Observed Signal · Oct 27, 2026 · Research & Insights · Source: https://martechseries.com/feed/ · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Retail Media AI Gap: 88% Use AI for Analysis, 16% for Ranking
Live polling at IAB Europe's Retail Media Impact Summit revealed a significant gap in AI adoption within retail media. While 88% of professionals use AI for data analysis or report writing, only 16% use it to choose product or ad rankings. The session, led by Particular Audience's CEO James Taylor, gathered 89 participants and showed that traditional targeting methods like manual keywords (50%) and manual audience segments (54%) are still widely used. Only 22% use AI that predicts relevance from live shopping signals. Delegation willingness varies: 83% would delegate campaign reporting within 12 months, but only 42% for bids/budgets and 41% for supplier-funded offers, citing trust, control, accuracy, and transparency as main barriers. Auction pricing raised the most concern, scoring 2.8 on a safety scale. Particular Audience's Adaptive Transformer Search improved product discovery by 65% in a grocery test. The company advocates for AI optimizing within clear commercial rules set by retailers.
This article provides valuable insights into AI adoption gaps in retail media, highlighting trust barriers and opportunities for optimization. It is a market research report from a key industry event (IAB Europe Summit), offering actionable data for the AdTech industry.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- 88% of retail media professionals use AI for data analysis or report writing, but only 16% use it for product or ad ranking.
- Live polling at IAB Europe's Retail Media Impact Summit on October 7, 2026, involved 89 participants.
- 50% use manual keywords/categories and 54% use manual audience segments for targeting; only 22% use AI that predicts relevance from live shopping signals.
- 83% would delegate campaign reporting within 12 months, but only 42% would delegate bids/budgets and 41% supplier-funded offers.
- Particular Audience's Adaptive Transformer Search achieved 65% improvement in product discovery compared to traditional keyword search in a grocery test.
Connected Companies & Entities
2 Entities mapped“The polling took place at IAB Europe's Retail Media Impact Summit.”
“Particular Audience is an AI-native retail media and personalisation platform that unified proprietary large language powered search, hyper-...”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
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