Distribution of digital retail media ad spend in Latin America 2021-2026, by network

According to the forecasts, in 2025, Mercado Libre alone would concentrate approximately 54.5 percent of Latin America's digital retail media advertising spending. The e-commerce giant – also known in Portuguese as Mercado Livre – was forecast to see its share decrease within two years, albeit still holding over half of the market. Meanwhile, Amazon's operations in Brazil and Mexico would account for 17.2 percent of the Latin American online retail media ad expenditure. That share was projected to stand below 16 percent in 2026.

Retail media's Latin American boom

As in several markets across the globe, digital retail media ad revenues in Latin America have expanded exponentially throughout the 2020s. At the beginning of the decade, spending totaled little more than 500 million U.S. dollars; in 2024, it will surpass an estimated 1.8 billion dollars, with forecasts projecting an annual value close to 5.5 billion dollars by 2028.

Are online stores the new billboards?

While revenues skyrocketed, so did digital retail media's share in Latin America's online ad expenditure. What started as a modest 3.5 percent in 2021 is expected to exceed 10 percent in 2025 and 15 percent by 2028. The trend reflects changes in shopping habits: As consumers turn to retail websites, advertisers seize the opportunity to meet buyers where they are the most open to purchase.