The Maze: Criteo, an advertising technology company, plans to bring its shopper-targeted streaming TV ads to Brazil and Mexico by the end of 2026. Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia are on the 2027 list, with more countries still unnamed. The product, already offered in the US, lets advertisers use online shopping activity to choose which households see their commercials.
Source: Criteo. Criteo illustrates a product ad on streaming TV alongside symbols for audience targeting and campaign reporting.
The Details:
Shopping activity helps choose where the ad runs. Criteo says it links browsing and buying activity to internet-connected TVs at the household level. A shoe brand could use that data to reach households that have browsed footwear, then show them a commercial while they stream a program. Criteo uses the signals to decide what to bid for the ad slot. A match tells the advertiser that the ad ran on a TV linked to the household. Which member of the household saw it can still be unclear.
Advertisers can buy through Criteo or their existing software. Criteo can run the TV ads alongside a brand’s other campaigns. It can also give the brand a code for a package of selected streaming ad slots and shopping audiences. The brand can use that code in its usual ad-buying software and control its own bids and budget. Criteo names streaming apps and free ad-supported channels as places its ads can run. Its expansion announcement leaves local prices, participating apps and buying options open.
The campaign can continue after the TV ad. An advertiser can follow the commercial with ads on websites or social media. Where measurement is available, Criteo says its OneTag code on the advertiser’s website can connect recorded TV exposure with later visits and sales. That gives the advertiser a way to see what people in a household did after the commercial ran, even if they bought on a phone or laptop.
MarketMaze Take:
Criteo’s two buying routes give brands a way to test TV without rebuilding how they buy ads. The tougher budget decision comes after the test. Criteo aims the ads at households that already show an interest in the products. Some of those households would have bought anyway, and a later web ad could also have helped close the sale. To learn what the TV spend added, a brand could compare similar groups that receive the same web ads while holding back TV ads from one group. That matters more for the next budget decision than how many purchases Criteo can link to a TV ad.
Sources: Criteo announcement · Criteo product guide · PPC Land
