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To compare retail media networks (RMNs) that serve the same retail category, score each one on five dimensions: audience fit and reach, inventory and targeting, measurement rigor, reporting transparency and access, and business outcomes and economics. Score them on the same scale, and only after you have standardized the campaign objective, geography, audience, placement, measurement definitions, attribution window, and reporting period. The five dimensions are an editorial synthesis of published buyer criteria and industry standards. They are not an official framework from the IAB or the Media Rating Council (MRC), and you should treat them as a practical checklist rather than an industry-mandated method.
Why a structured scorecard beats a price comparison
Retail media buying tempts advertisers to start with CPMs, because a cost per thousand impressions is the easiest number to line up side by side. It is also the number that tells you least on its own. In IAB Europe’s July 2025 Attitudes to Retail Media Report, respondents were asked which elements matter when evaluating a retail media network in the same retail category. Reporting and transparency was selected by 82%, performance by 76%, and measurement options by 75%. CPMs were selected by 43%. These are survey findings from that report’s respondents and question wording. They describe what buyers in that sample said they weigh, not how the whole market behaves.
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A scorecard forces the comparison to cover the things that determine whether a network’s numbers mean anything: who the shoppers are, what you can actually buy, how results are counted, what you can see, and whether sales were caused by your ads or would have happened anyway.
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Two networks can look very different only because they were measured differently. Before you compare results, fix the following in writing for every network you evaluate:
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- Campaign objective. Awareness, consideration, and sales are different jobs. Score each network against the same one.
- Geography. Use the same country or region, and note whether the retailer’s shoppers in that geography are the same ones you target.
- Audience. Use the same audience definition, or the same retailer-provided audience segment wording, for every network.
- Placement. Compare onsite with onsite, offsite with offsite, and in-store with in-store. Do not put an in-store zone next to an online display placement and call one cheaper.
- Measurement definitions. Agree on what counts as an impression, a viewable impression, invalid traffic, a sale, and a new-to-brand customer.
- Attribution window. Use the same look-back period for every network.
- Reporting period. Use the same dates. Seasonal shopping peaks can distort any comparison made across different windows.
If a network cannot support one of these settings, record that as a limitation on its score. Do not quietly substitute a different setting.
The five dimensions
1. Audience fit and reach
Ask whether the retailer’s shoppers match your category, your target customer, and your geography. A large audience that buys nothing in your category is not valuable reach. Request the eligible audience definition, the reach estimates, and the basis and time period for those estimates. Compare reach only within the same category and geography.
In the IAB Europe 2025 survey, audience reach was a consideration for 63% of respondents evaluating networks in the same category. Treat that as a reason to ask for the data, not as proof that any given network’s audience is adequate.
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Map what you can actually buy. Retail media inventory generally falls into four environments: onsite (on the retailer’s own sites and apps), offsite (on third-party sites, reached through the retailer’s data), online, and in-store. The IAB and MRC’s January 2024 Retail Media Measurement Guidelines cover measurement for ads onsite, offsite, online, and in-store. The IAB and IAB Europe published separate in-store definitions and measurement guidance on December 3, 2024, so in-store claims should be checked against that document, not against online standards.
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For each network, record the formats available, the targeting controls, who can buy each placement, and any eligibility restrictions. In the IAB Europe survey, targeting options were a consideration for 69% of respondents. Access, however, is not uniform. Capabilities can differ by retailer, buying model, and advertiser tier, which is one of the central findings of the ISBA study discussed below.
3. Measurement rigor
This is where most vendor claims need the most scrutiny. Request the metric definitions and methods for impressions, viewability, invalid traffic, attribution, sales, and any new-to-brand claim. Then ask four specific questions:
- Which standards does the network follow, and for which environments?
- How is the attribution window chosen, and can you change it?
- Are reported sales gross or net, and what is excluded, such as returns or cancellations?
- Is the new-to-brand figure based on a defined customer history, and over what period?
IAB Europe’s Commerce (Incl. Retail) Media Measurement Standards V2.1, published January 22, 2026, refine the measurement funnel and add standardized definitions for gross and net sales. Those standards cover online measurement. Its separate in-store guidance covers physical retail. A network that claims to follow the standard should be able to say which parts of its reporting align with it. Ask for that mapping in writing. The V2.1 standard also builds on an earlier IAB Europe overview published April 25, 2024, which remains useful for understanding the standards’ coverage of media metrics, attribution, and retail insights.
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Ask for a sample report before you commit budget, and inspect it against a checklist. You should be able to see spend, delivery, audience, placement-level results, the sales definition used, the attribution window applied, and whether the data can be downloaded or exported. Ask how often the report refreshes, because a stale dashboard can hide a problem for weeks.
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Access may depend on how you buy. Ask whether the reporting you receive differs by buying model or by your account tier. In the IAB Europe 2025 survey, reporting and transparency ranked as an evaluation criterion for 82% of respondents. ISBA’s UK study found the same pattern in practice: transparency varies across networks and arrangements.
5. Business outcomes and economics
Judge performance against your stated business objective, not against the network’s favored metric. Attributed sales and return on ad spend are useful, but they measure correlation between exposure and purchase. They do not show what would have happened without the ads.
For that, you need incrementality. IAB’s November 3, 2025 Guidelines for Incremental Measurement in Commerce Media describe several approaches: experiments, model-based counterfactuals, econometric models, and hybrid proxies. The guidance calls for a credible counterfactual, control for bias, and separation of real signal from noise. When a network presents a lift figure, ask which method produced it, what the control group was, whether an experiment was run, and how bias and noise were handled. A lift number without its counterfactual is not comparable to another network’s lift number.
On economics, compare CPMs only after you have aligned placement, audience, objective, geography, and measurement rules. A cheaper CPM on a placement that is not incremental, or that reports sales under a looser definition, can cost more per real outcome.
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Score each network on the same scale
Use one scale, such as 1 to 5, for every dimension and every network. Record the evidence next to each score so the ranking does not hide gaps. A network with no answer to a question should be marked as not stated, with the date you asked and the source of the claim, not given a zero or an estimated value.
| Dimension | What to request | Evidence that supports a high score | Common gap to flag |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audience fit and reach | Eligible audience definition, reach estimates, and their basis and period | Audience matched to your category and geography, with a stated method | Large total audience with little category relevance |
| Inventory and targeting | Placement map, formats, targeting controls, buying access, eligibility limits | Clear placement list by environment (onsite, offsite, online, in-store) | Access restricted by buying model or tier, not disclosed up front |
| Measurement rigor | Metric definitions, standards followed, attribution window options, gross and net sales definitions | Written mapping to recognized standards and definitions | Undefined “sales” or new-to-brand figures |
| Reporting transparency and access | Sample report, refresh frequency, export options, access by tier | Full placement-level and sales-definition detail, with export | Summary-only dashboards or delayed refresh |
| Business outcomes and economics | Lift method, control design, bias and noise handling, CPM alignment | Incrementality method named, with a credible counterfactual | Attributed return presented as incremental impact |
A procedure for running the comparison
- Pick one category and one geography. Write the campaign objective, audience, placement set, attribution window, and reporting period.
- Send the same written request to every network. Ask for the five sets of evidence in the table above.
- Score each dimension on your agreed scale. Record blanks as not stated, with the date and source.
- Check any lift figure against the incrementality questions in the fifth dimension before you use it in a ranking.
- Only then compare CPMs and returns, and only on the placements and definitions you have aligned.
Which sources support which parts of the framework
The evidence behind each dimension comes from sources with different scope, and they should not be stretched beyond it.
- IAB and MRC, January 2024. Broad retail media measurement guidance covering onsite, offsite, online, and in-store ads. This is the widest of the standards referenced here.
- IAB Europe, V2.1, January 22, 2026. The current European standard for commerce and retail online measurement. Its in-store coverage sits in separate guidance.
- IAB and IAB Europe, December 3, 2024. In-store definitions and measurement standards for formats and zones.
- IAB, November 3, 2025. Incremental measurement guidance for commerce media.
- IAB Europe, July 2025. Buyer survey results. These describe respondents and the same-category question, and should not be generalized to all advertisers or markets.
- ISBA and mediasense, September 8, 2026. A UK capability assessment covering more than 200 data points across five digital retail media networks. It is a UK study, not a global census of networks.
The ISBA and mediasense announcement puts the central finding this way: “Self-service access, reporting transparency and measurement sophistication vary significantly depending on retailer, buying model and advertiser tier.” The report was produced by the two organizations and the announcement does not name an individual author, so cite it to the organizations.
Common mistakes when using the framework
- Scoring one network on its best placement. Score the placements you intend to buy, not the most flattering one in the sales deck.
- Treating attributed return as incremental. Attributed sales and incremental impact answer different questions. Keep them in separate columns.
- Letting missing data read as poor performance. A blank is a question for the network, not a zero. Re-ask before you rank.
- Applying survey percentages as market facts. The IAB Europe figures describe what respondents in that survey said, not what every advertiser should prioritize.
Limits of this framework
The five dimensions are a practical way to organize a comparison, and they do not replace a formal audit or a controlled test in your own campaigns. The UK study covers UK digital networks only, and the in-store and online standards are separate documents with different scopes. Your results will depend on your category, your product margins, and how your sales data is recorded, so check each network’s claims against your own records as well as its reports.
The Bottom Line
Use the five dimensions to make every retail media network answer the same questions on the same terms. Standardize the test first, score the evidence rather than the presentation, and treat CPM as one input among several. A network that can show its audience method, its placement access, its sales definitions, and its incrementality method is easier to compare, and easier to trust, than one that leads with a low cost per thousand.
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