SMG Launches Industry-First Commerce Media Network Maturity Index to Assess and Accelerate Growth

Comprehensive 126-point diagnostic framework provides the most holistic assessment of a commerce media network’s development to date.

SMG has announced the launch of its proprietary Commerce Media Network (CMN) Maturity Index, a comprehensive new framework designed to assess, benchmark, and accelerate the development of Retail and Commerce Media Networks (CMNs).

Drawing on 18 years of experience, operating and consulting for dozens of leading Commerce Media Networks globally, SMG has built a 126-data-point Index to define and measure success in commerce media.

Structured across three core dimensions

1. What a CMN offers
2. How it delivers that offer to advertisers
3. The Central organizational foundations that enable success.

The CMN Maturity Index provides the most detailed and forward-looking view of commerce media maturity currently available in the market.

Addressing a Critical Industry Need

Commerce media has grown at extraordinary speed. Networks have proliferated, investment has surged, and nearly every major retailer now operates, or is building, a media proposition.

As the market becomes increasingly saturated, scale alone is no longer a differentiator.

The next phase of growth will be defined by meaningful differentiation, supported by structural capability, strategic clarity, and long-term readiness. Yet many networks are asking: What does best-in-class look like? Where should we invest to build? Which capabilities will unlock long-term competitive advantage?

SMG built the Commerce Media Network Maturity Index to provide that clarity

The index enables:

• Benchmarking against industry standards and global best practices
• Identification of priority capability gaps
• Strategic roadmap and investment planning (against today, tomorrow, and 2030 vision)
• Clearer proposition and positioning development

SMG has already used the Index to evaluate a significant number of CMNs across the market

Our analysis reveals 5 key insights:

1. Commerce media is firmly in its growth phase
   With 58% of networks operating at a mid-market level and 28% demonstrating mature capabilities, the industry has moved decisively beyond experimentation. However, structural sophistication is still consolidating.
2. Maturity is defined by balance, not scale
   Mature CMNs show consistent performance across all Index dimensions, signalling that long-term advantage comes from integrated capability rather than isolated strengths.
3. The mid-market is the industry’s most competitive area
   Performance varies significantly within this tier, with many networks approaching mature sophistication. Notably, 40% of mid-market CMNs match or outperform mature players on many elements of the ‘How’ dimension, proving credible execution and advertiser engagement.
4. Media and channel breadth have been a major focus to date, developing in line with the network’s life stage
   Strength in the ‘What’ dimension, including a network’s capabilities, media channels, and data offerings, most strongly correlates with overall maturity, underscoring the importance of evolving to a more balanced and well-rounded differentiated proposition.
5. The next wave of differentiation will be driven by integration and intelligence
   While audience and first-party data are now foundational strengths across most networks, competitive edge will increasingly come from offsite orchestration, in-store automation, creative effectiveness and AI-enabled insight activation.

Next steps

SMG brings extensive experience operating and consulting on Commerce Media Networks across multiple markets, with decades of category expertise and billions in media value traded over its lifetime. The Index has been built on deep operational insight, global best practice benchmarking, and a forward-looking view of where commerce media will be in five years.

Networks interested in understanding their CMN maturity, benchmarking against the industry, or developing a future-ready roadmap are invited to engage with SMG for a confidential assessment. Contact SMG via the form below or at hello@smg.team.