Think Digital Is Messy? Try the Real World. IAB's Collin Colburn on In-Store Retail Media

So that's 10 years, if I'm doing the math correctly, in media generally, right? It's funny how you said, at the time, we didn't know that we were on the precipice.

We almost felt like we were late to the game at the time.

It's interesting that you talk about thinking that you were behind in 2016, but realizing now that you were kind of just on the precipice.

Do we think that retail and commerce media has matured a bit since then? Are we truly no longer on the precipice or are we on the precipice of maybe something else?

I think where we're at today is we're still in a maturity phase of our trajectory where there's a lot of maturity that still needs to happen.

I think in 2016, it felt like we were behind because Amazon had been at this for years and kind of behind the scenes.

And they grew so fast in 16, 17, 18.

It did feel like, I think the industry was like, whoa, like we were a little bit caught by surprise as a whole.

I think there's been two different phases of that growth.

There's been the like proving out the concept, which Amazon really did for the entire industry, that this thing works and that brands find value in it.

And now we're in this phase of, well, everyone's kind of been like, hey, let's do this.

Let's let's set up a media business.

Let's set up an advertising shop.

And now I think is where you have a little bit of that disillusionment that happens in these cycles where the market starts to really inspect things more harshly.

You're seeing that with brands really taking a more proactive approach in terms of, is this actually proving the value we're looking for? Is it driving sales? Is it something that we should be investing incremental dollars in? Should I be moving dollars from Google, Meta, everywhere else, TV, into my retail partners? And that's a real question that they're asking.

So that's, I think, where we're at today, which is really, those are mature questions to be asking.

So I think we're in that moment of like, the hockey stick has happened.

Now we're in a little bit of a plateau.

And what happens now in most markets is you either figure out, all right, What is that next rung of maturity and how do we get there? And you accomplish that and you go for your second hockey stick or you kind of keep on going on this flat line for a little longer if real questions are not answered.

I would be more interested in the second hockey stick option.

So let's see if we can figure that out in this conversation.