Retail Media Is Boring

The podcast returns after a multi-year hiatus with new AI-powered co-host Matt Walsh.

 

Retail media is boring as it currently stands is the first topic to tackle.

 

What people talk about it as: an omnichannel revolution that will utilize incredible technology to free advertisers and retailers and eventually publishers from the tyrannical grasp of Google and Meta.

 

What It Really Is: A bunch of people overpaying for Criteo search ad and product display clicks when they're not buying toxic dump grade open web inventory from shady publishers, all while running into the open arms of such scrappy underdogs as...Amazon and Walmart?

 

Plus, why is everyone assuming these new players are going to solve a viable inventory shortage problem that Alphabet has moved heaven and Earth to solve for years and still hasn't really fully escaped?

 

A lot of money is going to be spent on it anyway, though, and maybe by listening to this you can learn how to open up a mining supply store close enough to this gold rush to retire early, or before Retail Media 3.0 arrives in 2045, at least.