Creator content has become critical for retail media networks

Digital Marketing Redux // April 13, 2026 Creator content has become critical for retail media networks By Mitchell Parton Ivy Liu Two fast-growing advertising sectors — retail media and the creator economy — are increasingly interlinked.

Executives in the advertising businesses of retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Albertsons are starting to see value in incorporating more creator-led content into advertising campaigns for brands.

Not only that, but they are also building out infrastructure leveraging retailer sales data to identify which exact creators to work with and demonstrate to brands that these campaigns drive performance.

At CES in January, Digiday reported that Omnicom Media influencer agency Creo was partnering with Walmart Connect — Walmart’s retail media network — to pair the retailer’s purchase data with Meta insights. That way, Creo can identify creators on Instagram whose followers offer the best conversion potential for partnerships with specific brands.

Omnicom last year had already connected Walmart purchase data to TikTok, so expanding to Meta deepens the pool of influencers it can help brands access.

“Expanding our strategic partnership with Omnicom to include Meta is proof of how retail media’s audience targeting capabilities can connect real customers to creator audiences, helping brands identify and activate the right influencer partnerships with more precision,” Ryan Mayward, svp of retail media sales with Walmart Connect, told Digiday.

Last September, Best Buy’s ad division said it would partner with sports and entertainment content creator group Dude Perfect throughout 2026. That gives brands opportunities to be showcased on the popular YouTube channel during seasonal events such as the second season of golf league TGL, the NFL season and the holidays.

Additionally, last September, influencer marketing agency Linqia announced its partnership with Albertsons Media Collective — the major grocer’s retail media arm.

This was part of a larger influencer retail media offering from the agency designed to bring creator content into retail media campaigns that could span social media, connected TV, digital out-of-home and in-store screens.

In a campaign that ran prior to the announcement, from November 2024 to January 2025, Albertsons worked with content creators via Linqia to spotlight Lunar New Year traditions. The campaign asked creators to create videos about low-prep dinner items using several CPG brands.

It saw three times more engagement on Instagram and four times more engagement on Facebook compared to benchmarks, according to Albertsons.

Liz Roche, vp of media and measurement for Albertsons Media Collective, said demand is growing for creator content from brands, especially during seasonal moments like the Super Bowl or Easter where brands are looking to creator content as a competitive advantage.

The promise to brands by retailers is that they can tell brands exactly how creator content performed by tying it to sales data. “They really want to be able to touch higher points in the funnel and drive more inspiration to get that consideration and ultimately conversion,” Roche said.

“Retail media has the scale, but also the accountability; we’re the ones who can tie transaction to exposure.” This comes as marketers have become more focused on performance and justifying every investment through data, said retail media analyst Andrew Lipsman.

He said marketing budgets are going toward content that has both scale and cultural relevance, as well as proof that it can boost sales. “If you can bring measurability to creators, then you can justify the performance and get the investment that is needed to be able to do that,” Lipsman said.

“If you’re a CMO, and you know intuitively that this is one of the important modes of media to be playing in, then the measurability is what gets you that budget.”

Creators also give brands and retailers richer content that’s more likely to stand out to someone scrolling through social media, who may encounter a dozen similar-looking ads saying an item is on sale. “You can pretty easily weave a multi-brand, multi-product story,” Roche said.

“Consider recipes or even cleaning hacks, anything along those lines; you really can leverage all the things we have in our stores to create that storyline.” Daniel Schotland, COO of Linqia, said the firm can enlist creators to turn around content in two weeks or less.

Its network of creators is sorted by the retail product category they are likely to shop in or appeal to. Creator-sourced retail media content can drive anywhere from three to four and a half times the engagement of traditional, branded media assets they would usually buy, according to Schotland.

These are not necessarily big-name influencers with large followings. Some are j