Retail media advertising is now an integral part of holistic media planning, according to the IAB ‘Australia Retail Media State of the Nation’ report.

The report finds that seven in 10 surveyed advertisers and agencies using retail media have increased their investment in the last 12 months and 77% now work with three or more retail media networks, up from 58% last year.

However, the report also notes that as the sector scales, brands and agencies are seeking more transparency and consistency, along with better data access, consistent metrics and unified measurement frameworks across retail networks.

Investment in retail media activity now comes from a mix of fully reallocated budgets (35%) and new budgets (19%). Brands report increasingly shifting their spend away from trade marketing and traditional media advertising, while agencies were reallocating budget from social media and digital display budgets.

Advertisers continue to express frustrations with lack of clear, standardised performance metrics across networks, according to IAB. ROAS was identified as the most important metric sought by 78% of surveyed agencies and brands, while incremental sales measurement was the second at 71%. The leading barriers to investment in retail media were found to be demonstrating ROI (38% of brand advertisers) and measurement and reporting limitations (30% of agencies).

“Retail media is gaining momentum, but we’re now at a pivotal stage where structure and collaboration are essential,” says IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy.  

“To fully unlock the potential of this channel, the industry needs shared frameworks, clear measurement principles and greater transparency across networks.

“As we’ve seen in other maturing digital channels, establishing consistency is what allows innovation to scale.”

About the report

The IAB ‘Australia Retail Media State of the Nation’ report is drawn from data gathered in an industry survey conducted in June 2025 across 161 senior advertising decision makers across retailers, media agencies, agency trading desks, creative agencies and advertiser brands. Of the buy side respondents, 66% were from advertising agencies and 34% from brands. Information was also collected from 19 retailers with a retail media offering in place.

The report will be used by the IAB Australia Retail Media Council to drive local initiatives including education, training and thought leadership.