Macy’s Taps Amazon to Power Retail Media

Plus: Snap’s tCPA and playable ads target efficient app growth

Author

Zihan Lyu
September 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

ClickZ Digital Ad Platform News

Here's what's happening this week in the world of digital advertising platforms:
- Macy’s opens retail media buying via Amazon Ads.
- Snap rolls out tCPA, playable ads for apps.
- Amazon consolidates Prime Video under Ads and Sports.

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📌WEEKLY MUST-KNOWS

Macy’s Media Network will pilot Amazon Retail Ads Service in early Q4, letting advertisers manage Macy’s sponsored products via the Amazon Ads console and APIs with Pacvue support. This centralizes retail media buying and measurement while using Amazon’s targeting on Macy’s owned surfaces, just as holiday spend ramps. Advertisers gain workflow efficiency and real-time signals, while Macy’s retains control through dedicated systems and access controls.

Snap introduced an ad suite for app marketers featuring AI-powered target CPA bidding, Sponsored Snaps in the chat inbox, App End Cards, and playable ads. Early results indicate an 18% lift in unique converters and over 25% lift in app installs, while reducing manual bid updates. App developers and performance teams get more stable CAC and higher-intent engagement on newer Snap surfaces.

Amazon put Prime Video under VP Jay Marine, who also leads Sports and Advertising, while Albert Cheng moves to a new role guiding AI investments and tooling. The shift aims for faster decisions and deeper AI integration in content creation and ad-supported streaming. Expect closer alignment across live sports, ads, and content workflows that could accelerate AVOD innovation and shoppable formats.

TikTok will roll out 1-minute voice notes and the ability to send up to nine images or videos in DMs and group chats, with guardrails on who can message and how media is initiated. The upgrade moves TikTok closer to full-fledged messaging, boosting retention and enabling new creator and brand community touchpoints. Marketers get more private engagement surfaces to drive loyalty and conversion.

⚡QUICK READS

Instagram Adds Pro Tools For High-Volume DMs: Instagram rolled out multi-select filters, custom shortcuts, and new inbox folders to help creators and businesses triage messages faster and improve social CRM response times. (More)

6 AI Marketing Myths That Are Slowing You Down & Draining Your Budgets: On-demand webinar exposes “set it and forget it” pitfalls, showing marketers how better prompts and data integration can turn AI into a true performance partner. (More)

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