Criteo and Microsoft Advertising join forces to conquer Retail Media

Criteo, the commerce media company, and Microsoft Advertising have announced a strategic partnership aimed at delivering a more unified and efficient experience for the retail media ecosystem.

Address the fragmentation problem

According to GroupM, retail media is one of the fastest-growing sectors in advertising and is expected to represent over $150 billion in global ad spend by 2026. But 93% of marketers worldwide cite market fragmentation as a significant challenge. The two companies intend to address this problem by leveraging Criteo’s extensive network of 225 retailers and Microsoft Advertising’s 500,000+ active advertiser clients that operate across 187 global markets. 

Help drive growth across retail media

This collaboration will expand the companies’ long-standing relationship and is expected to bring new revenue to Criteo’s retail media network partners. For Microsoft, this partnership will benefit its advertisers from streamlined access to a wider range of retail media inventory, enabling them to optimize their campaigns and achieve better performance. “We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Microsoft Advertising to make it easier for brands to buy retail media and for retailers to expand demand into their media solutions,” said Brian Gleason, Chief Revenue Officer at Criteo. “We look forward to continuing to evolve our collaboration and help drive growth across retail media.”

Set a new standard

Both companies expressed enthusiasm about the partnership’s potential to drive industry innovation. Criteo is particularly interested in exploring Microsoft Advertising’s advancements in generative AI, such as its AI-powered Retail Media Creative Studio, which could revolutionize ad creative development. The full integration of the partnership is expected to unfold in the second half of 2024. Industry watchers will be closely monitoring the development of this partnership as it could set a new standard for collaboration in the rapidly evolving retail media ecosystem.