WARNER MATTERS LESS THAN EVER

The battle for Warner is getting hot, but according to WPP,in 2025, retail media ad spend officially exceeded TV spend (TV does not include YouTube).

Stores like Kroger, Walmart, and Best Buy drew more advertising dollars than all of the streaming players combined.

And, Amazon's ad business alone is nearly the size of a merged Warner and Netflix (it'll probably be bigger next quarter).

And it kind of makes sense - if you’re selling cereal, the cereal aisle is a better place to advertise than the red carpet. It just wasn’t possible before.

But now there’s in-store screens, websites, and store emails so there’s plenty of real estate for ads.

And then, brands can see if those ads are working because everyone has a loyalty card or an account that tracks every purchase .

The streamers are aware of this so they've been teaming up with all sorts of stores to get a piece of the pie, but I still haven’t met a single person that’s ever scanned a TV QR code so commerce media has taken the lead.


Put simply, you don't need content if you have a high-intent, data-rich audience.

Maybe whoever loses out on Warner should put in a bid for Kroger - it's about 50 billion cheaper anyways.