H1 2026 Sponsored Products Benchmarks Report 

What You’ll Learn:

1. Sponsored product coverage continues to expand.

Coverage increased +10 YoY across retailers, as networks scale inventory and improve ad distribution.

2. High ad load is becoming the norm.

Macy’s now joins Amazon, Walmart, and The Home Depot with 20+ ads per
page on average, enabled by stronger relevance controls and more distributed ad placement.

3. Long-tail coverage has caught up.

Coverage across longer search queries is now broadly aligned with
single-word terms, reflecting more mature keyword monetization strategies.

4. Alternative ad formats still have significant room to grow.

In-grid placements dominate, and while most retailers have product carousels, brand carousels and video formats remain underutilized.

5. Retailers are diverging in ad distribution strategy.

Some are shifting toward distributed ad placement across the page, while
others continue to rely on fixed positions.

6. Advertiser ecosystems are expanding.

Growth in torso and tail advertisers points to more diversified advertiser participation, with more brands gaining visibility.

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Sponsored Products are scaling but not all retailers are scaling
the same way. See how leading networks are expanding coverage, diversifying advertiser participation, and evolving their
monetization strategies.

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Methodology

Between Q4 2025–Q1 2026 we analyzed publicly available desktop search results from 14 major U.S. retail media networks.

The dataset includes:

- 2,500+ keywords across grocery, pharmacy, beauty, fashion, electronics, office, and furniture

- 10K+ brands tracked

- Sponsored ad units: in-grid, carousel, brand carousel, and video 

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⚠️ Please note: This data is collected from publicly accessible retailer websites and may include a small margin of error. “Impressions” refers to brand appearances on search results pages.