Pharmacy retail media networks: Walgreens, CVS Media Exchange, Boots and Superdrug, and the health data they cannot use

Where a cell reads "n/d", we had no public, dated source at the research cut-off. Member counts are the companies' own figures.

Walgreens built its network around myWalgreens, the loyalty program it relaunched a month earlier (Marketing Dive, 3 December 2020). At launch it sold third-party display, video, social, streaming audio and email alongside its own digital and store assets. In December 2025 it added Rokt to place offers on the order confirmation page, which also opened the network to brands that Walgreens does not stock (Digital Commerce 360, 9 December 2025).

Stores are the newest push. After a dispute with Cooler Screens over its digital fridge doors, Walgreens chose Looma for screens in 1,200 stores from October 2026. Each store gets two large screens, one near the front and one in the pharmacy waiting area, plus digital end caps (Modern Retail, 11 September 2026). Walgreens has been a private company since its sale to Sycamore Partners was completed in 2025 (Digital Commerce 360, 9 December 2025).

CVS Media Exchange (CMX) sells across CVS.com, in-store digital media and offsite channels, using data from more than 90 million ExtraCare members (Beet.TV, 16 July 2025). In 2025 it began working with Reddit through a clean room. CMX says it was the first health and wellness network to comply with IAB standards (company claim, same source).

In-store, CVS moved early. It had digital end caps in more than 600 stores by February 2026 and expected about 11,000 screens by the end of the year (Modern Retail, 11 September 2026). CVS describes the content as informational rather than promotional. Its pharmacy waiting-area screens target the time patients spend waiting, which is a placement choice, not a use of their records.

Boots Media Group launched in September 2021 with Threefold, built on 17 million active Advantage Card members (Retail Week, 17 September 2021). In November 2024 Boots became the launch partner for a Criteo and LiveRamp offer that joins online and in-store sales for attribution (ExchangeWire, 12 November 2024). Boots was part of Walgreens Boots Alliance, which Sycamore Partners took private in 2025 (Digital Commerce 360, 9 December 2025).

Superdrug launched its network, Optimo, in October 2023 (Marketing Beat, 27 October 2023). It sells onsite display and sponsored products plus offsite media, and added about 500 store screens from April 2025 (Retail Gazette, April 2025).

We found no public announcement of a Chemist Warehouse retail media network by the research cut-off. Australia's nearest comparison is Priceline Pharmacy, part of Wesfarmers Health. In November 2025 it chose Zitcha for its network, citing self-serve tools, with more than 9.5 million Sister Club members (B&T, November 2025). Australian health-privacy rules are outside this page's scope.

Pharmacies hold two kinds of data. One is what any shop holds: loyalty IDs and baskets of shampoo, snacks and cold remedies. The other is pharmacy data: prescriptions, refills, vaccinations and clinic visits. The rules treat them very differently.

Front-store purchases are the grey zone. HIPAA's health care definition names dispensing under a prescription (45 CFR 160.103). It does not say plainly how a loyalty record of an over-the-counter purchase is treated, and we found no HHS statement on the point. State law is clearer about intent. Washington's act reaches inferences drawn from everyday purchases, and other states are tracked in the state health privacy laws tracker.

Website tags are the other risk. The CVS and Criteo settlement concerned tracking tools on CVS's site and app, which plaintiffs alleged sent sensitive data to ad and analytics firms (HIPAA Journal, 24 September 2026). The settlement had preliminary approval; the claims were allegations. How pixels on health pages create exposure is explained in the pixel problem in healthcare marketing.

The full HIPAA analysis is in HIPAA-compliant programmatic advertising, and the marketing rule itself in HIPAA marketing rule explained. Washington's law has its own page: My Health My Data Act for advertisers.

The limits leave a large business. Pharmacy networks sell what any retailer sells, plus a few placements that only a pharmacy has.

1. Front-store audiences. Segments built from beauty, personal care, grocery and household baskets on the loyalty card.
2. Contextual placements. Screens in the pharmacy waiting area reach people by place and time, without using their records. Walgreens and CVS both plan them (Modern Retail, 11 September 2026).
3. Offsite media. Front-store segments activated through partners, often via a clean room so the brand never sees the records.
4. Closed-loop reporting. Sales results by SKU from loyalty purchases, as with Boots' online and in-store attribution.

Example. A cough syrup brand wants to reach shoppers ahead of winter. It can target loyalty members who bought cold remedies last season, if the network's policy and state law allow that segment. It can buy waiting-area screens at the pharmacy counter. It cannot target people because they filled a prescription, and the pharmacy cannot sell it a list of patients. Comparable rules for grocers, which carry fewer health signals, are in grocery retail media networks.

Pharmacy networks measure like other retailers, with one constraint: the sales they attribute come from loyalty purchases at the front of the store. Boots joins online and in-store sales through Criteo and LiveRamp. Criteo reported a 22% higher return on ad spend once store sales were counted, based on the top 50 brands in late 2024 (company claim, ExchangeWire, 12 November 2024). Walgreens says it chose Looma partly because the screens are judged on full-funnel metrics rather than on how often an ad played (Modern Retail, 11 September 2026).

1. Which data feeds the audiences? Ask for a written list of sources, and confirm that pharmacy and patient records are not among them.
2. How are sensitive segments reviewed? Ask who approves segments that could suggest a health condition, and how state laws such as Washington's are applied.
3. Which tags run on health pages? Ask whether ad or analytics tags fire on prescription, clinic or vaccination pages of the site and app.
4. How are store screens measured? Ask for the impression formula, the footfall source and whether waiting-area screens are sold contextually.
5. What does the brand receive? Reports and aggregates should be the default; ask how any clean room limits row-level output.

1. Marketing Dive, "Walgreens debuts retail media network, with revamped loyalty program front and center" (3 December 2020). https://www.marketingdive.com/news/walgreens-debuts-retail-media-network-with-revamped-loyalty-program-front/591550/
2. Digital Commerce 360, "Walgreens adopts Rokt for retail media network tech expansion" (9 December 2025). https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2025/12/09/walgreens-adopts-rokt-for-retail-media-network-expansion/
3. Modern Retail, "Walgreens tries again with digital screens after digital coolers flop" (11 September 2026). https://www.modernretail.co/marketing/walgreens-says-its-focused-on-higher-peforming-ad-placements-as-it-tries-again-with-digital-screens/
4. Beet.TV, "From Retail Media to Reddit, CVS Media Exchange Celebrates Five Years" (16 July 2025). https://www.beet.tv/2025/07/from-retail-media-to-reddit-cvs-media-exchange-celebrates-five-years.html
5. HIPAA Journal, "CVS Health; Criteo Agree to Pay Combined $20.5 Million to Resolve Website Tracking Litigation" (24 September 2026). https://www.hipaajournal.com/cvs-health-criteo-american-wellness-corp-data-breach-settlements/
6. Retail Week, "Boots launches marketing agency to supercharge brand partners' campaigns" (17 September 2021). https://retail-week.com/health-and-beauty/boots-launches-marketing-agency-to-supercharge-brand-partners-campaigns/7040611.article
7. ExchangeWire, "LiveRamp & Criteo Collaborate to Propel First-Party Data Capabilities for Omnichannel Retail Media, with Boots as Launch Partner" (12 November 2024). https://www.exchangewire.com/blog/2024/11/12/liveramp-criteo-collaborate-to-propel-first-party-data-capabilities-for-omnichannel-retail-media-with-boots-as-launch-partner/
8. Marketing Beat, Superdrug retail media network launch (27 October 2023). https://www.marketing-beat.co.uk/2023/10/27/superdrug-retail-media-network/
9. Superdrug, "Optimo" retail media page (accessed 17 October 2026 for wave 1). https://www.superdrug.com/test/optimo
10. Retail Gazette, Superdrug digital screens (April 2025). https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2025/04/superdrugdigital-screens/