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UK brands spent £21.2bn on digital advertising in H1 2026, up 13%, with retail media the fastest-growing format, the IAB UK / MediaSense study found.

Germany's Payback has launched 'Payback Produkte', an in-app marketplace selling thousands of items, as the loyalty giant with 35 million users evolves from points scheme to commerce platform.

A new study from Kroger, Vidmob and MMA Global finds AI 'predictive creative scoring' can forecast e-commerce conversion with 81% accuracy — before a dollar of media is spent.

Best Buy Ads is launching CTV inventory, multi-touch attribution and AI tools, positioning itself as 'the next generation of commerce TV'.

Amazon has launched Amazon Ads Agent, merging its DSP and ads console so AI can plan, buy and optimise sponsored, display, video and audio in one place.

German grocer Kaufland is scaling retail media by using Xtra-Card loyalty data to target shoppers, winning an ECR Award for a data-driven Coca-Cola 'Meal Deal' campaign.

Adobe projects US online holiday sales will hit a record $275.1 billion this November–December, up 6.7% year on year despite consumer strain.

McDonald's is building a retail media network selling ads on drive-thru order boards across 450 US restaurants, with a reported $1bn revenue ambition.

Bonial, Marktguru and Shopfully launch a joint initiative (IDH) to move German retailers from print leaflets to measurable digital retail media — and reveal the real barrier to European ad independence.

Rewe is expanding its retail-media partnership with The Trade Desk so that purchase-based audiences from its physical stores now supplement its existing online data.

Cityz Media has renewed its Klépierre partnership for eight more years across 38 French malls and spun up a dedicated Cityz Retail Media unit, while allying with Ocean Outdoor.

The IAB has lifted its 2026 US ad-spend growth projection to 12.3%, with social media, connected TV and commerce media leading and linear TV the only channel in decline.

Lowe's has added Lowes.com and its Marketplace to CMO Jen Wilson's portfolio, folding e-commerce into a role already spanning marketing, retail media, loyalty and personalization.

Kroger's retail media arm has delivered its strongest profit growth since 2021, underlining how high-margin advertising is becoming grocery's engine of growth.

Three years into Germany's retail-media boom, advertisers are still expanding budgets but demanding real improvements, as early enthusiasm gives way to harder questions.

Walmart is building a full-stack ad platform on its stores and TVs - CTV, an AI shopping agent and self-service. Why brands should treat it as a media platform.

Snap is putting AI-recommended shoppable ads into private Chat for the holidays. A real performance opportunity - if brands respect messaging as personal space.

Unlimitail and The Trade Desk are letting advertisers activate 80+ Carrefour purchase-based segments self-service on the open web — no bespoke build required — starting in France.

In-store retail-media specialist Médiaperformances has launched subsidiaries in Spain, Poland, Portugal, Italy and the UK, claiming first-mover status as a pan-European omnichannel player.

DIY chain Toom has opened its advertising inventory to brands for the first time, with its retail-media business run by Rewe Group's Retail Media Connect across roughly 300 stores.