We’re proud to share that Criteo has been Leader in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ for Retail Media Network and Monetization Platform, Q2 2026.
Criteo was positioned in the top right of the matrix, reflecting the strongest performance of the competitive set.
This recognition highlights Criteo’s ability to connect retail media activation, monetization and measurement in a more unified operating model, helping retailers grow monetization while helping brands and agencies activate and measure campaigns with greater precision across onsite and offsite environments.
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What does it mean to be a Leader in the QKS Group SPARK Matrix™?
The QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ evaluates retail media platform providers across two dimensions: Technology Excellence and Customer Impact.
Leader positioning indicates strength across both. Criteo’s top spot was the result of our advanced platform capabilities that help retailers monetize inventory and first-party data more effectively, help advertisers activate and measure media across a fragmented retail landscape, and deliver meaningful outcomes for customers.
“Criteo is well positioned in the evolving retail media landscape through its unified approach to onsite and offsite retail media activation, monetization, and measurement. By leveraging retailer first-party data, AI-driven optimization, and closed-loop attribution, the platform enables retailers and brands to improve campaign precision, audience targeting, and performance transparency. Its value proposition is particularly compelling for retailers looking to scale retail media initiatives through a more integrated and operationally connected model.” — Umang Thakur, Vice President and Principal Analyst, QKS Group
What capabilities did QKS Group recognize in Criteo’s platform?
Key strengths include:
- Unified onsite and offsite retail media. Criteo’s primary differentiation lies in its ability to unify onsite and offsite retail media within a single operating environment, helping retailers manage campaign setup, delivery, optimization, and reporting more consistently across channels.
- Onsite display forecasting. For onsite display inventory, Criteo provides tools to forecast spend across impressions, CPM, budget, and timing. This gives brands and agencies greater visibility into campaign feasibility and expected delivery before activation, supporting more informed planning and smoother execution.
- Granular audience targeting. Criteo enables audience targeting using retailer first-party data, commerce signals, and AI-supported modeling for more granular audience creation based on shopping behavior, product interest, purchase intent, and lookalike patterns.
- Modular platform design. Criteo’s platform is modular by design, giving retailers flexibility in how they commercialize and scale their retail media business. Retailers can operate in a private-market model or extend demand through agencies, brands, and third-party API partners while maintaining control over their media offering.
- Predictive bidding. Criteo incorporates predictive bidding into auction-led campaign optimization, using commerce signals to value impressions and adjust bids more efficiently, particularly in offsite environments.
What does this mean for retailers?
For retailers and marketplaces, Criteo’s platform provides a more connected way for retailers to grow monetization while maintaining control over the parts of the business that matter most.
It helps retailers scale more effectively through:
- Support for sponsored products, onsite display and video, and offsite monetization paths
- Flexible controls for pricing, inventory, audiences, placements, and business rules
- Reporting and monetization tools that help retailers scale revenue while retaining governance over their media offering
- A more streamlined operating model that reduces complexity while preserving flexibility and control
“Criteo’s leadership in the Retail Media Network & Monetization Platform market is supported by its breadth across onsite and offsite activation, audience management, inventory monetization, campaign optimization, and closed-loop measurement. Through scalable monetization controls, predictive bidding, first-party data activation, and transaction-level attribution, Criteo enables retailers to build a mature, measurable, and performance-led retail media business.” — Prakhar Bansal, Senior Analyst, QKS Group
What does this mean for brands and agencies?
For brands and agencies, Criteo provides a more unified way to plan, activate, and measure retail media at scale across retailers.
It helps advertisers reduce fragmentation through:
- Standardized multi-retailer campaign execution, supporting campaigns across 230+ retailers, covering sponsored products, onsite display and video, and offsite display and video
- SKU-level targeting and reporting
- Deduplicated, full-funnel measurement with flexible attribution
- Activation through either Criteo interfaces or third-party API integrations
Why this matters now
As retail media continues to evolve, the ecosystem increasingly needs more than isolated tools. Retailers need monetization technology that gives them flexibility and control. Brands and agencies need solutions for the fragmentation challenges they face today.
This is where Criteo’s retail media platform matters most: helping retailers grow and govern their monetization business while giving brands and agencies a simpler way to run retail media at scale.
Read the full report
The full QKS Group SPARK Matrix™ for Retail Media Network and Monetization Platform, Q2 2026 is available here.
