The Rise of Retail Media: How Publishers Can Adapt their AdOps Strategy
Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are rapidly changing the ad tech landscape, with their ability to leverage first-party data for targeted ads. Instead of viewing RMNs as a threat, savvy publishers can learn from their operational excellence and data-driven approach. This article explores key lessons from the retail media boom and outlines how publishers can adapt their ad ops strategies to not just compete, but to thrive.
Understanding the Retail Media Advantage RMNs succeed by leveraging their most powerful asset: first-party customer data. This allows them to offer advertisers precise audience targeting and closed-loop measurement, proving the direct impact of ad spend on sales. The lesson for publishers isn't to become a retailer, but to recognize the immense value of their own first-party data and direct relationships with their audiences.
The Operational Blueprint from RMNs A key to RMN success is operational efficiency from pre-sales to campaign delivery. As seen in our case study with a leading Canadian retailer, unifying operations teams and establishing a "single source of truth for campaign data" was critical to scaling their business. This focus on streamlined, cross-functional workflows is a model publishers must adopt.
How Publishers Can Adapt and Win Publishers can adapt to this new reality by focusing on a few key areas:
Elevate Your Ad Products: Move beyond standard programmatic buys. Create your own data-driven ad packages by segmenting your audience and offering valuable insights, much like an RMN would.
Master Your Direct-Sold Workflows: As direct-sold deals remain a high-margin business, operational excellence is critical. Tools that automate reporting and monitor delivery in real-time are no longer a luxury - they are essential for scaling without adding headcount.
Build a Proactive AdOps Team: The days of firefighting are over. Your adops team needs to be proactive, using automation to free up time for strategic yield optimization and identifying new revenue opportunities. For more detail on how automation streamlines retail media operations, see our guide to GAM automation.
The rise of retail media is a powerful signal for all of adops. By embracing a data-first, operationally-excellent mindset, publishers can learn from the RMN model to elevate their own ad products, streamline their workflows, and secure their future in the digital ecosystem.
Is your adops strategy ready for the future? Contact ProOps Consulting for a workflow audit to assess your team's readiness. For a fast-track solution, try the ProOps Ads Tracker and immediately empower your team with automation.