Owned media in Australia – brands’ own websites, email, apps, instore and social assets – now has $4.3bn in commercial potential. It could reach $5bn in as little as 12 months as brands, eyeing the growth of retail media, start to realise the value of their own media channels. Valuation firm Sonder has just released its annual Owned Media Market Report & Rankings for the '24 financial year and it again contextualises the retail media boom – retailers might be making all the noise around retailer media networks but they represent just one third of the commercial value that brands across any sector can derive from their own media channels.          

Mike Connaghan, MD of News Corp’s Commercial Content division, says his business is booming as the likes of Coles, Bunnings, Officeworks, David Jones and Chemist Warehouse make media revenue from suppliers and use it to fund their own paid marketing efforts as well as turn a healthy margin. Owned media specialist Sonder is seeing the same thing. The likes of ANZ have reorganised operations to put owned channels first – and co-founder Angus Frazer thinks more will follow, especially as pressure on marketing budgets intensifies. Sonder has run the rule over Australia’s owned media sector and drops some  hints on which brands and businesses might come to market next based on commercial potential. In retail media, Sonder says the ones to watch are Bunnings, Accent Group, JB-Hi-Fi, Mecca and Kmart. In grocery and liquor it’s First Choice and Vintage Cellars, while in finance it's Visa and Mastercard. Sonder co-founder Jonathan Hopkins says the broader market is now “at a tipping point” as brands realise they can better engage, upsell and cross-sell to existing customers, and use the income from selling or trading space with their suppliers to fund acquisition bucket filling.