GSTV: What’s Next For Retail Media in Convenience

By Noelle Riddle

As retailers look for new ways to engage customers and drive growth, retail media continues to gain momentum across the convenience channel. NACS Media recently caught up with GSTV CEO Eric Kozik to discuss industry trends, evolving consumer behavior and opportunities retailers should be watching.

What are the biggest initiatives GSTV is focused on right now?

Everything we're working on comes back to one question: how do we create more value from the forecourt for our retail partners?

First, growing our network with those partners. We continue to add sites with retailers across the country, and we're working with our hardware partners to bring new screen technology and a more seamless network and content experience into the field. We’re planning to announce additional exciting new partnerships and are grateful for the retailers and industry leaders who are growing their business with GSTV as their trusted media partner.

Second, bringing more demand to the screens retailers already have. We've upgraded the technology across our entire network and added new programmatic partnerships, which makes it easier for CPG brands to engage with customers as they fuel and share targeted and relevant messaging that drive sales.

Third, we’re offering retailers more ways to partner together. From managed service models to being easier than ever to get GSTV up and running on the forecourt, we want to be that “easy button” for retailers to have media drive consumers from the forecourt and into stores.

What excites you most as you look ahead to the next few months? 

As we wrap up 2026 and head into 2027, what excites me is that the industry is starting to recognize the value of the attentive moments they have with consumers in their forecourts and are eager to leverage media more than ever before. The fuel and convenience channel is where a lot of purchase journeys begin, but all too often it starts and ends with a fuel purchase only. Our job is to make sure the journey includes a short walk inside the store with a purchase already in mind.

The best retailers understand that relevance matters as much as reach. They know why a customer is stopping, whether it's a morning coffee, a lunch run or a road trip, and they build the experience around that mission, starting the moment the car pulls in.

What notable developments are you seeing among convenience retailers today?

Convenience stores are becoming destinations. Shoppers are coming in for fresh food, new products and emerging brands, and they're building those visits into their daily routines. Furthermore, those routines show up in a retailer’s data.

That's a big opportunity for retailers, and it changes the job. When people arrive with a reason to come inside, the question becomes ‘how early you can shape what they buy?’ For most shoppers, that starts at the pump, before they ever walk through the door. That's the moment GSTV helps retailers make the most of and optimize both the consumer behavior and the data.

Based on GSTV's recent consumer behavior research, what did you find most surprising about consumers today?

What stands out is how intentional these stops at the c-store have become, and how many of the season's biggest moments run through our retail partners' stores. In our latest Consumer Pulse research, 80% of GSTV viewers said they're planning or considering a road trip this fall, and 73% of road trippers stop at gas stations and convenience stores for snacks or breaks along the way.

Another number that our recent Pulse study uncovered is this one: 96% of viewers who saw an ad at the gas station went on to recognize the brand, consider it, research it or buy it. That's a shopper who is still deciding, standing a few feet from your front door. Research like this is part of what we bring to our retail partners, so they can plan around the moments that bring shoppers in.

What retail media opportunities do you think convenience retailers are still overlooking?

The forecourt itself. Too often, retail media in our channel is thought of as happening on an app or a shelf. But the bigger question underneath all of it is where the shopping decision actually starts. For a lot of customers, it starts at the pump, before they ever walk inside.

The forecourt is one of the few places in retail media where the retailer owns both the audience and the moment. Retailers who treat it as valuable media, not just a place to fuel up, will unlock value many are leaving on the table today.

What's one opportunity that you think the industry is underestimating right now?

How much younger shoppers rely on convenience stores, and how much they enjoy them. Our research this year found that 76% of GSTV's Gen Z viewers visit a convenience store at least once a week, and they're 17% more likely than our average viewer to go inside after fueling up. Nearly all of them (97%) say they enjoy browsing the store, and they're 31% more likely than any other generation to discover new products there.

Gen Z tunes out ads almost everywhere else, but according to our research gas station video ranks first with them across channels, so the forecourt is one of the best places a retailer has to reach them. Retailers who catch these shoppers at the pump, then give them something worth discovering inside, will earn a customer who keeps coming back.

As retailers prepare for the future, what should they be paying more attention to heading into 2027?

Outcomes. Brands are under more pressure than ever to prove their media works, and they're moving budget to the places that can show it.

That's where retailers hold the key. A media partner can show that a message reached a shopper at the pump, but knowing what happened inside a specific store takes the retailer's data. The retailers willing to share that data with their partners will be able to show brands exactly what their forecourt delivers, and they'll capture more of that spend in 2027.

It also changes how retailers should think about the forecourt. The screen at the pump is the hook: it's the first time a shopper hears from you on that visit. The retailers getting the most out of it connect that first message to what comes next: the offer inside the store, the loyalty app, the promotion at the register. That way the whole visit tells one story.

Retail media is moving off the screens in people's hands and into the real world, closer to the moment someone decides to buy. The fuel and convenience channel is where that happens every day, and our retail partners are at the center of it.