The advertising world is obsessed with capturing fleeting consumer attention across a multitude of distraction-laden screens. But one environment, more than most, boasts undivided focus.
Unlike passive television viewing or social media scrolling, which are often accompanied by a second screen, gaming demands a player’s full concentration.
This is the opportunity for retail media, a market which Forrester projects will grow to $312 billion globally by 2030, according to Amie Owen, chief commerce officer, Omnicom Media.
Beyond the marketing funnel
“We want to be where our consumer is, where our audience is, and so it makes sense that we should actually be looking into this channel to make sure that we’re not only driving attention for our brands, but also driving the sale,” she said in this video interview with Beet.TV.
“I would say gaming can apply to every single piece of the funnel depending on what you’re talking about, but I’ll call it the audience journey instead of the funnel,” she added. “Because you could build awareness, you could actually drive the consideration and engagement and then actually at the end of the day, you could drive a sale.”
The effectiveness of the channel, she argued, stems from its ability to command singular focus. “They’re staring at a screen for several hours at a time. Gaming is also different than streaming or watching TV or whatever it may be because you’re not really on a second screen, you’re watching that one screen,” Owen said.
Coining contextual commerce
Owen believes the next evolution in gaming-driven retail media will be a return to a foundational marketing principle: context. As brands seek to connect with consumers authentically, simply reaching the right audience is no longer enough; the message and the product must also feel native to the environment.
“I want to coin ‘contextual commerce’, because being at the right place at the right time is interesting, but then also embedding what you’re trying to do in an environment at the right place at the right time is honestly contextual,” Owen said. This marks a not just audience-based targeting but a more holistic view that considers the user’s immediate experience.
This focus on relevance could help close the gap between consumer time spent in gaming and the advertising dollars allocated to it. While U.S. game advertising revenue is growing, its share of total digital ad spending is projected to decline by 2029, suggesting a significant untapped opportunity for brands that get the context right.
“Gaming will just be one of them of just any sort of contextual placements where products make sense within the games that people are playing,” Owen said. “So then their interest peaks and hopefully drive a sale.”
You’re watching “Where Play Meets Purchase: Gaming as the Next Frontier of Retail Media, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at CES 2026, presented by Best Buy Ads” For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
