Kroger expands retail media network to connected TV, video

The Kroger Co. is enabling advertisers to reach customers via two new digital platforms.

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), a division of Kroger focused on connecting brand partners with shoppers and supported by its 84.51° data analytics subsidiary, is expanding its private programmatic marketplace to include video and connected TV (CTV) inventory.

This means advertisers can now use the retailer’s sales data to reach relevant households through CTV and video with digital advertising inventory suppliers including Magnite, OpenX, PubMatic, and Xandr.

With the new programmatic capabilities, advertisers will have self-service access to:

• Audience intelligence through retail sales data to reach relevant CTV and video households.
• Customizable premium CTV and video inventory in a centralized private marketplace.
• Campaign measurement against attributable retail sales and household penetration.

This expansion into video and CTV builds on the Kroger Private Marketplace, which KPM launched in 2021. The Kroger Private Marketplace is a self-service platform for advertising agencies and brands which uses data analytics to deliver relevant advertising intended to benefit both brands and customers.

Kroger Precision Marketing was created in 2017 in an effort to apply data science to better connect CPG brands with relevant households. The retail media network sells self-service advertising on Kroger digital properties, managed-service advertising through publisher collaborations, and programmatic advertising through its private marketplace.

[Read more: Kroger Precision Marketing gives shoppers ads they want]

“Streaming is the number-one way people consume TV today,” said Cara Pratt, Senior Vice President, Kroger Precision Marketing. “That means the majority of TV viewing hours can now be optimized in the programmatic environment. Our retail data precisely reaches households – such as lapsed or infrequent brand buyers – and then matches advertising exposure to store sales to measure brand impact.” The capability recently went live with CPG brands and agencies.

KPM features nearly 2,000 participating brands, with Pratt leading a team of data scientists using 45 machine-learning models tapping purchase data from 60 million households. KPM has delivered an average 25%-30% household penetration lift and 35%-40% sales lift on campaigns, according to Kroger analysis.

In a recent exclusive interview with Chain Store Age, Pratt described how Kroger’s 84.51° subsidiary launched KPM with straightforward goals in mind.

[CSA Exclusive: Kroger Precision Marketing connects brands to shoppers]

“We simply wanted to focus on making CPG advertisements more effective,” she said. “KPM is designed to remove the opaqueness to understand the performative nature of ad spend. Customers drive change, and standards for media change accordingly.”

Leveraging KPM, Pratt said Kroger enables its CPG partners to target customers both in its brick-and-mortar stores and online properties, as well as across major content platforms.

“KPM makes CPG ads more efficient,” stated Pratt. “It inherently makes shopping easier for the customer. Where does a consumer spend time? KPM will support media in those channels and will provide advertisers a share of those touchpoints.”