SHOWCASE: A New Upfront for Advertising's Third Wave

NEW YORK, NY – April 15, 2026 – As the advertising world grapples with the explosive and often chaotic growth of retail media, Ascendant Network today announced a major new event designed to bring order to the burgeoning market. The organization is launching SHOWCASE, an inaugural upfront-style marketplace set for September 2, 2026, in New York City, aiming to become the definitive annual gathering for the commerce media industry.

The move signals a significant maturation point for what many now call the “third wave of advertising.” While traditional Upfronts served the television era and NewFronts catered to the rise of digital video, SHOWCASE is being purpose-built for a world where the line between content, advertising, and purchasing has all but disappeared.

“For over a decade, Ascendant Network has been the home for commerce, media, and marketing leaders who are responsible for driving transformation in their organizations,” said Susan MacDermid, Founder and CEO at Ascendant Network, in a press release. “With SHOWCASE, we are taking our community-first model and applying it to the industry’s most critical growth engine. This is where retail and commerce media build brands through relevance, trust, and context, all while delivering the accountability modern marketers demand.”

The New Center of Gravity for Ad Dollars

The creation of a dedicated, high-profile upfront for commerce media is a direct response to a seismic shift in advertising budgets. Global retail media ad spending reached an estimated $140 billion in 2024 and continues to grow at a blistering pace, with projections showing it could command a quarter of all digital ad spending by 2028. This growth is dramatically outpacing nearly every other advertising category.

The fuel for this explosion is the unique power of retail media networks (RMNs)—advertising platforms run by retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger. In an era defined by the decline of third-party cookies, these retailers possess a treasure trove of first-party data on consumer purchasing habits. This allows brands to target shoppers with unprecedented precision and, crucially, to measure the direct impact of an ad on a sale—a concept known as “closed-loop attribution.”

This shift from chasing impressions to driving tangible outcomes is at the heart of the SHOWCASE concept. The event promises to move discussions beyond clicks and views to focus on deep-funnel data, omnichannel activation, and full-funnel measurement, reflecting the demands of brands for greater accountability and return on their investment.

Taming a Fragmented and Complex Ecosystem

Despite its immense potential, the retail media landscape has become notoriously complex and fragmented. Brands and agencies face a dizzying array of nearly 80 major RMNs, each with its own unique platform, measurement standards, and operational requirements. This “wild west” environment creates significant inefficiencies and makes it difficult for advertisers to execute and compare campaigns across different retailers.

SHOWCASE is positioned as the industry’s much-needed solution to this fragmentation. The event is designed to be a “one-stop marketplace” where leading retail and commerce media networks can present their latest capabilities and strategic partnerships in a single, efficient forum. A key feature will be “The Transactional Floor,” a marketplace where agencies and brand leaders can get a holistic view of the ecosystem and engage in high-level commercial dialogue.

“Retail media has reached an inflection point—and moments like this signal what comes next,” noted Mandy Adams, Sr. Director at Orange Apron Media, in the announcement. “This is about more than showcasing capabilities—it’s about setting a new standard for driving performance and delivering measurable impact.”

The event’s timing in early September is also highly strategic, aligning with the critical planning window for the 2027 fiscal year. This allows brands and agencies to make informed decisions and allocate budgets as they navigate the increasingly complex ecosystem.

A Curated Marketplace for Commerce's Elite

Underscoring its ambition to be more than just another trade show, Ascendant Network is making SHOWCASE an exclusive event with registration by invitation and application only. This strategy leverages the organization’s established model of building influential communities of senior executives, as seen in its RMN Ascendant Boot Camps and Digital Ascendant programs.

The focus is on gathering an elite group of decision-makers—including CMOs, brand leaders, media buyers, and shopper marketing teams—to foster high-level strategic discussions rather than simple sales pitches. By curating the audience, Ascendant aims to create a forum where the future standards and practices of the commerce media industry can be debated and shaped by its most influential players.

This community-first approach is intended to build a foundation of trust and collaboration in a competitive market. As the industry continues to evolve, with indirect ad sales through agencies and platforms overtaking direct sales, the need for a centralized, trusted marketplace for strategic dialogue becomes paramount. SHOWCASE is a bold bet that by bringing the right people together at the right time, it can provide the essential platform that helps steer the future of how brands connect with consumers in a commerce-driven world.