Q1 2025 Retail Media Benchmark Report

On Amazon US, quarter-over-quarter decreases in average daily spend and cost-per-click for both Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Products ad types — typical for a post-holiday period— both saw YoY increases for the same metrics, underscoring growing investment in retail media. Most notably, Amazon US DSP drove 36.5% new-to-brand sales in Q1 2025 as the channel becomes a reliable customer acquisition lever.

On Amazon EU, CPC for Sponsored Products remained flat year-over-year, while Sponsored Brands cost advertisers +8.3% more during the same period. Drawn to the ad type’s lower bidding intensity, advertisers increased their ad spend for Sponsored Products by +6% YoY while tightening their budgets for Sponsored Brands, which saw a -7.5% YoY decrease in ad spend.

As Walmart Connect continues to invest in its ecosystem and brands are steadily pursuing omnichannel expansion, ad spend on Walmart Connect increased by +41.6% YoY, signaling that brands see value and improvement in long-term ad performance, with ROAS up +5.1% YoY.

Instacart data indicates steady YoY growth, marked by a 6.2% increase in ad spend and +0.6% increase in CPC year-over-year. It’s clear that Instacart is capturing more interest from advertisers and slowly becoming more competitive as a result.

On Amazon, the Office Products (+56%) and Baby Products (+47%) categories reported the greatest YoY growth in average daily spend, whereas Health & Household, Beauty & Personal Care, and Pet Supplies posted the highest average daily spend in Q1 2025. The CPC for Pet Supplies experienced the highest year-over-year increase, rising by +23%, significantly outpacing other categories and indicating rapid growth in competition.