Retail media has vaulted from experimental line item to one of the most aggressively scaled sectors in advertising, and ADWEEK is moving to codify that surge with a new benchmarking list: Fastest Growing Retail Media Networks. The initiative, now open for submissions, aims to identify and rank the retail media players that are not just participating in the boom but setting its pace, with a methodology built squarely around three-year revenue growth.
For an industry accustomed to trading on impressions, share of voice, and brand lift, the decision to focus on three-year revenue growth from 2023–2025 is telling. It crystallizes a shift in retail media from opportunistic add-on to durable business line—one expected to withstand economic cycles and intensifying competition from big tech platforms and streaming giants. Actual revenue figures will stay confidential; only percentage growth will be published, a detail designed to encourage participation from both public and privately held networks without forcing them to tip their full financial hand.
ADWEEK’s list is intentionally broad in scope. Eligible entrants include retail-owned and operated media networks, commerce and marketplace platforms, omnichannel retail media networks spanning on-site, off-site, in-store, and CTV, and both emerging and established networks with standout year-over-year growth. That framing reflects where the category has moved: away from siloed on-site sponsored listings and toward full-funnel ecosystems that stitch together search, display, video, connected TV, and increasingly, in-store and out-of-home environments.
The timing of the ranking dovetails with what many observers see as retail media’s “infrastructure phase.” As first-party data becomes the backbone of post-cookie advertising strategies, retailers are leaning into their logged-in audiences, purchase histories, and loyalty programs to offer advertisers something linear and open-web media struggle to match: deterministic targeting and closed-loop measurement. For brands, that means the ability to connect ad exposure to actual sales, both online and in physical stores, and to do so in near real time. For retailers, it means a high-margin revenue stream that investors now expect to grow quarter after quarter.
ADWEEK’s retail media coverage already tracks how these networks are expanding into new surfaces—from generative AI shopping agents and shoppable content to programmatic CTV and in-store digital screens. The new list effectively adds a scoreboard, rewarding not just innovation but the commercial discipline required to turn experiments into scaled businesses. Revenue growth over a three-year horizon filters out one-off spikes from launches or acquisitions and instead highlights organizations that can attract consistent advertiser demand in a market that is rapidly consolidating.
For out-of-home and place-based media stakeholders, the criteria are particularly resonant. ADWEEK explicitly calls out omnichannel retail media networks that span in-store and CTV, in addition to on-site and off-site digital. That language recognizes that physical environments—store aisles, front-of-store displays, parking lots, even retail-adjacent venues—are increasingly being wired into the same data, identity, and reporting stacks that power on-site retail media. As retailers deploy more digital signage and screen networks, those assets are being sold using the same first-party data and closed-loop frameworks that underpin retail media buys, blurring the line between shopper marketing, OOH, and retail media.
The submission process also underlines the growing professionalism of the category. Networks will be ranked by their three-year revenue growth, with ADWEEK positioning the list less as a beauty contest and more as a performance-based benchmark. Entry fees are tiered—an Early Bird window, a regular deadline, and an extended deadline through March 23 at midnight EST—mirroring the award structures that agencies and brands have navigated for years. That structure signals that retail media is no longer a novelty; it is now being evaluated with the same rigor as agencies, publishers, and platforms.
For brands and agencies, the eventual ranking will function as a de facto roadmap to where momentum—and possibly budget—should go next. A place on the list will likely become a calling card in RFPs, signaling not only commercial momentum but also operational maturity: the ability to ingest demand, deliver campaigns at scale, and provide the reporting and optimization capabilities sophisticated advertisers now expect. For investors and holding companies, the list will offer a quick read on which networks are breaking out beyond the usual suspects and may be ripe for partnership, integration, or acquisition.
The launch also comes amid predictions that commerce media and retail media will see heightened consolidation, as some retailers band together and others seek to disintermediate adtech middlemen. In that environment, rapid growth can mean different things: successful geographic expansion, deeper penetration within existing advertiser bases, or the addition of new channels such as CTV or in-store networks that bring higher yields. By zeroing in on revenue growth, ADWEEK is effectively asking which players are turning strategic bets into sustainable commercial outcomes.
For out-of-home specialists, the move is another signal that the screen in the aisle, the kiosk at the entrance, and the digital billboard in the parking lot are no longer just OOH inventory—they are endpoints in a larger retail media graph. As retail-owned networks scale and become more sophisticated, they will seek partners who can extend their audiences beyond the browser and the app into real-world environments, while maintaining the same expectations around data quality and measurement that have fueled their ascent.
Submissions for Fastest Growing Retail Media Networks are now open, with networks vying not just for recognition but for a place in the evolving power hierarchy of commerce media. As the sector matures, lists like this will increasingly shape how marketers prioritize partners, how agencies structure commerce offerings, and how OOH and in-store media position themselves inside the broader retail media value chain.