Let me take you back.

There was a time—not that long ago—when saying “Criteo” in a room full of adtech veterans got the same reaction as mentioning Ask Jeeves at a Google offsite. A nostalgic chuckle, maybe a wince.

The French company that once defined programmatic retargeting with industrial efficiency had, by most accounts, become a relic.

A cautionary tale about what happens when you build your empire on cookies just before the bakery gets shut down.

Criteo was the creepy uncle of banner ads—always watching, always following, always popping up with that exact pair of shoes you looked at once, three days ago, at 2 a.m.

They were masters of their universe.

Until that universe shrank, hardened, and started muting third-party whisperers like them. Apple’s ITP and Chrome’s cookie phase-out were the digital equivalent of pulling the plug on life support.

And for a while, I figured Criteo was headed for a clean death. Quiet. Predictable. Possibly Dramatically French.

But then something happened.

They reemerged.

Not with a bang, not even with a rebrand—yet—but with the kind of confused enthusiasm you usually find in midlife career changes.

Suddenly, this banner-pushing, cookie-craving ad machine was talking about “retail media ecosystems” and “auction-based display infrastructure.” They were rubbing elbows with Dentsu and WPP, throwing around phrases like interoperability and AI-powered commerce intelligence like they’d never shilled for sketchy sunglasses on sidebar widgets.

It’s like waking up one day and your neighborhood Burger Shack has been replaced with a Scandinavian coffee bar. Same name, same building, but now there’s oat milk, minimalist furniture, and an aggressively polite barista asking if you’d like your espresso “dialed in.”

Criteo was a hamburger joint for 20 years. Now they’re trying to convince us they’re Blue Bottle with a retail data DSP.

And honestly? I wanted to laugh.

But I didn’t.

Because behind the frothy jargon and painfully earnest press releases, something was happening. Something real. Criteo didn’t just slap a new coat of jargon on an old chassis—they gutted the damn thing. They acquired IPONWEB. They rolled out auction-based display tech for retail environments. They built integrations with Dentsu Connect and WPP’s streaming stack. Their retail media channel is growing. Agencies are biting.

And just like that, I stopped laughing and started paying attention.

Here’s the thing. Most companies in adtech don’t pivot. They either calcify or implode. They merge, they fade, they get eaten by private equity and reemerge as zombie vendors at Cannes. But Criteo—somehow—has chosen door number four: strategic rebirth, with a weird European accent.

Yes, it’s still a little awkward. Like watching your ex from high school become a yoga instructor and try to pitch you on mindfulness while you both pretend she didn’t used to smoke Marlboros behind the cafeteria.

I still smell the burnt cookies.

But I can’t ignore that the company is doing something most adtech players don’t even try: reinventing itself while still being public, still being scrutinized, and still trying to grow.

This isn’t a full resurrection. But it’s not a funeral either. It’s a metamorphosis with PowerPoint slides and a Microsoft integration.

That’s why I’m writing this series. Because if Criteo pulls this off—if they really become the infrastructure layer for retail media across the open internet—they’ll have pulled off the single most unexpected comeback in recent adtech history. A company that went from following users across the web to powering shoppable moments on behalf of brands, agencies, and retailers alike.

We always talk about innovation. But we rarely talk about survival.

And this? This might be both.

So welcome to the iced oat latte era of Criteo. It might not be what you ordered, but you’d be a fool not to taste it.

For much of the past decade or so, Criteo was synonymous with performance advertising—specifically, retargeting.

It was a business model powered by third-party cookies and deterministic identifiers, and for a while, it worked extremely well. At its peak, Criteo was a case study in scaled precision marketing: personalized ads, high intent, and measurable returns.

But then came the headwinds—Apple’s ITP, GDPR, the looming death of third-party cookies in Chrome—and the center of gravity in digital advertising began to shift. Criteo had a choice: evolve or fade.

By 2025, the company is deep into a transformation that is part strategic reinvention, part existential necessity. The banner retargeter of old is being methodically replaced by a company attempting to redefine itself as a Commerce Media Platform, a full-funnel adtech player positioned between brands, agencies, and retailers. The pivot is neither cosmetic nor complete. But it is measurable, and it’s already reshaping Criteo’s operational core, client base, and product stack.

Criteo’s reinvention arc begins in 2020, when Google first confirmed its plans to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome. While Apple’s earlier restrictions had already begun cutting into signal fidelity, Chrome’s deprecation represented an existential challenge to Criteo’s core revenue engine. That same year, Megan Clarken took over as CEO and began articulating a broader vision: transitioning from a performance retargeter to a platform enabling commerce-driven media across the open internet.

The transformation accelerated through acquisitions. In 2022, Criteo acquired IPONWEB, an adtech infrastructure provider with deep expertise in auction mechanics, and Mabaya, a retail media player focused on sponsored listings. Together, these moves were intended to reposition Criteo not just as a demand-side vendor, but as an enabler of full-spectrum retail monetization.

By 2023, organizational restructuring was underway. New investments flowed into first-party data onboarding, retail partnerships, and self-serve tools. Agencies—which had previously been channel partners—were now treated as strategic growth engines, and the company began integrating more deeply with trading desks and holding company infrastructure.

Timeline of Strategic Milestones:

The shift to first-party data was not just a defensive posture—it became the architecture for all future offerings. Criteo rebuilt its identity framework, built commerce-intent models using transactional and SKU-level data, and launched platform APIs that allowed retail partners and agencies to plug directly into its buying systems.

Agencies, in particular, became a central focus. The company shifted from selling mostly direct-to-brand to integrating into agency media plans, workflows, and data platforms. Strategic partnerships with Dentsu and WPP underscored this pivot, enabling Criteo to serve as a neutral commerce-layer across open ecosystem media.

Structural Changes:

Criteo’s Q2 2025 results told a story of transition in progress. Revenue grew just 2% year-over-year, while net income declined to $23 million from $28 million the prior year. The topline is flat, and margin pressure is real. Retail media is growing—but not yet fast enough to fully replace the performance retargeting revenue stream in decline.

Still, some key metrics are worth noting. The share of revenue coming through agencies rose from 30% in 2020 to 38% in 2025 (Retail Only). That increase signals meaningful traction with large media buying organizations, even as legacy clients—such as Uber and Target’s Roundel—have moved on. This was based on an AdExchanger article that has been updated. They are still doing robust business with both Uber and Target.

Performance Metrics Snapshot:

Criteo’s rebrand is as much a market signal as it is a structural shift. On one hand, it’s difficult to dismiss the tangible investments: two high-value acquisitions, expanded product sets, and major platform overhauls. On the other hand, the aggressive positioning—branding Criteo as the Commerce Media leader—feels at times like narrative insulation, necessary to convince clients and investors that the company’s relevance outlives cookies.

This duality is not uncommon in adtech. In a sector built on future-facing pitch decks and yet-to-be-monetized potential, the line between transformation and survival tactic is often thin.

Strategic Assessment:

Criteo’s transformation is real—but incomplete. The company has moved decisively to diversify away from cookie-based retargeting and is actively building the infrastructure to support a more complex, more future-proof offering. Its evolution into a commerce media platform reflects both strategic foresight and economic necessity. The coming quarters will determine whether this reinvention yields real growth—or whether the company merely survives in a more crowded, more competitive space.

For now, Criteo is no longer the king of creepy banners. But it isn’t yet the king of commerce either. The pivot is underway, but the outcome remains to be seen.

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