In 2025, Data Infrastructure Will Be the Cornerstore of Marketing Success

Retail media networks (RMNs), generative AI, and increasingly stringent consumer privacy protections — oh my! Thankfully, well-governed data can improve strategies related to all three of these trends, according to Greg Bunk, MetaRouter’s Head of Product.

It’s been a whirlwind year for digital marketers. Just think: At the beginning of 2024 we were all gearing up for Chrome’s long-awaited third-party cookie deprecation. Now, 2025 is shaping up to be equally “exciting,” with marketers increasingly investing in retail media networks (RMNs) and AI capabilities to extend their marketing campaigns. (And, yes, third-party cookies are sticking around for the foreseeable future.)

Amongst all this noise, I predict one dominant trend: Having a robust data foundation will emerge as absolutely paramount for marketing success.

‍Here’s why this shift is inevitable — and so very necessary.

Data Drives AI Success and Solves Attribution Issues

More than half of MarTech investments fail. Allow that sad reality to sink in. But we know that data-driven approaches to marketing drive a 15-20% increase in ROI. Offsetting the risks and driving ROI is great, but what does a “data driven approach” actually mean? To me it doesn’t mean making sure your strategy uses data, it means the strategy is the data. 

However, there are many roadblocks to implementing strong data foundations, quality and governance, and it often feels complex and time consuming to invest there. For starters, marketing departments are under immense pressure to demonstrate ROI immediately — not in a few months' time. Consequently, many marketers are rushing to adopt AI and other innovative technologies as a band-aid solution without properly preparing their data infrastructure first. Case in point: 98% of leaders say they’re facing pressure to adopt AI right now, yet only 15% feel they’re ready to do so. These AI solutions aren’t cheap, yet so many businesses are falling into the “garbage in, garbage out” trap. It may not be sexy, but cleaning up the garbage is money far better spent, and you want to do it sooner than later.

Next year, marketing leaders will face a reckoning. They’ll realize that investing in AI or other solutions without proper data quality enforcement, scalable integrations, and aggregation strategy is useless.

Take the growth of AI-driven data enrichment, for example. While AI promises hyper-personalized experiences, the results hinge on the quality and governance of underlying behavioral data and user sessions that are training the model. Incomplete, inaccurate and unstructured data will at best be unusable, and at worst completely mislead AI tools into unprofitable and frustrating suggestions.

Platforms like MetaRouter are already proving that real-time enrichment can drive more precise marketing — but only when it operates on compliant, quality, consistent data. Without governance ensuring accuracy and privacy, even the smartest AI tools fall flat or be more risk than they are worth.

We can also understand the growing importance of data governance in the context of RMNs, which have attracted considerable buzz recently. In 2024, RMNs were the fastest-growing ad channel. The overall retail media market is expected to eclipse $60 billion by next year.

Despite this impressive growth, we’re seeing enterprises struggle to provide accurate reporting and measurement to their brands and even paint a picture of RMN performance for themselves. Fragmented data ecosystems and lack of end-to-end identity make it difficult to attribute success to any one campaign or brand, let alone stand up a scalable ecosystem that makes that measurement available to thousands of brands in a secure way. In other words, without a powerful data integration framework, it’s difficult to determine whether your RMNs are actually driving value for your brands and your enterprise. Considering that 58% of U.S. marketers work with more than five RMNs, this lack of attribution and easily accessible measurement is highly problematic for retailers aiming to grow their networks. 

Cross-platform and brand specific attribution and performance reporting will be a major focus next year across RMNs. Top marketers will identify solutions that enable data aggregation across multiple RMNs, providing a unified, real-time view of performance. And RMNs themselves will look for ways to reduce friction in collecting, filtering, and delivering ad performance data to their brands. We’ve already witnessed an uptick in interest in these solutions among our customer base, as more operations rely on MetaRouter to optimize their RMN investments and demonstrate ROI to their leadership teams.

Privacy and Compliance Concerns Necessitate Strong Data Governance

As we advance into 2025, all eyes are on consumer privacy. Emerging frameworks like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) are likely to reshape how businesses collect and use customer data in the U.S. next year. While it may take time for specific laws to pass — and the names of specific bills are likely to change — one fact is certain: More stringent consumer data protections are coming soon.

In fact, Forrester estimates that the number of legal investigations that involve improper data governance and generative AI will rise by 21% over the next 12 months. Businesses without robust third-party risk management strategies are poised to suffer the most.

Most businesses have already adapted to industry-standard laws like the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In 2025, we’re likely to see these laws expand, with enforcement agencies taking harsher action against non-compliant organizations. For reference, 15 of the highest 20 GDPR fines have been ordered in the last four years alone. Some experts predict that non-compliant companies could face fines of up to 4% of their global revenue next year. In other words, the stakes have never been higher.

This isn’t just a compliance issue — it’s a trust issue. Consumers are more aware than ever of how their data is handled, and businesses that fail to prioritize privacy risk losing customer loyalty. According to Salesforce, 72% of consumers trust companies less than they did just one year ago. Six in ten customers say trust has never been more important to them, with concerns about AI raising further red flags about data privacy.

Data governance serves as the backbone for navigating these complexities. By ensuring that consumer data is collected compliantly and enforcing all consent preferences at the moment of collection, organizations can remain compliant without sacrificing operational efficiency. To do that, they will need to bolster collaboration between privacy and marketing leaders, inviting chief privacy officers (CPOs) to the table to discuss the importance of compliance-first marketing pipelines. Additionally, they’ll need to consider options like MetaRouter to streamline the process of data collection and syndication.

Back to Basics

It’s an exciting time to be a marketer, with innovative applications of AI and machine learning (ML) enabling creativity and improving efficiency. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Unfortunately, in the race to adopt cutting-edge tools, many organizations have overlooked the importance of a solid data foundation. But no longer.

Next year will mark a renewed investment in data foundation basics. Particularly we expect investments that reduce rework when onboarding new use-cases, RMNs, AI models and tooling, etc. 

Soon, businesses will shift focus left, away from chasing the newest tools downstream, to ensuring their data upstream is accurate, compliant and properly integrated - so the tools they already have downstream operate at peak performance. This is great news for both marketers and consumers. The former will see improved attribution outcomes, reporting clarity and ROI, while the latter will enjoy greater data privacy protections while interacting with their favorite companies. And that’s a win-win scenario.
From my perspective, the key to success in 2025 lies in nailing the fundamentals. Once that foundation is solid, the possibilities are endless. I’m excited to see how the year unfolds and how we can continue to help businesses make the most of their customer data.

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