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Best Buy is monetizing its product photography studios and creator relationships by selling video production to electronics brands—retail media as creative vendor.
18%
since 2022
5%
of its brand partners' total production budgets—call it
$40M
annually across a handful of major suppliers—it establishes a…
Best Buy announced it will operate as a media production company for brand partners, building short-form video, photography, and influencer content inside its own studios. The retailer is selling production services—not just advertising placements—to the consumer electronics companies that stock its shelves. Samsung, LG, and Apple now buy both endcap displays and the video crews that shoot them.
The move converts Best Buy's existing infrastructure into billable creative capacity. The company already maintains product photography studios for its own e-commerce operation and has cultivated relationships with tech-focused YouTube and TikTok creators for unboxing content and reviews. Those assets now carry price tags for third-party brands. Best Buy's pitch: brands get retail distribution, ad inventory, and finished video in one contract, reducing the need for separate agency relationships or in-house production teams. The retailer has not disclosed studio square footage, headcount, or production rate cards.
This matters because retail media networks are becoming creative vendors, not just media buyers. Amazon launched a similar studio offering in late 2023, charging CPG brands for product photography and A+ content creation. Walmart began shooting social-first recipe videos for food brands in early 2024. Best Buy's entry confirms the pattern: retailers with existing content operations are monetizing production infrastructure the same way they monetized purchase data. The economics are compelling—studios generate margin without requiring additional inventory or logistics overhead. For allocators, this creates a second revenue stream inside retail media, one that scales independently of advertising impressions and doesn't depend on foot traffic.
The timing aligns with a broader reset in brand production budgets. Consumer electronics companies have reduced agency retainers by 18% since 2022, per COMvergence benchmarking data, while shifting spend toward performance channels that require high volumes of SKU-level creative. Best Buy's pitch solves a specific pain point: a brand launching a new soundbar needs fifteen variations of a 6-second TikTok ad, shot with the product in context, optimized for four audience segments. Traditional agencies charge project fees that don't scale. Best Buy offers per-unit pricing and built-in distribution on its own properties. The retailer becomes both the creative vendor and the media landlord.
Operators should track how many agency relationships get disintermediated in Q2 and Q3 2025. Best Buy's studio will compete directly with mid-market creative shops that specialize in e-commerce and paid social for consumer electronics brands. If Best Buy captures even 5% of its brand partners' total production budgets—call it $40M annually across a handful of major suppliers—it establishes a floor for retail studio economics that Costco, Target, and Home Depot will benchmark against. Watch for RFP language changes in consumer electronics: brands may begin requiring retail distribution partners to include production capabilities in their pitch decks. Also watch talent movement—if Best Buy starts hiring former agency producers and directors, it signals intent to move upmarket from commodity content to flagship campaigns.
By summer, the question won't be whether retailers operate studios, but whether agencies can still justify retainers when their largest clients also buy shelf space from the same companies now bidding against them for video work.
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