Beyond Meta and Google: 9 Ad Networks Stealing the Spotlight (and Your ROAS)

Retail Media Rush: Turn High-Intent Shoppers into Sales on Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart

Retail media is where shoppers arrive with wallets out and intent dialed to eleven. Platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart are no longer simple placement options; they are full ad stacks that blend search intent with first party grocery and purchase signals. Treat each as a mini ad network: Amazon excels at discovery and repeat purchases, Walmart wins on assortment and price-sensitive audiences, and Instacart captures immediate buying behavior in the grocery aisle.

Start with the SKU, not the banner. Prioritize products that can move inventory and sustain profit after media spend. Use Sponsored Products for direct conversion, Sponsored Brands for consideration lifts, and DSP buys to reach shoppers before they search. Leverage rich first party signals—purchase recency, basket composition, and frequency—to create audience tiers and tailor bids by margin and lifetime value. Creative should be product-first: clear value, pack size, and a bold price cue.

Measure differently: on-site conversions matter, but so do uplift and repeat rate. Run holdout tests to understand causal ROAS and track sales velocity and ACoS alongside broader brand lift. Combine short-term metrics with replenishment cycles to avoid over-optimizing for one-off spikes. Automate bid rules for inventory, and set weekly cadence for creative and keyword pruning.

Quick playbook to win: identify 10 high-intent SKUs and map them to the right ad type; allocate a test budget split between search-driven sponsored ads and audience-driven DSP; tie campaigns to margin-aware goals and a 30–90 day replenishment window. Do this and retail media becomes less of a bolt-on and more of a predictable growth channel for ROAS.

Be the Thumb-Stopper: TikTok Ads for Scale, Spark, and Surprisingly Low CPMs

TikTok's auction is a weirdly friendly place right now: CPMs can be shockingly low, but only if your creative stops thumbs. Think less polished commercial and more magnetic moment — the kind of raw clip that makes someone rewind. Spark Ads are the secret weapon: boost creator content to keep the social proof intact, snag organic momentum, and lower your effective CPM because engagement drives cheaper delivery. Don't overproduce; A/B soundtracks instead.

Creative testing is the traffic controller here. Run 6–8 short variants with different hooks, beats, and captions; measure 3 metrics (watch time, CTR, installs) and kill based on signal, not gut. Start broad — TikTok rewards wide pools — then layer in custom audiences. Native sound, captions, and early narrative flip (first 1–2 seconds) matter more than a glossy studio spot. Use analytics to fold winners into campaign budget quickly.

When you scale, be surgical: increase budgets incrementally (20–30% every 48–72 hours), duplicate top ad sets to preserve learning, and rotate fresh assets before frequency rises. Bid strategies matter — test lowest cost for volume, then target cost once you have conversion consistency. Geo-split and daypart lightly to avoid global algorithm shocks and watch for creative fatigue like it's a ticking timer. Leverage creative-level reporting to retire poor performers fast.

Protect ROAS with measurement hygiene: deploy the TikTok pixel, add server-side events, and compare multiple attribution windows. Use 1–3% lookalikes from high-value converters and retarget recent engagers with Spark or in-feed creatives. Run short test windows (3–7 days), track incrementality, and then double down on winning combos. The fastest path to scale here is simple: test like a lab, promote creator posts for trust, and let the algorithm comp your CPM for growth.

Native That Nabs Attention: Taboola and Outbrain Without the Clickbait

Native networks like Taboola and Outbrain are not glorified popups; they are appetite-driven billboards inside editorial feeds. Because they mimic editorial formats, they deliver attention at scale without flashing banners. The trick is to treat them like content channels, not ad slots: invest in value-led headings, preview text that promises help, and creatives that belong in the reader flow. Marketers who frame their offers as help see better engagement and stronger conversion intent.

Start with hypothesis-driven creative: test one idea that teaches, one that teases benefit, and one that builds trust. Use context targeting and keyword signals to seed feeds where your audience already reads. Short, benefit-led headlines and native images that show results outperform mystery hooks. Keep landing pages native friendly — a content-first layout, clear CTA, and a measurable conversion path. Also use sequential creative to tell a small story across impressions.

Measure the right things: focus on cost per action and lifetime value, not just CTR. Run rapid A/Bs on headlines and thumbnails, then push winners to prospecting and retargeting pools. Use first-click tagging to attribute content-assisted conversions and combine with pixel data to refine audience segments. Brand safety and editorial alignment will protect quality traffic and your ROAS. Consider frequency caps to avoid ad fatigue and mix in social proof to lift conversions.

Once you have proof points, scale deliberately: replicate winners with incremental budget, lock creatives behind short refresh cycles, and layer in audience expansion. If you need fast social proof to kickstart native campaigns, consider a trusted provider like buy facebook views fast to accelerate signal and speed optimization. Done right, Taboola and Outbrain become ROAS machines, not clickbait lotteries.

B2B, But Not Boring: LinkedIn Targeting That Fills Pipelines Fast

LinkedIn is where spreadsheets meet swagger: precise, professional, and often overlooked for actual pipeline growth. Instead of chasing impressions, zero in on the humans who sign the checks. Build audiences by company size + seniority + specific skills, then layer in intent signals like recent funding or hiring sprees. That combo gives you a tiny, hungry audience that converts — not a stadium that claps.

Start with Account-based targeting and matched audiences from your CRM. Upload a 1st-party list, create lookalikes, and exclude people who already convert or are inactive. Swap job titles for job function and seniority to catch decision teams, not just job boards. Test a tight hypothesis per ad set so you know whether it was the audience or the creative that moved leads.

Creative should be short, helpful, and credibility-forward: one-sentence pain, one social proof line, one clear CTA. Mix static single-image ads with short testimonial video and Conversation Ads that invite replies. Optimize for lead gen forms when you want volume and for landing pages when you need qualification. For reach experiments and rapid validation, consider complementary channels — for a quick boost in social proof and reach try get free twitter followers, likes and views to show momentum while your LinkedIn funnel warms up.

Measure with a pipeline mindset: track cost per SQL and time-to-meeting, not just CTR. Run weekly creative swaps, keep audiences fresh, and automate follow-up with sales cadences that reference the ad. Do these, and LinkedIn goes from B2B backdrop to a predictable lead machine that actually fills the pipeline.

Cut the Cord, Keep the Targeting: CTV/OTT Alternatives That Perform

Streaming audiences don't mean you have to give up the precision of search and social. The smartest CTV/OTT partners are the ones that treat households like first-party users: deterministic IDs, cross-screen stitching, and frequency controls that stop AdFatigue before it ruins your ROAS. Shift budget into networks and DSPs that offer granular targeting (household, zip, income proxy) and transparent CPM-to-conversion reporting—you'll see waste fall faster than cable boxes in a college dorm.

Look beyond the biggest platforms to supply-side and programmatic players that specialize in streaming inventory. Platforms like The Trade Desk, Roku Direct Ads, Samsung Ads, Magnite/FreeWheel, and specialty AVOD publishers let you buy by audience segment rather than blindly by content. Prioritize partners that support server-to-server measurement, audience match, and dayparting so you can bid hard when your buyers are actually watching.

Creative and measurement are the secret sauce. Test 6- and 15-second cutdowns, add a 1-second brand cue, and include a clear mobile-first CTA because most OTT sessions have a companion device in hand. Instrument campaigns with pixelless attribution, holdout groups for incrementality, and viewability benchmarks—then tune toward cost-per-action, not cost-per-impression.

Action plan: run two-week pilots with capped budgets, measure incremental lift, and scale winners while rotating creative every 10–14 days. Treat CTV like performance media, not TV sponsorship: set CPA targets, enforce frequency capping, and use household lookalikes to widen reach without blowing your ROAS. In short, cut the cord—keep the targeting—and let smarter OTT partners shave the fat from your funnel.