In this episode of TheMadTech Podcast, JJ Eastwood, managing partner, retail media, Willow & Jo Consulting, joins ExchangeWire's Grainne Reid (head of marketing) and John Still (head of content) to discuss the latest in media, marketing, and commerce.

They discuss the growth of Amazon's retail media revenue, Nectar and OMG's expanded retail media partnership, and the near-doubling of referral traffic from ChatGPT to publishers.

Amazon retail media ad revenue to exceed $60bn this year (Internet Retailing) 

According to WARC, Amazon achieved +17.7% ad growth in Q1 2025, outpacing the +16% expansion forecast for the global retail media market. WARC’s latest media forecast predicts Amazon to earn USD$60.6bn (£44.86bn) in retail media ad revenue in 2025, not including spend with Amazon-owned properties such as Prime Video and Twitch. The figure is expected to climb to USD$69.7bn (£51.59bn) in 2026. 

Nectar360 and OMG extend retail media partnership (The Media Leader)

Nectar360 has expanded its partnership with Omnicom Media Group UK to collaborate on retail media initiatives. The partnership provides OMG with enhanced access to Nectar360’s insight, enabling their clients to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of retail media on their business objectives.

ChatGPT referral traffic to publishers’ sites has nearly doubled this year (Digiday)

According to Similarweb data shared with Digiday, 83% of the traffic OpenAI’s generative AI platforms sent to external websites went to news and media sites in April, up from 64% in January. Referral traffic from ChatGPT is also continuing to grow. ChatGPT sent 243.8 million visits to 250 news and media websites in April 2025, up 98% from 123.2 million visits this January.