Retail stores have quietly become advertising superpowers. We explore the 'third wave' of digital advertising—powered by the one thing that actually matters to advertisers: your purchase history. Walmart, Target, and Amazon aren't just selling you groceries; they're building a $165 billion ad empire on what's in your cart.

00:00 - Introduction and The Problem with Current Ads

01:45 - Wave 1: Search Advertising (Google's Intent Revolution)

03:20 - Wave 2: Social Advertising (Know Your Identity)

05:00 - Wave 3: Retail Media (Know What They Actually Bought)

07:30 - The Numbers: $60B in 2025, $71B Projected for 2026

10:15 - How Retail Media Actually Works Across Platforms

13:00 - Amazon, Walmart, Target: Building Media Companies Inside Stores

15:30 - Why This Matters and What's Coming Next

This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and production. Built with Claude, Piper TTS, and automated pipeline tooling.