Stop Wasting Budget 9 Ad Networks Beyond Meta and Google That Actually Scale

Retail media rush: Walmart Connect, Amazon DSP, and Instacart Ads where high intent hides

Retail media isn't just banner ads slapped on product pages; it's a grocery aisle of micro-moments where shoppers decide to buy. Walmart Connect, Amazon DSP, Instacart Ads and their peers serve ads to people who are already closer to checkout than on Facebook or Google. That proximity makes them an easy place to scale without burning impressions, and because these placements live where purchases happen, CPMs can deliver better cost-per-acquisition when you optimize correctly.

High intent hides in signals: search within the marketplace, view-throughs from product detail pages, add-to-cart events, repeat-purchase patterns, and loyalty program behaviors. Treat these like first-party intent streams — target at SKU or category level, bid up for basket-level audiences, test promo creative that puts price, ratings and stock in the bucket, and time bids for mealtime and weekend shop peaks to catch real shoppers in the act.

Measurement needs to match the environment. Don't obsess over click ROAS alone; run small lift tests, use holdout audiences, stitch purchase receipts to creative variants, and measure incremental sales over a sensible window. Clean your feed so imagery, price, and GTINs match—platform match rates are currency. If you still want reach experiments, try cross-channel tactics and offload awareness to complementary channels like YouTube: buy YouTube boosting service. Tie DSP click IDs to your backend to close the loop on lifetime value.

Start with a sliver of budget and scale like an air fryer—incrementally and predictably. Shift dollars from low-intent slop to retail placements where every impression can map back to a cart. You don't need to abandon big platforms entirely; you just need to stop letting them hoover your entire budget while retail media quietly converts the shoppers who actually wanted to buy.

B2B sniper shots on LinkedIn: Precision targeting minus the sticker shock

LinkedIn used to be the playground for expense reports, not performance marketers — that myth is dead. Treat the platform like a sniper rifle, not a shotgun: build tiny, high‑intent audiences (100–2,000 people) with custom company lists, job titles and matched contacts, feed them a tight creative sequence. Short, specific offers and profiling beat broad awareness plays when the goal is pipeline, not vanity metrics.

To stop bleeding budget, prioritize audience hygiene and ruthless exclusion. Remove recruiters, junior staff, and agencies from B2B buys, retarget only visitors who engaged with product pages or content, and layer seniority with company revenue bands. Use Lead Gen Forms to lower friction, test automated bidding to capture the cheapest conversions, and pause expensive segments fast — micro tests expose what truly scales before you pour budget.

Scaling is about repeatability rather than wishful thinking. Run pilots across five account lists, track conversion rates into CRM, then build lookalikes from real closers and qualified leads. Double down with incremental lifts, rotate creative weekly to avoid ad fatigue, and map ad sequences to sales stages so every impression either qualifies or moves prospects closer to a deal.

Target: 100–2,000 precision audiences by role and company. Creative: punchy problem/solution opens with a one action next step (demo, micro survey). Bidding: begin with automated bids; switch to manual when CPA signals are stable. Scale: clone winning sets, expand via lookalikes, and maintain tight exclusion lists. Smart micro bets on LinkedIn deliver pipeline without the sticker shock.

Discovery engines: Taboola and Outbrain for top-of-funnel that actually converts

When your top‑of‑funnel feels like shouting into a void, native discovery engines act like a smarter megaphone. Taboola and Outbrain plug your content into recommendation widgets on high‑traffic publishers, catching users in a browsing mindset rather than an ad‑scrolling trance. That shift often delivers warmer clicks—people who actually keep moving down the funnel instead of padding vanity metrics.

Treat these platforms like content distribution, not banner networks: lead with curiosity, not claims. Test 5–7 headline variations and tight thumbnails, favoring intrigue over jargon, and use short descriptive copy that promises value. Start with a conservative CPA target, run landing page A/Bs alongside creative tests, then scale winners by increasing budget in steps instead of blasting spend all at once.

Measurement is everything. UTM‑tag every link and compare assisted conversions, view‑throughs and post‑click events—native traffic can convert more slowly but with higher lifetime value. Feed conversion signals back into the platforms for smarter bidding and regularly block low‑performing placements from placement reports. If a publisher brings volume with zero engagement, blacklist it and reallocate to proven sources.

In practice: craft curiosity‑first creative, obsess over downstream metrics, and scale surgically. Three quick actions to start: 1) run three distinct creatives to learn fast, 2) match landing pages to the content premise, 3) feed conversion data for automated bid optimization. Do that and discovery engines stop feeling experimental and start driving predictable growth.

CTV on a budget: Roku, Hulu, and programmatic TV that will not drain ROAS

Connected TV can feel like premium TV without the premium invoice when you lean into platforms built for performance. Roku and Hulu offer precise buys and audience signals, and programmatic OTT lets you test small audiences across supply partners. The trick is surgical targeting, not broadcast bravado.

Start with short, scannable creative built for the living room: 6 to 15 second cuts, bold visual hooks in the first 3 seconds, and captions for mute autoplay. Use one strong CTA and a vanity URL or deep link so attribution is clean and post-view lift is measurable.

Target like a carpenter, not a yard sale seller: household IDs, zip level, contextual genres, and dayparting shrink waste. Apply strict frequency caps and move budgets to pods and placements that drive completions. If an audience underperforms, shrink it or swap creatives before increasing spend.

Measure ROAS with a mix of view-through conversions, lift tests, and media mix models. Tie CTV events back to your server side first party data or CAPI to avoid blind spots. Run short experiments to learn which placements deliver low CPA, then scale those buys programmatically or with direct deals.

Quick checklist to act on today: start with small tests on Roku and Hulu, use 15s and 6s cuts, enforce frequency caps, prioritize household targeting, and route post-view conversions into your analytics stack. Do that and CTV becomes a growth channel, not a budget sink.

Privacy-proof growth: Apple Search Ads and Reddit Ads when cookies crumble

Cookies are crumbling, so you need channels that don't beg for third-party crumbs. Apple Search Ads plugs straight into the App Store intent faucet - people searching are buyers. ASA's first-party signals, built-in attribution (SKAdNetwork-friendly workflows) and search match/creative sets make it brutally efficient for acquisition on iOS. Start small, raise bids where installs turn into paying users.

Reddit Ads thrives where conversation drives behavior. Subreddit-level targeting gives you micro-audiences with shared context; that means lower CPCs and higher intent than random display buys. Get the tone right - native creative, honest offers, and subreddit moderators' rules - and you'll unlock underpriced scale and surprisingly clean signals for conversion optimization.

Tactical blueprint: on ASA, run Search Match + broad keywords, A/B creative titles, and bid to a CPA target; use attribution windows that align with your funnel. On Reddit, test 3-5 subreddits per campaign, rotate creatives weekly, and use interest and lookalike expansions only after a winner emerges. Reserve ~20% of budget for discovery.

The payoff? Fewer attribution headaches, higher ROAS, and channels that keep working when cookies don't. Treat Apple Search Ads and Reddit as core pillars, not experiments - they're privacy-proof ways to scale without shouting into the cookie jar.