It also gives Backcountry an instant foothold in the booming retail media business—one that most retailers take years to build—while AllGear Digital gains access to lower-funnel inventory that complements its content and audience data.
AllGear Digital, the portfolio of which contains editorial brands like GearJunkie, signed a similar partnership in January with the backpacking fitness app AllTrails. Through these tie-ups, the media company will be able to offer advertisers a combined monthly reach of 60 million outdoor enthusiasts, including touchpoints across every stage of the consumer journey from discovery to purchase.
Publishers find new footing in retail media
Publisher-retailer alliances remain rare, but they are increasingly attractive as media companies search for alternative growth channels.
With referral traffic from search and social platforms in decline, retail media represents a revenue stream grounded in commerce outcomes rather than impressions.
For example, Best Buy and CNET struck a similar partnership in April 2024,, as ADWEEK first reported.
The tie-up between Backcountry and AllGear Digital resembles that deal in that it connects a publisher with an endemic marketplace and allows the publisher to sell into that inventory, though no editorial content from AllGear Digital will run on the Backcountry platform.
The CNET-Best Buy deal was heralded as a first-of-its-kind data collaboration between publisher and retailer. The AllGear-Backcountry tie-up applies the same logic to an enthusiast vertical, leveraging the credibility of relevant content alongside the conversion potential of retail advertising. This deal also introduces advertising to Backcountry for the first time.
“Backcountry is giving advertisers something different: the chance to reach consumers right at the moment they’re deciding what gear to buy,” Kevin Lenau, interim President of Backcountry, said in a statement. “Being that close to a purchase makes campaigns naturally more focused and effective.”
