Alison Levin

Audio represents 20%+ of consumer media time but under 5% of ad spend (eMarketer). For pharma brands focused on reach, frequency, and trust, this unlocks smarter investment without sacrificing accountability. "Viant Technology’s direct integration with iHeartMedia... allows both companies to match their data graphs and create shared IDs for targeting audiences in digital audio, as well as broadcast radio, where audience ID signals are scarce." Net-net: we're making hard to measure channels measurable and heping healthcare marketers better understand who they’re reaching, how often, and how audio fits into the full patient and HCP journey. Audio has always driven impact. Now, with Viant, it drives insight too. #HealthcareMarketing #PharmaMarketing #Viant #Programmatic #AddressableAdvertising #MeasurableMedia #AudioAds https://lnkd.in/ek8J-iJE

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Another week and another article in the media industry trade press exposing the same old story: opaque incremental deals, principal media, and holding groups monetising volume instead of value. https://lnkd.in/eaSmgxpu And let’s be honest — none of this is new. The ANA has been crystal clear: principal media thrives because legacy agencies act as principals, not agents, restricting transparency and prioritising their own margins and bundles over client outcomes . What is hard to understand is that the industry is still pretending to be surprised. 👉 Why are auditors, and pitch consultants still rewarding volume as if it were a proxy for quality? 👉 Why do they measure mainly new business wins and scale instead of the capability to activate innovation before. Volume is the raw material of arbitrage. It’s the fuel of intermediation. It’s the mechanism that allows dark deals and principal trading to flourish. If you value volume, you implicitly value the business model that produces these behaviours. So maybe the industry’s problem isn’t just the deals — it’s the metrics that keep validating them. When will we shift from measuring “how big” to measuring “how good”? When will we start valuing the capabilities that actually matter to advertisers — strategic talent, data maturity, ethical use of technology, real performance — instead of how much media an agency can push through its pipes? Until that happens, don’t expect change, expect demise, because the incentives are still pointed in the wrong direction.

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I got quoted in Skai 2026 State of Retail Media report this week - this one is all about measurement. According to Skai, only 15% of brands say they're highly effective at measuring retail media performance. From all my conversations... that sounds about right. But the tools are out there, and the agencies to support you are out there (hint... we do this extremely well). It's not because the tools or the knowledge don't exist. It's not because the methodology is too complex. It's not even a data access problem. The real barrier? People and ownership. 56% said they lack internal analytics or data science resources. Nearly 1 in 5 said there's no clear cross-functional ownership between sales, media, and analytics. In my opinion lack of analytics access is the excuse. Lack of ownership is the problem. I stand by that. Here's what I see constantly with brands: the retail media budget grows, the channel count grows, the retailer portals multiply and the analytics infrastructure stays exactly the same. We keep pouring spending into the machine and then wonder why we can't explain what it's doing. And the incrementality gap is brutal. 75% of brands say incrementality measurement is their #1 challenge. But only 20% are actually good at both measuring AND applying those insights to decisions. Everyone knows it's the north star. Almost no one has operationalized it. The aspirations vs. reality data were the most telling part of the whole report. Brands hope incrementality will unlock profit margin improvements (68% said so). Only 24% have actually achieved that. That gap isn't a measurement problem. It's an organizational design problem. If you're a Head of #eCommerce staring down a budget conversation right now, here's the honest takeaway: You don't need another dashboard. You need to invest in this and give authority to someone who owns #incrementality end to end, standardize definitions your media, finance, and analytics teams all agree on, and a decision cadence that actually changes what you do next. As always, I'm here to help. DM me with any questions.

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✅🖥️ Variety (6/25): “Amazon Prime Video delivered a series of pitches to content partners and prospective partners on the benefits of making their services available for sale via Prime Video’s Subscriptions portal. Amazon walked through data points designed to underline that Amazon’s gigantic funnel brings demonstrable results to programmers big (HBO Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+) and niche (Crunchyroll). The Prime Video executives emphasized the amount of energy and investment that Amazon is pouring into R&D and experimentation with advertising technology, data tools and analytics to help Prime Video channel partners make the most of their subscription revenue and ad sales. Prime Video does not offer a cable-style bundle of channels but rather it offers users to chance to select streamers and channels on a la carte basis, but with a central billing system handled by Amazon. Amazon has been a re-seller of content from other providers for nearly 20 years, since the platform first embraced transactional video on demand in 2006. Today, with the streaming revolution driving every major media company to embrace direct-to-consumer content platforms, hitching a ride with Amazon by being part of its channel marketplace offers a big boost. Hollywood’s biggest brand names have been humbled in recent years by realizing that they need partners to drive digital traffic.” ⬇️ #streaming #svod #programsmtic #avod #ctv #upfronts #fast https://lnkd.in/erKEZCVs

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LiveRamp Expands Meta Insights Available to Retail Media Networks 👉Learn more : https://lnkd.in/ef7Mvw2f 🤔Retail media networks can now unlock new attribution insights from their Meta campaign investments through the LiveRamp Clean Room. By connecting Meta campaign results with their own first-party sales data, RMNs and their partners can see how off-property sites, including Meta, drive sales, orders, and ROAS across campaigns, brands, and products. Let’s accelerate data collaboration and retail media 🔥

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Super excited to announce this expanded partnership between Instacart and The Trade Desk!  Instacart is the first U.S. retail media network to integrate its grocery selection with The Trade Desk platform for streamlined self-service use cases, enabling approved advertisers and agencies to build first-party custom audiences based on specific product criteria for programmatic campaigns. CPG brands can also access real-time sales measurement signals from Instacart directly in The Trade Desk platform. Here we go! https://lnkd.in/eygGcAJr

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As brands and agencies brace for economic volatility, proactive steps are essential for ensuring media investments remain effective. From scenario planning and prioritizing transparency to competitive intelligence, it’s vital to prepare for varying economic conditions. Historical insights show that brands maintaining advertising spending fare better and recover faster. Marketing leaders must keep tone sensitivity in mind as consumers become more deliberate about spending. Adaptation is key. #MarketingStrategy #EconomicUncertainty #Advertising #BrandGrowth #MediaInvestments #Leadership #ScenarioPlanning

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Advanced measurement is moving from a “nice to have” to a requirement for brands that want to prove how marketing drives real business outcomes.✅ Nowhere is this more visible than in Retail Media Networks. RMNs like Instacart give brands access to closed-loop performance data tied to actual purchases. That data is powerful, but it also raises an important question for marketing leaders: How do we validate results beyond platform-reported metrics and understand true incremental impact? This is why third-party measurement is becoming a critical part of the RMN conversation. Circana has emerged as a leading independent measurement partner for retail media performance, including Instacart. By combining retailer point-of-sale data with broader market and category intelligence, Circana helps brands understand not just what sold, but what actually changed because of advertising. https://lnkd.in/gp4CghWf For food and beverage brands, this matters because RMN performance rarely exists in isolation. Retail media influences household penetration, repeat rates, brand switching, and category growth, not just attributed sales within a single platform. Third-party measurement helps separate signal from noise by providing a consistent view across retailers, channels, and time. The broader industry trend is clear. As RMN budgets grow, marketers are being asked to answer harder questions around incrementality, brand impact, and long-term growth. Platform dashboards alone are no longer enough. At Effective, we see advanced media performance reporting as a layered system. Platform data shows what happened. Third-party measurement helps explain why it happened and whether it was truly incremental. Together, they create a clearer connection between media investment and business results. This is how performance reporting evolves from tracking activity to proving impact. Jeff O'Shaughnessy Joelle Kaplan #MarketingMeasurement #RetailMedia #MediaPerformance #Incrementality #F&B #MarketingEffectiveness

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Until recently, channels like Roku, Paramount, Pandora, or iHeartMedia were reserved for enterprise-scale advertisers with advanced programmatic infrastructures. For emerging and mid-sized CPGs, these platforms were too complex, too fragmented, or too expensive to navigate. Some recent announcements from Kroger Precision Marketing have changed that. Service-Led Activation Model: KPM provides a managed-service approach - handling all the technical complexity of programmatic buying on behalf of the brand. This removes the barrier of entry for brands lacking in-house programmatic expertise. Data-Powered Precision: Campaigns are entirely fueled by Kroger’s massive first-party data set (over 60 million households), ensuring that ads on CTV or audio platforms are precisely targeted to verified, high-value shoppers. Closed-Loop Accountability: KPM is not just selling reach; it’s selling a measurable outcome. The managed service is tied directly to Kroger’s sales data, allowing brands to prove that an ad seen on a streaming platform led directly to a product purchase in a physical or digital store. #RetailMedia #CommerceMedia #CPGMarketing #AdTech #KrogerPrecisionMarketing #ConnectedTV

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Some key takeaways from Walmart Connect’s kickoff to the ANAs Masters of Marketing last week. Our massive out of home footprint (in-store screens, fuel stations and self check out) coupled with Vizio’s dominance in CTV reach and integrated marketing capabilities allow for a full funnel solution powered by accountable measurement and first party data. Three points jump out for me…  1. Retail media can now power holistic media strategies. 2.Uneven Adoption/application means early movers can seize a stronger share of voice more efficiently and 3. Maturing measurement solutions- including with CTV- are helping brands harness retail media’s full- funnel potential. #ana #walmartconnect #letssparksales

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“Ramsey McGrory, newly appointed President of Prisma at Mediaocean, joins Ari Paparo to discuss how the company is evolving its platform across linear and digital media. They unpack the implications of Mediaocean’s acquisitions, including Innovid and Protected by Mediaocean, and what it means to consolidate media planning, buying, and verification in an increasingly fragmented ecosystem.” https://lnkd.in/gb3WgMes

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Horizon and Havas have formed a media joint venture in order to chase larger clients. Together, they hope to exploit market disruption. https://lnkd.in/egzx3QK8

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What sets Seedtag apart in today’s ad tech landscape? Our new CEO, Brian Gleason, sat down with AdExchanger to share his perspective. From his professional journey to Seedtag to why our neuro-contextual approach is a game changer, Brian breaks down how we're moving beyond standard contextual with a unique combination of audience understanding and agentic AI. 🧬 He also shares key priorities moving forward, including scaling the business globally and expanding our footprint with more publisher supply, particularly in CTV. Discover the full interview: https://lnkd.in/gBtGJ3Xg #AdTech #NeuroContextual #PrivacyFirst #AI #OneTeamOneDream

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As an industry, we need better metrics to help make sure we're buying quality media in premium environments that drive results for our clients. We don't need to sacrifice quality for cost efficiency. From the linked article, "advertisers who prioritize data integrity and make a point of buying impressions from high-value publishers with better data practices see a 33% lower cost per action, a 32% reduction in CPMs and a 5% higher return on ad spend." https://lnkd.in/grKnzm_H

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Jennifer Kattula, could not agree more -> "Generative AI is transforming marketing and how brands engage with their audiences. As much as I love AI, robots will not replace human taste, craft, curation, or nuance" What a wonderful conversation with Kristin Reagan from Annalect. Highly recommend this read.

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Happy to help our partners at Amazon with this measurement initiative. Proof that real purchase data, not modeled proxies, is what closes the gap between streaming exposure and verified sales outcomes.

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📺 Don’t overlook TV in 2026. If your PSA plan isn’t leveraging TV, you’re missing a key driver of attention and impact. The landscape keeps evolving, but TV remains a core backbone for broad awareness that digital alone can’t fully replace. TV may not be the “shiny new thing,” but this Adweek article shows why it has to be part of 2026 media plans. https://lnkd.in/g_SM8jxw A few points that jumped out at me: • 83% of advertisers say they’re confident TV will deliver strong outcomes in 2026. • 77% plan to increase their TV budgets next year. • 92% cite incremental reach and 92% cite measurable performance as the biggest benefits of TV. TV is now being held to the same accountability standards as digital. For PSAs, that’s huge. TV isn’t just “brand awareness” anymore. When it’s planned with digital, it can: 👉 Reach people who will never see your social or search ads 👉 Make your message feel familiar so other channels perform better 👉 Blend linear scale with streaming’s targeting and measurement so donated or paid impressions work harder So as you look at 2026 PSA plans, the question isn’t “TV or digital?” It’s: How do we get TV and digital working together so every spot, impression, and donated placement pushes in the same direction? I’m curious how others are approaching this: Are you leaning more into streaming, keeping linear in the mix, or re-introducing TV after focusing mostly on digital the last few years? If you’re thinking how TV and CTV fit into your PSA strategy, I’m always happy share what we’re seeing across campaigns—feel free to connect or DM me. #TVAdvertising #PSA #MediaPlanning #Streaming #LinearTV #MarketingStrategy #2026Planning #Connect360Multimedia

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Exclusive: MNTN Hires TikTok and NBCUniversal Veterans to Chase the SMB Market https://ift.tt/UD1hOcN The performance TV company has hired Garland Hill as its first chief revenue officer and Peter Blacker as its global head of premium content. via Adweek Feed https://www.adweek.com March 10, 2026 at 08:00AM https://ift.tt/hyPwblv

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Offsite RMN Targeting Debunked The retail media industry just hit a staggering $42 billion in 2024. But here's the uncomfortable truth nobody wants to discuss: 60% of that spend goes to offsite targeting that fundamentally violates consumer psychology. As someone who's spent years in adtech, I'm calling out the industry's biggest myth: That onsite intent seamlessly translates to offsite engagement. It doesn't. And we need to stop pretending it does. If you want to debunk any Retail Media myth , try this. https://lnkd.in/ge6bD6Qq

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