In a major evolution of retail media on the open internet, Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced a significantly expanded partnership with The Trade Desk, enabling self-serve programmatic access to Instacart’s retail data and real-time sales signals via The Trade Desk’s Kokai platform.
This marks a milestone for the retail media industry, as Instacart becomes the first U.S. retail media network to integrate grocery selection data with The Trade Desk for full-funnel campaign activation and measurement — all without insertion orders.
Self-Serve Retail Audiences, Now in Real Time
Advertisers have long benefited from Instacart’s purchase-based audiences in The Trade Desk. Now, approved brands and agencies can:
- Build custom Instacart audiences based on product-specific attributes
- Insert new audiences into live campaigns mid-flight
- Access curated segments across CPG verticals (snacks, alcohol, personal care, beverages, etc.)
- Maintain privacy compliance, brand safety, and frequency controls inherent to the Kokai platform
“We’re making it easier for advertisers to integrate valuable Instacart purchase signals into their media buys,” said Ali Miller, VP of Ads Product at Instacart. “Now, audience creation and closed-loop measurement are truly seamless — helping brands drive results connected to actual sales, faster.”
Closed-Loop Measurement Without the Complexity
The integration brings real-time sales attribution from Instacart directly into The Trade Desk, empowering brands to:
- View attributed sales and ROAS across omnichannel campaigns
- Optimize offsite media in-flight based on downstream performance
- Align targeting with actual consumer behavior from over 1,800 retailer partners
“Instacart is setting the standard for how retail media data can be activated at scale,” said Jeff Daniel, GM of Retail Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk. “This is a powerful example of how the open internet can unlock smarter, more precise advertising.”
Early Success Stories: Danone, Flywheel, and More
Early testing of the integration has yielded strong results for CPG brands and agencies:
- Flywheel (Omnicom) praised the Conversion API for answering key performance questions: “We now know if offsite media is working—and how to make it work harder,” said Drew Habeck, SVP, Media at Flywheel.
- Danone used the integration to optimize its Silk ‘Feel Planty Good’ campaign in real time: “Instacart’s functionality made it easier to activate retail-powered audiences offsite and measure true impact,” noted Jennifer Madison, Sr. Manager of Plant-Based Media at Danone.
A New Chapter in Retail Media Expansion
This latest collaboration builds on Instacart’s broader omnichannel media strategy, which already spans:
- Instacart Marketplace and 220+ grocery e-commerce sites
- In-store connected tech like Caper Carts
- Off-platform partnerships with Google, Meta, Roku, NBCUniversal, and now, The Trade Desk
With 7,000+ active brands and a rapidly growing tech ecosystem, Instacart continues to bridge the gap between intent-rich grocery shoppers and full-funnel media buying platforms.
“This is about cutting through retail fragmentation,” said Miller. “We’re meeting brands where they already buy media — and bringing consistent, high-intent targeting to the open internet.”
Takeaway: Retail Media’s Open Internet Future Is Here
With this expanded partnership, Instacart and The Trade Desk are unlocking full-service retail media at scale — combining precision targeting, programmatic agility, and closed-loop performance into a unified, self-serve ecosystem. For CPG marketers, it’s a blueprint for smarter, faster, and more accountable advertising.
