Criteo and WPP Media launch commerce-driven CTV activation

Criteo and WPP Media announced on July 29, 2025, a first-of-its-kind Connected TV activation that merges Criteo's real-time commerce signals with WPP Media's Open Intelligence platform. The collaboration, piloted with Roku, Samsung, and Scripps, enables advertisers to activate curated Deal IDs based on high-fidelity commerce data through any Demand-side Platform.

The partnership addresses the growing demand from brands to connect CTV campaigns with measurable business outcomes. Traditional brand ambitions of reach and frequency now merge with performance-driven commerce metrics, creating what Sandy Welsch, Executive Director Global Commerce Partnerships & Tech Enablement at WPP Media, describes as "full-funnel, performance-driven strategies in CTV."

Criteo's Commerce Grid Supply-side Platform powers the initiative by providing Deal IDs that advertisers can activate across their preferred DSP partners. The system draws from Criteo's extensive commerce ecosystem, which spans 17,000 e-commerce sites, 200 global retail partners, and thousands of open web publishers, collectively representing over $1 trillion in annual ecommerce sales.

Technical integration spans multiple platforms

The technical architecture enables streamlined activation across premium CTV inventory. Rather than requiring advertisers to manage separate platforms for commerce data and CTV buying, the integration provides a turnkey solution through curated audiences built on commerce signals and enhanced by Open Intelligence.

Joseph Meehan, General Manager, Global Commerce Supply at Criteo, emphasized the precision aspect: "This partnership is about more than better targeting. It's about giving brands the ability to reach broad audiences with the same level of precision and measurability they expect from digital."

The collaboration delivers measurable outcomes beyond traditional CTV metrics. Campaign exposure connects to foot traffic and sales data, enabling advertisers to track performance through the complete conversion funnel rather than stopping at brand metrics alone.

Platform partnerships validate approach

Roku's participation underscores the industry shift toward performance-driven CTV strategies. Lindsay Pullins, Director, Head of Business Development & Partnerships, Commerce and Performance at Roku, noted that "Commerce Grid is giving advertisers a seamless way to activate high-performing audiences on Roku."

The timing aligns with broader market trends toward commerce-integrated advertising. According to PPC Land analysis, Connected TV's share of media budgets is projected to double from 14% in 2023 to 28% in 2025, with 72% of marketers planning to increase programmatic advertising investment.

The partnership reflects Criteo's strategic positioning in the commerce media landscape. The company currently operates 225 retail media programs for major retailers including Target, JCPenney, and Walgreens. Criteo's retail media segment generated $90 million in contribution ex-TAC during the fourth quarter of 2024, representing 23% growth at constant currency, as previously reported by PPC Land coverage.

Market timing addresses measurement challenges

The announcement coincides with persistent measurement challenges in CTV advertising. Recent PPC Land research reveals that 72% of marketers reuse or modify creative assets across platforms while only 25% develop tailored content for both social and CTV campaigns.

The commerce integration addresses attribution gaps that have historically limited CTV effectiveness. Traditional CTV campaigns often struggle to demonstrate direct sales impact, relying instead on brand lift studies and reach metrics. By connecting ad exposure to commerce outcomes, the WPP-Criteo collaboration provides measurement capabilities that mirror performance marketing channels.

Industry data supports the strategic timing. European retail media spending grew 22% in 2024, significantly outpacing the broader advertising market's 6.1% growth, according to PPC Land coverage of IAB Europe research. The integration of commerce signals with CTV enables advertisers to capture this growth while maintaining the reach benefits of television advertising.

Implementation scales through existing infrastructure

The platform architecture leverages existing advertising technology infrastructure. Advertisers can access the curated audiences through their current DSP relationships without requiring new platform integrations or workflow changes. This approach reduces implementation barriers that often slow adoption of new advertising technologies.

WPP Media's Open Intelligence provides the scaling mechanism for commerce signals across premium inventory sources. The system amplifies Criteo's transaction data through additional data relationships and audience modeling capabilities, creating what the companies describe as "high-intent, shopper audiences built to convert."

The collaboration extends beyond basic audience targeting. Advanced features include cross-device tracking, household-level measurement, and attribution modeling that connects CTV exposure to online and offline purchase behavior. These capabilities address advertiser demands for comprehensive measurement across the customer journey.

Strategic implications for commerce media

The partnership signals broader industry convergence between commerce media and traditional advertising channels. Rather than treating retail media as a separate discipline, the integration demonstrates how commerce signals can enhance performance across all channels, including premium video environments.

The approach may influence competitive responses from other commerce media platforms. Amazon DSP has introduced enhanced first-party data integration capabilities, while Google expanded Brand Lift Studies Cross-Exchange to CTV devices in Display & Video 360. The WPP-Criteo collaboration provides an alternative approach that emphasizes transaction-level data rather than survey-based measurement.

For marketing organizations, the partnership represents a potential solution to budget allocation challenges between brand and performance campaigns. By enabling CTV campaigns to demonstrate direct sales impact, the integration may reduce friction between brand marketing teams focused on reach and performance teams focused on conversion metrics.

The collaboration addresses industry-wide pressure to demonstrate advertising ROI. CFOs increasingly question marketing investments that cannot connect to business outcomes, particularly in economic environments where every marketing dollar requires justification. The commerce-driven approach provides the measurement transparency that financial stakeholders demand.

Future expansion potential

The pilot phase with Roku, Samsung, and Scripps provides the foundation for broader platform expansion. Criteo's existing relationships with retail partners and WPP Media's client portfolio create multiple pathways for scaling the approach across additional CTV platforms and advertiser categories.

Technical integration with additional SSPs and DSPs could extend the solution's reach. The Deal ID structure enables implementation across programmatic platforms beyond the initial pilot partners, potentially creating industry-wide adoption if performance metrics validate the approach.

The partnership also creates potential for enhanced creative optimization. By combining commerce intent signals with CTV creative performance data, future iterations could enable dynamic creative optimization based on shopping behavior and purchase propensity rather than traditional demographic targeting alone.

Timeline

• July 29, 2025: Criteo and WPP Media announce first-of-its-kind CTV activation using Open Intelligence
• July 15, 2025: LG Ad Solutions integrates with Viant to advance addressability in CTV 
• July 9, 2025: Utiq partners with Visoon for privacy-first TV advertising expansion
• June 15, 2025: esome and AudienceProject expand CTV measurement partnership
• June 13, 2025: Criteo partners with dentsu for global commerce media expansion
• May 3, 2025: Criteo reports major retail media client change impacts growth outlook
• February 9, 2025: Programmatic advertising growth reaches 72% as CTV budgets double

Key Terms Explained

Connected TV (CTV): Internet-enabled television devices that stream digital video content without traditional cable or satellite infrastructure. CTV represents the fastest-growing segment of digital advertising, with budgets projected to double from 14% to 28% of total media spending between 2023 and 2025. The platform enables household-level targeting while maintaining the premium viewing environment associated with television screens.

Commerce Signals: Real-time transaction and behavioral data derived from e-commerce interactions across retail websites, mobile applications, and point-of-sale systems. These signals provide advertisers with purchase intent indicators that enable more precise audience targeting compared to traditional demographic or contextual approaches. Commerce signals typically include product views, cart additions, purchase completions, and post-transaction behaviors.

Deal IDs: Programmatic advertising identifiers that provide direct access to specific inventory packages or audience segments within supply-side platforms. Deal IDs enable advertisers to bypass open auction dynamics and access curated inventory at predetermined pricing structures. In this context, Deal IDs package commerce-enhanced audiences for activation across multiple demand-side platforms.

Open Intelligence: WPP Media's proprietary data platform that aggregates and processes audience signals from multiple sources to create enhanced targeting capabilities. The system combines first-party client data with third-party data sources and proprietary modeling techniques to amplify audience reach while maintaining targeting precision. Open Intelligence serves as the scaling mechanism for commerce signals across premium inventory sources.

Demand-side Platform (DSP): Technology platforms that enable advertisers to purchase digital advertising inventory programmatically across multiple ad exchanges and supply sources. DSPs provide campaign management, audience targeting, and optimization capabilities through unified interfaces. The Criteo-WPP partnership enables activation across any DSP, reducing implementation barriers for advertisers.

Supply-side Platform (SSP): Technology platforms that enable publishers to manage and monetize their advertising inventory through programmatic channels. Criteo's Commerce Grid operates as an SSP that packages commerce-enhanced audiences for distribution to demand-side platforms. SSPs facilitate the technical integration between publishers and advertisers through real-time bidding infrastructure.

Performance Marketing: Advertising approaches that emphasize measurable outcomes such as sales, leads, or specific user actions rather than brand awareness metrics. Performance marketing typically involves direct response tactics, detailed attribution modeling, and optimization based on cost-per-acquisition or return-on-ad-spend metrics. The CTV integration extends performance marketing principles to traditionally brand-focused television advertising.

Retail Media: Advertising inventory and services provided by retailers across their owned digital properties, including e-commerce websites, mobile applications, and physical store locations. Retail media leverages first-party shopper data to enable precise targeting for consumer packaged goods brands and other advertisers. The sector achieved 22% growth in Europe during 2024, significantly outpacing broader advertising market expansion.

Attribution Modeling: Analytical frameworks that assign conversion credit to various touchpoints across the customer journey, enabling advertisers to understand which channels and tactics contribute most effectively to desired outcomes. Advanced attribution models incorporate cross-device tracking, view-through conversions, and offline sales data to provide comprehensive performance measurement across all advertising activities.

Programmatic Advertising: Automated systems for buying and selling digital advertising inventory through real-time bidding and algorithmic optimization. Programmatic platforms enable advertisers to reach specific audiences across multiple publishers and platforms through unified campaign management interfaces. Industry data indicates 72% of marketers plan to increase programmatic investment in 2025, with CTV representing a primary growth driver.

Summary

Who: Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO) and WPP Media launched the partnership, with pilot implementations across Roku, Samsung, and Scripps Networks.

What: A first-of-its-kind Connected TV activation combining Criteo's real-time commerce signals from $1 trillion in annual ecommerce sales with WPP Media's Open Intelligence platform, delivered through curated Deal IDs that enable performance measurement beyond traditional brand metrics.

When: The partnership was announced on July 29, 2025, following successful pilot testing across multiple premium CTV inventory sources.

Where: The collaboration operates across premium Connected TV inventory through Criteo's Commerce Grid Supply-side Platform, accessible via any Demand-side Platform for streamlined advertiser activation.

Why: The partnership addresses growing advertiser demand to connect CTV campaigns with measurable business outcomes, transforming television advertising from reach-focused brand campaigns to performance-driven strategies that demonstrate direct sales impact and foot traffic attribution.