ad Network”:

If I was forced to choose a motto for Mobile Dev Memo, at least for this very specific moment in time in which the digital advertising landscape convulses in a state of momentous change, it would be: “Everything is an ad network.”

…

Not literally everything. But any company with sufficient supply of or access to consumer data — in a first-party environment! — is now presented with the opportunity to build an advertising network where previously that would have been impractical or even somewhat absurd given the competitive landscape.

The barrage of new retail and commerce media networks that now dominate the landscape took their cues from Amazon, which by the end of 2021 had a $30B+ advertising business. Today, Amazon still captures an overwhelming portion of the US retail media ad spend with 75% market share.

Because Amazon is the primary RMN for most large advertisers, it’s easy to overlook the primary reason the platform boasts such scale: there’s power in the long tail. The millions of third-party marketplace sellers not only make up the majority of Amazon ad spend, but the heavy competition for eyeballs also drives up advertising costs that fuel the growth of Amazon’s business.

This power of the long tail is also true on the supply-side of the retail media market. Indeed, with so many RMNs today, the reality is that most aren’t sustainable as standalone, walled garden-like ad business. But they do have monetizable first-party data and valuable online and in-store advertising inventory. They just need a better way to make that supply more accessible to advertisers.

Enter the Ecosystem RMN.