Aiming to address the fragmentation seen in the growing world of retail media, Microsoft Advertising and Criteo have joined forces to create an easier, one-stop-shop way for retailers to buy retail media advertising and reach a wider audience.
As part of the deal, Criteo is extending its existing relationship with Microsoft Advertising into a strategic collaboration that brings Microsoft Advertising’s extensive demand to Criteo’s global network of 225 retailers. Microsoft Advertising also intends to work with Criteo as its preferred onsite media partner, extending Criteo’s monetisation technology to Microsoft Advertising’s retailer clients. This, the two players believe, will create a more unified retail media ecosystem.
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, according to GroupM. But 93% of marketers worldwide cite market fragmentation as a significant challenge. Criteo and Microsoft Advertising intend to help move the industry forward by tapping into Criteo’s vast network of retailers and developing a more unified buying experience for global advertisers.
This collaboration would expand the companies’ longstanding relationship and is expected to bring new revenue to Criteo’s retail media network partners. In turn, it would empower Microsoft Advertising’s 500,000+ active advertiser clients that operate across 187 global markets to achieve stronger, measurable performance for their campaigns within a singular, unified platform.
“Together, Microsoft Advertising and Criteo can chart a new path forward for retail media, empowering the entire ecosystem with scale, simplicity, and innovation,” says Lynne Kjolso, Vice President of Global Partnerships and Retail Media at Microsoft Advertising. “We’re pleased to further our integration with Criteo, a leader in retail media and performance advertising, and look forward to exploring future opportunities.”
Criteo is also exploring the potential to tap into Microsoft Advertising’s leadership in generative AI and innovations, such as its AI-powered Retail Media Creative Studio, which makes it easier for advertisers to create and optimize their ad creatives at scale with the power of generative AI.
“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,” adds Brian Gleason, Chief Revenue Officer at Criteo. “We look forward to continuing to evolve our collaboration and help drive growth across retail media.”
The demand integration and preferred onsite collaboration are expected to roll out in the second half of 2024.
Who is Microsoft Advertising?
Microsoft Advertising is a comprehensive advertising platform and set of tools that retailers and brands can use to reach consumers across multiple channels. The key aspects of Microsoft Advertising as it relates to retail media can be summarised as:
• Microsoft Retail Media: This is a platform that retailers can use to build their own retail media programs. It allows retailers to create advertising opportunities across their websites, apps, and even in-store.
• Microsoft Advertising Network for retail: This is a network that allows retailers to quickly launch a retail media program by tapping into Microsoft’s existing advertiser base and technology. It helps retailers generate incremental sales and retail media revenue without having to build everything from scratch.
• Tools for advertisers: Microsoft Advertising provides tools for brands and advertisers to promote their products across various retail media networks and Microsoft’s own properties (like Bing).
• Omnichannel capabilities: Microsoft is working to create a complete omnichannel retail media stack, which includes onsite (on retailers’ websites), offsite (on third-party websites and apps), and in-store advertising capabilities.
• PromoteIQ: This is Microsoft’s retail media platform that powers many of these capabilities. It allows retailers to offer advertising opportunities to their brand partners across various channels.
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