Dive Brief:

• Electronics retailer Best Buy has launched an in-house media company called Best Buy Ads with the goal of connecting brands and consumers, according to a press release.
• In addition to consumer electronic brands, Best Buy Ads will serve agencies and non-endemic brands, and dedicated teams and capabilities have been pulled together from across the company as part of the offering, a brand spokesperson told sister publication Marketing Dive.
• Best Buy interacts with its customers 3 billion times per year, per the release, a foundation that girds its data-driven ad offerings across various channels, including both owned and external. The offering comes as digital retail media advertising is forecast to continue growing in 2022 and also features a component that seeks to address inclusion and diversity in advertising — another industry-wide priority.

Dive Insight:

Best Buy's launch of an in-house media company sees the electronics retailer formalizing its ad offerings amid a surge in retail media advertising, which eMarketer forecasts will grow 31.4% to $41.37 billion in 2022. The company says it has 3 billion interactions with customers per year, giving it a wealth of data and insights that can be helpful in connecting brands to consumers at various times and places as they adapt to increasingly tech-driven lives, Keith Bryan, president of Best Buy Ads, media strategy and CRM, said in an emailed statement.

As part of the in-house media company launch, Best Buy Ads will also launch an advertising-focused Career Pathways program to help address inclusion and diversity in the advertising industry, which is 73% white, per labor market data cited by the company. The program looks to create opportunities and a pipeline for diverse candidates seeking advertising careers through internships, mentorship and paid experiences. The offering is part of Best Buy's larger five-year plan to address underrepresentation and tech inequities.

Best Buy Ads includes paid search, sponsored product listings on BestBuy.com, onsite and offsite display, onsite and offsite video, Facebook and Instagram, in-store video and proximity messaging to reach Best Buy app users, the Best Buy Ads website notes. The company has been investing in its long-standing ad business to help vendors reach its customers, CEO Corie Barry said on an earnings call in November 2021.

"Best Buy's relevance, customer relationship and first-party data have grown along with customer's technology needs and our ability to meet those needs. These are all great examples of value we can provide to our vendor partners that many other retailers cannot," Barry said.

Best Buy is the latest retailer to invest in a retail media offering, a space that has been growing for years but has picked up steam amid growing privacy concerns related to digital media. Lowe's in October unveiled a retail media network providing omnichannel advertising and worked with CitrusAd and Criteo on the initiative. Similarly, advertisers can use Criteo's platform to reach Best Buy website shoppers in the U.S. and Canada.

Best Buy Ads is also the latest example of companies getting into services outside of retail. Walmart, for example, announced last year it would offer its delivery platform to other businesses and has since added The Home Depot and Chico's to its client list.