Amazon retains top retail media spot as marketers double Target Roundel budgets in 2026
Digiday+ Research fielded three surveys to 125 marketing respondents this year for its CMO Strategies retail media report, plus interviews with executives at The Home Depot, Milani Cosmetics, Mile Marker and Tinuiti. Amazon led retail media adoption for a fourth consecutive year at 89%, ahead of Walmart Connect at 47% and Target's Roundel at 32%. Marketers doubled their weighted average budget share for Roundel in 2026 versus 2025. Sales stayed the top success metric for a third straight year, cited by 100% of respondents on Best Buy and Albertsons campaigns, 89% on Instacart and 88% on Target's Roundel. Retail media intelligence platform Mimbi counted more than 200 retail media networks globally as of June 2025.
Budget increases for Roundel arrive as Target's core retail business absorbs consumer pushback tied to its decision to reduce diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and to sluggish sales, a sign that a retailer's ad network can outperform its store traffic when it runs on first-party purchase and shopper-intent data. Milani Cosmetics CMO Jeremy Lowenstein said Amazon remains the brand's must-play network, while Milani has expanded from Criteo campaigns on Target and Ulta into Walmart, drugstore accounts and a Costco pilot. Tinuiti's Elizabeth Marsten pointed to expanded measurement, offsite inventory and in-store app features at both Walmart Connect and Roundel as reasons advertisers are shifting budget toward them. With more than 200 networks now competing for that budget, per Mimbi, planners face a widening set of platforms to evaluate mainly on sales performance, since Amazon is now the only network where marketers still name engagement as a top metric.