In 2025, advertising shifts toward in-store media as consumers demand relevance, brand safety concerns grow, and first-party data takes center stage. Steve Triplett, VP of Advertising Sales at Vibenomics, explores why retail environments are becoming the next major ad frontier.
A recent report by iHeartMedia found that 44% of Americans feel overlooked by advertisers, while 67% are frustrated by irrelevant targeted ads following them across platforms. This disconnect even extends to premium advertising spots like the Super Bowl. Its 2024 commercials cost 35 times more than standard TV ads, yet delivered lower ROI and failed to drive consumer purchases.
As shoppers become increasingly budget-conscious, they’re changing where and how they interact with brand messages. In 2025, the advertising industry will reflect this shift as retail environments gain new importance, data privacy reshapes targeting strategies, and brand safety concerns drive major budget reallocations.
In-Store Media Will Become Essential for Purchase Decisions
Approximately 9 in 10 Americans are worried about the rising cost of living, which means many shoppers are weighing their brand choices more carefully. This cost sensitivity has intensified competition between national brands and private-label products, with 43% of consumers planning to try store brands in the next three months. These moments of decision-making in the store aisles — where shoppers actively compare prices, ingredients, and value — have become advertising’s most strategic opportunity.
Physical stores represent a major media channel. Many leading omnichannel retailers see a 70% larger in-store audience than their digital platforms. The immediacy and context of in-store media deliver an impact that traditional advertising channels can’t match. TV and social media ads, which reach consumers far from the point of purchase, often fade from memory when consumers make shopping decisions. In contrast, in-store advertising combines the creative impact of TV with precise, sales-driven messaging precisely when consumers are evaluating products.
In 2025, this direct connection between messaging and purchase decisions will make in-store media essential to brand advertising strategies.
First-Party Data Will Drive Retail Media, Regardless of Cookie Policies
Third-party cookies are becoming optional across many browsers, but this change won’t impact retail media’s effectiveness. We’ve already seen how consumers respond to privacy choices: When Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency, giving users control over their data sharing, most immediately opted out. The same behavior will repeat as browsers let users choose whether to accept third-party cookies.
Yet this privacy shift won’t slow retail media’s momentum. First-party data, collected through direct relationships between retailers and their customers, remains the most reliable foundation for accurate targeting.
Smart brands recognize this. They’ve spent years preparing for a cookie-less future by building robust first-party data strategies. These investments strengthen retail media networks through direct consumer relationships that deliver the high-quality data advertisers need. While some digital platforms scramble to adapt to privacy changes, retail media will continue delivering precise targeting based on actual shopping behavior and declared preferences.
Brand Safety Concerns Will Accelerate the Shift to In-Store Advertising
Digital advertising faces mounting brand reputation challenges. Recent research by MarketingWeek shows that 75% of marketers globally view brand safety as more urgent now than six months ago, and their concerns are justified. Online ads increasingly appear alongside controversial content and AI-generated news, threatening brand reputation. The risks extend beyond content placement — only 43% of marketers are confident they aren’t paying for bogus impressions and clicks from non-human traffic, according to MarketingWeek.
Physical retail spaces eliminate these risks. Store environments provide complete control over ad placement and context — no algorithmic surprises or content concerns. This advantage comes at a crucial time, as CMOs face increasing pressure to invest in proven channels. Marketing budgets fell to 7.7% of company revenue in 2024, down from 9.1% in 2023. Despite these cuts, CMOs continue protecting their media investments, representing 27.9% of total marketing spend. By 2025, more marketing leaders will shift these protected media dollars toward retail’s brand-safe environments, where every impression reaches verified shoppers making real purchase decisions.
What These Changes Mean for 2025
The shifts we’re seeing in consumer behavior, data privacy, and brand safety aren’t separate trends — they’re converging to create a more effective advertising model. While digital platforms wrestle with privacy changes and content concerns, physical retail spaces are emerging as the next significant media frontier. Retail environments offer what other channels can’t: direct access to shoppers making active purchase decisions backed by reliable data and brand-safe contexts.
The numbers tell us that marketing budgets are shrinking, but organizations can still stretch their dollar by investing in channels that directly influence purchase decisions.