• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 13, 2023

Sam’s Club has an ambitious video ads program that launched Tuesday targeting members supported, in part, by The Trade Desk across connected television (CTV) networks.

The program also includes interactive and sponsored videos for search, and interactive product advertisements on the retailer’s website and in its mobile app. 

Research shows 66% of consumers prefer watching a video to learn about an item because it presents a more engaging experience.

The offerings, announced Tuesday, use first-party member data to unlock sophisticated targeting.

The technology has the ability to reach members new to the brand, as well as those who have lapsed in their membership. The idea is to drive awareness for new item launches through video experiences. 

Those experiences include CTV ads. If members watch content on a streaming device, they will see relevant Member Access Platform (MAP) CTV advertisements through a partnership with The Trade Desk.

Analysts at Insider Intelligence believe retail media partnerships are the future of TV. U.S. retail media CTV ad spend is estimated to reach $813 million this year, but will grow by nearly seven times to $5.63 billion by the end of 2027, according to the forecast.

Sam's Club parent company Walmart, for example, works with NBCUniversal in a retail media partnership.

CTV ad spending is projected to surpass $30 billion in the U.S. next year, making it one of the fastest-growing advertising formats. It influences user behavior, and enables consumers to see how products and services work. 

Interactive videos enable Sam’s Club members to take a hands-on approach to explore how something works, such as key features, dimensions and more. The videos are compliant with Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) tagging standards to ensure they support video delivery, tracking and measurement.

Then there are Sponsored videos that focus on members who search for favorite items in the app. MAP serves them Sponsored Product Ads (SPA) to drive awareness by visually telling a brand and item’s story on search results pages.

Earlier this year, the retailer provided advertisers with the ability to see what revenue is generated by which ads to improve on performance data and measure return on ad spend (ROAS) for campaigns that connect search and sponsored product ads to offline sales across the open web.