The Role of Local Media and Offline Presence in 2025-2026: A Strategic Perspective
The Continued Importance of the Physical Retail Environment
As retail media became the fastest-growing advertising channel in 2025, the strategic value of offline presence became increasingly evident in the digitalization of physical commerce. Global retail media spending reached 52.3 billion USD in 2024 and continued its strong upward trajectory throughout 2025, with projections pointing to 176 billion USD by 2028.
A key insight in retail channel selection remained that 80% of consumer packaged goods (CPG) were still purchased in physical stores. This confirmed that despite the growth of e-commerce, traditional retail spaces continued to play a central role as the primary sales medium.
In-Store Media Strategies in 2025
Throughout 2025, retailers significantly accelerated the development of their in-store media capacities. By the end of the year, 70% of retailers had implemented physical store media solutions such as digital screens, interactive shopping carts, and endcap displays.
This transformation was largely driven by strategic partnerships between grocery chains and third-party media solution providers. These collaborations turned physical store spaces into dynamic advertising environments blending digital and offline experiences.
The Structural Decline of Traditional Pay-TV
In the United States, cable and satellite TV subscriptions declined sharply in 2025, with the total number falling below 50 million. The downturn was driven by the expansion of live sports streaming and shifting consumer habits. Over the previous three years, the share of households with cable or satellite subscriptions had decreased significantly.
Nevertheless, live content remained a critical factor for consumer retention. Subscriptions were primarily maintainedfor access to live news (43%) and sports broadcasts (41%), reinforcing that immediacy continued to drive engagement in linear media.
The Dominance of Social Media in Media Consumption
In 2025, social media platforms continued to dominate media consumption among Gen Z and millennials. On average, Gen Z spent 50 minutes more per day engaging with social media and user-generated content (UGC) than the average user, while watching 44 minutes less of traditional TV or films.
Around 56% of Gen Z and 43% of millennials reported that social media content felt more relevant than traditional TV shows or movies. In advertising effectiveness, 63% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials stated that ads or product reviews on social media had the strongest influence on their purchasing decisions.
The Expansion of Retail Media Networks Beyond the Store
Unlike earlier phases of retail media consolidation, 2025 saw a major rise in off-site retail media strategies. Around 36.4% of marketing professionals used off-site retail media in display campaigns. This channel strengthened brand-consumer touchpoints across social media, connected TV (CTV), and search engines.
Investments in CTV also surged significantly — retail media and CTV investments grew from 800 million USD in 2024 to 3.6 billion USD in 2025, more than quadrupling within one year. Projections indicate this figure could reach 8.6 billion USD by 2027.
The Expansion of Market Participants
A notable development in 2025 was the increasing participation of marketplace and long-tail sellers in the retail media ecosystem. Third-party (3P) sellers on Amazon expanded their retail media investments twice as fast as first-party brands, while long-tail sellers increased their spending threefold compared to primary sellers.
AI-powered self-service platforms played a key enabling role, reducing market-entry costs and operational complexity. This empowered small and medium-sized sellers to launch personalized campaigns more efficiently.
The Evolution of Measurement and Advertising Efficiency Standards
In 2025, retail media networks operationalized advanced performance metrics such as profit-adjusted ROAS, incremental impact, and customer lifetime value. These metrics became central to assessing the true commercial impact of campaigns.
Data clean rooms gained widespread adoption as secure environments for first-party data analysis and audience modeling, enabling brands to optimize media performance while maintaining data privacy.
Key Strategic Implications for Global Entrepreneurs
For international entrepreneurs exploring opportunities in Türkiye, the retail and media landscape of 2025 offered important structural lessons:
- omnichannel strategies became essential, with off-site media channels complementing traditional in-store experiences
- self-service retail media tools enabled SMEs to compete more effectively with major retail players
- first-party data and AI-based technologies elevated personalization and advertising efficiency
As Türkiye continues strengthening its retail infrastructure and digital innovation ecosystem in 2026, entrepreneurs who align with these established global media trends will be well-positioned to build resilient omnichannel strategies for the modern consumer.