Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) is a commerce media and retargeting ad platform. Learn how it works, its pricing model, features, and history in 2026.
Criteo is a publicly traded (NASDAQ: CRTO) advertising technology company founded in Paris in 2005, originally known for dynamic retargeting: showing shoppers personalized product ads based on items they viewed on a retailer's site but did not purchase. Its machine learning models predict which products, creative, and placements are most likely to drive a click and eventual sale.
The company has since expanded into the broader commerce media and retail media category, connecting advertisers, retailers, and publishers around advertising informed by first-party commerce and shopper data rather than only browser-based retargeting.
Criteo's current offering is branded as the Commerce Media Platform, made up of a demand-side platform for brands, retailers, and agencies to plan and buy commerce media across a large network of retailer and publisher partners; a supply-side platform called Commerce Grid for media owners and retailers to monetize their inventory programmatically; and a Monetization Platform that helps large retailers build their own retail media networks.
This shift reflects the broader retail media industry trend of retailers and marketplaces, following the model popularized by Amazon Ads, turning their own shopper data and digital real estate into advertising revenue, with Criteo positioning itself as an infrastructure and technology partner for that trend rather than only a retargeting vendor.
Advertisers using Criteo generally pay on a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression basis against budgets they set themselves, rather than a fixed monthly software fee. Criteo adds a platform fee calculated as a percentage of media spend, with industry estimates placing its effective take rate in the rough range of 16 to 22 percent, though actual rates depend on the client, campaign type, and volume.
Larger advertisers and retail media networks can also work with Criteo through managed-service arrangements, and the company has introduced additional pricing levers such as first-party data onboarding fees and tiered self-serve pricing as its business has diversified beyond classic retargeting.
Criteo operates a commerce media advertising platform, historically known for dynamic product retargeting and now spanning demand-side, supply-side, and retail-media monetization tools for advertisers, retailers, and publishers.
Yes, Criteo trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol CRTO and has been public since 2013.
Criteo is headquartered in Paris, France, where it was founded in 2005.
Advertisers generally pay on a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression basis against budgets they set, with Criteo adding a platform fee calculated as a percentage of media spend, commonly estimated in the range of 16 to 22 percent.
Employee counts vary by reporting period but are generally in the range of roughly 3,300 to 3,900 people worldwide as of recent disclosures.
It is Criteo's umbrella branding for its demand-side platform, supply-side platform (Commerce Grid), and retail media monetization tools serving advertisers, retailers, and publishers.
Criteo positions itself as a neutral commerce media technology partner working across many retailers and publishers, rather than an advertising network tied to a single retailer's or search engine's own marketplace.
Criteo was founded in 2005 in Paris by Jean-Baptiste Rudelle, Franck Le Ouay, and Romain Niccoli.