Will Magazine Content Elevate Retail Media’s Opportunity?

Promising a “new retail media model,” Best Buy has partnered with CNET to integrate the tech review site’s recommendations across Best Buy channels to help shoppers explore new tech gadgets and help advertisers reach them.

Customers will see “curated content and unbiased editorial advice” from CNET’s writers across various Best Buy channels — BestBuy.com, Best Buy stores, and the Best Buy mobile app.

Founded in 1994 as Computer Network, CNET was among the first sites to review computers and mobile phones and is known for its reviews and ratings. CNET states, “If you can snap a picture with it, watch it, type on it or subscribe to it, chances are we’ve reviewed it.”

Many of Best Buy’s customers already do their own pre-purchase research at both Best Buy and CNET. Best Buy told Adweek that in a monthlong survey, during which CNET content was displayed nationally across Best Buy’s in-store TV walls, 86% of respondents said the content made them more confident in their purchases. The content also drove a 25% increase in purchase intent.

Jennie Weber, chief marketing officer at Best Buy, said in a statement, “This partnership allows us to integrate expert advice throughout every stage of the customer’s shopping journey, as well as leverage these insights to unlock new levels of personalization and engagement for our customers and partners.”

Advertisers on Best Buy’s retail media platform will be able to share ad spaces across Best Buy and CNET to reach a combined 50 million unique visitors per month. They’ll also be able to measure whether ads seen on either platform increase sales.

Lauren Newman, EVP of revenue at CNET, said, “With a focus on data-driven insights, we’re introducing a new standard to help brands expand audience reach and measure the impact across what was previously a fragmented digital media ecosystem.”

A number of publications, including CNET as well as Wired, Oprah Magazine, Buzzfeed, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, already create content for gift guides that include commission-driven, affiliated links.

However, the Best Buy/CNET deal represents the first time a publisher and retailer have combined data to support retail media. Retail media analyst Andrew Lipsman told Adweek, “The ability to understand whether somebody who’s exposed to ads on CNET then actually went and purchased through Best Buy — the ability to close the loop … that’s a totally new innovation.”

In a January newsletter, Lipsman predicted that retailers would begin partnering with publishers to leverage content to drive their retail media platforms. He said that the media partnerships could mimic the “flywheel” created by Amazon across its media, ads, and e-commerce businesses to maximize campaign effectiveness and lower customer acquisition costs.

Lipsman wrote, “It’s not hard to imagine the potential pairings: grocery chains + recipe sites, pharmacies + health info sites, home improvement retailers + how-to sites, department stores + fashion sites, and sporting goods retailers + sports news sites.”