Diverse-owned media companies often address subsets of the US population. By definition, they’re the opposite of reach plays. But advertisers still crave scale and reach.

So multicultural media companies are exploring creative ways to use their first-party data to package their audiences and sell them elsewhere, from other websites to different formats, such as CTV, our news editor, Andrew Byrd, observes on the podcast. Call it retargeting – with a twist.

Publishers are testing out the practice amid a challenging environment for these publishers. A half-dozen years ago, they could barely handle a deluge of RFPs, as brands made commitments to diverse-owned media. Now they face declining traffic that hampers scale, an unwelcoming political climate and overall weakened commitments from brands. It’s tough out there, no question.

Retail media’s new growth stage

Retail media has had plenty of wins during its digital lifespan. But long-term success requires surmounting regressions. Kind of like potty training.

At the IAB Connected Commerce Summit this week, which we discuss in the podcast, AdExchanger Senior Editor James Hercher spoke to Collin Colburn, IAB VP of commerce and retail media, who used the potty-training analogy to explain how he saw retail media.

“Perhaps you’ve had reason for encouragement and think success is near at hand,” recounts AdExchanger Senior Editor James Hercher in his commerce media newsletter, citing his discussion with Colburn. “Well, your next realization will be that you’ve barely begun a process that requires stick-to-itiveness.”

Standards, once a key rallying cry for the industry, have disappeared as a conversation point. The connection between retail media and AI chatbots is bursting with possibility, but still fragile and new. Finally, the proliferation of small and midsize retail media networks, a sign of the optimism within retail media, will undoubtedly reverse in coming years, as smaller players consolidate, partner or die off.