New York, NY – April 14, 2026 – Today at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the leading trade association for the digital advertising ecosystem, launched its latest industry guide, Building a Competitive Commerce Media Ecosystem. The guide provides timely and strategic recommendations for how commerce media networks can differentiate, scale, and compete in an increasingly AI and performance-driven market.

As commerce media enters a new phase of maturity, the industry is facing the existential shift from rapid expansion to operational execution. While early growth was driven by the proliferation of retail media networks, long-term success now depends on establishing sustainable business models, proving measurable business impact, and operating effectively across increasingly complex, cross-channel environments.

“For several years, commerce media has benefited from momentum. But momentum, on its own, is not a strategy. The next chapter will be defined by rigor and by how well companies translate proximity-to-transaction into measurable, sustained performance,” said Collin Colburn, VP, Commerce & Retail Media, IAB. “What we are outlining here is a clear guide for how performance-centric businesses will compete, with consistency, transparency, and a disciplined approach to performance.”

The new IAB guidance defines strategic operating models that commerce media organizations can adopt based on their business objectives, including:

• Driving top-line growth through new revenue streams
• Maximizing bottom-line profitability
• Enhancing omnichannel customer experiences with more personalized interactions
• Establishing meaningful differentiation to compete for brand investment and customer loyalty

To execute against these models, the framework defines the core capabilities required to compete at scale, including measuring incremental impact and connecting media investments to commerce outcomes across digital and physical channels.

As commerce media expands beyond traditional retail environments into in-store, off-site, and cross-channel activation, inconsistencies in definitions, measurement, and operational frameworks have emerged as a key barrier to scale. The framework addresses these challenges directly, emphasizing standardization, interoperability, and alignment across the ecosystem, while prioritizing long-term competitiveness over short-term monetization to support a more durable and self-sustaining market.

To explore Building a Competitive Commerce Media Ecosystem, access the complete guide here.

About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. Its membership comprises more than 700 leading media companies, brands, agencies, and the technology firms responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital ad marketing campaigns. The trade group fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing.

In affiliation with the IAB Tech Lab, IAB develops technical standards and solutions. IAB is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and collaboration of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the trade association advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, IAB is headquartered in New York City.

About BWG Global
BWG Global has set the industry standard as the premier provider of industry intelligence to more than 100,000 professionals across leading hedge funds, mutual funds, long-only investment firms, family offices and corporations. Supported by a robust compliance structure and anchored in proven research methodology, BWG Global identifies key market inflections and uncovers unique investable ideas. The firm offers products and services through a license subscription to its digital research library and live events, including Primary Intelligence Virtual Forums, Forum Synopses, Channel Intelligence Research Reports, Market Insight Survey Reports and Custom Research.

BWG Global pioneered an investigative, interview-based methodology providing channel research to the institutional investment community in the 1990s and then expanded its footprint internationally to conduct live, in-depth interviews in more than 20 countries in North and South America, Europe and Asia. In 2013, the company fundamentally changed how investment managers and corporations’ access real-time information through live forum events. BWG Global provides much-needed transparency by creating access to real-time information and data on sector, company and technology trends.

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