Best Buy Ads Pushes Deeper Into CTV and Commerce Media
Updated: 6 days ago
Best Buy Ads is expanding into connected TV and commerce media with new CTV inventory, multi-touch attribution, AI-powered recommendations and partnerships spanning Amazon Fire TV, Roku, LG and OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads.
What's New
Best Buy Ads is rolling out CTV advertising, multi-touch attribution starting 30 September, faster incrementality testing, AI-powered investment suggestions and a Best Buy Studios creative and production offering. Chief revenue officer Patrick Albano frames it as 'the next generation of commerce TV.'
The partner list is telling: ad placement across Amazon Fire TV (with Insignia TV integration), Roku and LG smart TVs, conversational shopping through Best Buy's 'Ask Blue' assistant tied to OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads, and measurement validated by Circana.
Why the Numbers Matter
Best Buy is selling closed-loop proof. It cites return on ad spend running 17% above national media platforms, and says its media drove 35% of measured sales contribution while accounting for just 17% of media spend.
Those figures rest on real purchase data: a decade of consumer information and $2.3 billion in sales analysed by Circana across four categories. For advertisers drowning in vanity metrics, retail media's pitch is that it can tie ad exposure to actual transactions.
Our Read: Every Retailer Is Now a Media Company
Best Buy joins Walmart, Amazon, Kroger and a dozen others in turning first-party shopper data into an ad business. The category is crowded, so the differentiator is no longer having a retail media network, it's the quality of data and measurement behind it.
Best Buy's edge is high-consideration electronics purchases and rich intent signals. Bolting CTV onto that lets it sell upper-funnel reach with lower-funnel proof, exactly the convergence advertisers say they want.
What Advertisers Should Do
Treat retail media networks as measurement partners, not just inventory. Ask how incrementality is calculated, what the comparison set is, and whether the data is validated by a third party like Circana before you trust the ROAS headline.
And don't over-index on any single network. The winning approach is a portfolio of retail media partners chosen for data quality and audience fit, with independent measurement stitching the picture together across CTV and commerce.
Quick FAQ
What is Best Buy Ads launching?
Connected TV inventory, multi-touch attribution (from 30 September), faster incrementality testing, AI-powered investment recommendations and a Best Buy Studios creative service.
How effective is Best Buy's retail media?
Best Buy cites return on ad spend 17% above national media platforms and says its media drove 35% of measured sales contribution from 17% of spend, validated by Circana.
Who are Best Buy Ads' partners?
Amazon Fire TV, Roku and LG smart TVs for CTV placement, OpenAI's ChatGPT Ads via the 'Ask Blue' assistant, and Circana for measurement validation.
Retail media's real product isn't inventory, it's proof that an ad led to a sale. Best Buy pairing CTV reach with closed-loop purchase data is where the category is heading. Just make every network show its measurement working before you believe the ROAS. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
In a crowded retail media market, the differentiator isn't having a network, it's the quality of the data and third-party measurement behind the numbers.
How many retail media networks are in your plan, and how do you compare their results? Tell us how you measure across them.
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: MediaPost and Best Buy Ads.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
