Commerce media is transforming advertising by enabling brands to engage shoppers with precision throughout their purchase journey. Leveraging rich commerce data across platforms empowers advertisers to target high-value audiences, deliver personalised experiences, and achieve measurable results. AI plays a key role in streamlining processes and predicting shopping behaviours with remarkable accuracy.

Amid rising privacy regulations and industry fragmentation, commerce media offers a unified, data-driven approach to navigate these challenges. Prioritising first-party data, harnessing AI, and fostering cross-platform collaboration help advertisers build meaningful connections and stay competitive in a dynamic digital landscape.

In our latest What’s NEXT in Marketing interview, Taranjeet Singh, managing director of Venture Markets, APAC at Criteo, explores how commerce media is transforming advertising with data-driven targeting and AI while addressing challenges like fragmentation and privacy regulations to build a unified, privacy-first ecosystem.

Unlocking audience insights with commerce media

Commerce media empowers advertisers by connecting them with high-value consumer audiences across retail media networks, the open internet, and social platforms. The outcome is precision-driven targeting that seamlessly engages consumers throughout their purchasing journey.

“Commerce media allows advertisers to speak to the audiences that matter most at all stages of their purchase journey, wherever and whenever they shop, which increases the likelihood of conversion,” Singh explained. 

He went on to highlight how Criteo enables advertisers to activate and monetise these audiences through its Commerce Media Platform, leveraging a vast network of 17,000+ advertisers, 3,100 brands, and 225 retail media networks. By utilising deep commerce insights, Criteo helps predict and shape shopping behaviours while ensuring privacy-safe first-party data through closed, authenticated environments like retailer sites and social platforms.

Singh shared an example of how Yanadoo, a South Korean self-development platform, used Criteo’s OneTag with Dynamic Loader to retarget users who hadn’t converted. By tracking key events like course purchases and registrations, Yanadoo built detailed customer profiles, allowing Criteo’s AI to optimise bidding and ad delivery. This approach improved targeting across the open web, enabled the collection of valuable first-party data, and delivered measurable outcomes as consumers progressed through their purchase journey—an essential focus for advertisers.

In addition to Yanadoo, Swiggy, an India-based on-demand convenience platform, partnered with Criteo to enhance its offsite retail media campaigns, helping brands reach high-intent audiences across the open internet and OTT platforms.

Singh highlighted the success of this collaboration with brands like Kellogg’s, which drove conversions and attracted new-to-brand shoppers. Through Criteo’s tracking tools, Kellogg’s achieved a ROAS of 1.9 (above the industry average of 1.55), a 25% new-to-brand rate, and reached over 50% of its target audience.

Speaking on the data, Singh explained, “Commerce media empowers advertisers to use first-party data for targeted audience engagement throughout the purchase journey. By combining precise targeting with closed-loop measurement, brands can drive conversions, acquire new customers, and maximise ROI across channels, transforming data-driven advertising.”

AI: Driving precision and automation in commerce media

For Singh, artificial intelligence is the backbone of modern commerce media, streamlining operations while enhancing personalisation and performance. From automating ad delivery to generating predictive insights, AI transforms how advertisers connect with their audiences.

“AI-powered tools save advertisers time by automating tasks like audience targeting, ad personalisation, and performance tracking,” Singh noted. “This precision fosters higher engagement and measurable outcomes, such as increased revenue per user and return on ad spend.”

He also mentioned how Criteo’s advanced AI solutions, like ‘Commerce Audiences,’ enhance ad delivery through behavioural clustering and predictive modelling, while also leveraging engagement scores to prioritise users most likely to take action.

Singh explained that AI tools in Criteo’s Commerce Audiences, such as ‘Embeddings,’ detect behavioural links between users, products, and websites to cluster audiences effectively. Engagement scores prioritise users likely to act, while predictive modelling targets the most promising audiences, reducing reliance on real-time data.

“AI engines use commerce data to craft highly relevant campaigns, connecting advertisers with retailers for efficient scaling. As technology matures, it will continue to drive innovation in commerce media, empowering advertisers to deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive growth,” he highlighted. 

Addressing industry fragmentation

Despite commerce media’s potential, Singh highlighted challenges like fragmentation and lack of standardisation, which can limit campaign scalability and ROI. According to him, a unified approach is key to unlocking commerce media’s full potential.

“Industry fragmentation can lead to inconsistent campaign performance and a loss of up to 20% in revenue for retail media networks,” Singh warned, citing Forrester’s report. 

Criteo addresses fragmentation with a unified commerce media platform that caters to both marketers and media owners. For marketers, it offers Commerce Max and Commerce Growth, while media owners benefit from Commerce Grid and Commerce Yield, supporting everyone from enterprise brands to smaller retailers.

Singh also highlighted Criteo’s launch of SKU-based planning in Commerce Max, enabling brands to buy sponsored product ads across multiple retail networks with a single workflow. This simplifies campaign management, allowing for efficient targeting of in-market shoppers at scale. With AI-driven recommendations and closed-loop measurement, Criteo optimises campaigns, helping marketers focus on driving sales.

“This cohesive approach minimises fragmentation, streamlines media buying processes, and mitigates addressability challenges, empowering clients to achieve stronger results across the advertising ecosystem,” he stated. 

Navigating privacy regulations 

With evolving privacy regulations, the reliance on first-party data has become critical for advertisers. Singh emphasised that as third-party cookies phase out, businesses are focusing on first-party data for more targeted, privacy-compliant advertising. Regulations like GDPR and Apple’s App Tracking Transparency drive this shift, ensuring companies can deliver relevant marketing while respecting user privacy.

“By embracing privacy-first strategies and advanced technologies, businesses are better equipped to comply with regulations and build consumer trust, while also adapting to an industry where data privacy is now a foundational principle,” he commented. 

Singh further explained that as the industry shifts to a privacy-first environment, Criteo is well-positioned to provide solutions that support partners in this new landscape. The company focuses on three core pillars: first-party data, Google’s Privacy Sandbox, and closed environments. 

Criteo has developed a unique shopper graph across both the demand and supply sides, enabling privacy-safe activation through hashed emails, and ensuring 1:1 addressability while protecting user privacy. Partnering with Google, Criteo leverages the Privacy Sandbox to maintain key addressability functions without third-party cookies, reaching 63% of global browser traffic. Additionally, Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform helps brands engage high-intent shoppers across 225 global retailers and millions of logged-in users on platforms like Meta, ensuring precise targeting while maintaining privacy standards.

According to Singh, as privacy regulations reshape advertising, companies are increasingly prioritising first-party data to ensure compliance and effective, privacy-respecting marketing strategies.

“This shift is fostering a more transparent and user-centric digital landscape. Criteo, along with other industry players, is supporting this evolution by offering technologies that help brands adapt to these changes,” he added. 

Future trends in commerce media

When asked about the key trends shaping the future of commerce media, Singh pointed to shifting consumer behaviour as a major influence. As consumer habits evolve, marketers must adapt by integrating performance media with commerce media to effectively engage audiences throughout the entire shopping journey, from discovery to purchase.

This shift toward integrated strategies helps brands deliver relevant, seamless experiences at every touchpoint. With Criteo’s AI-driven algorithms, marketers can eliminate guesswork and stay ahead of changes in consumer behaviour, ensuring campaigns remain effective.

Additionally, fragmentation and inconsistent standards continue to hinder the full potential of commerce media. To address this, industry leaders are uniting supply and demand, connecting publishers and retailers with meaningful demand, and enabling advertisers to reach key audiences across the purchase journey. As the industry evolves, standardising measurement has become crucial. 

Singh noted how Criteo tackles this challenge with four commerce media solutions that provide full-funnel marketing activation and monetisation for all players in the ecosystem.

“By 2025, addressability solutions will be at the forefront of the industry’s shift to a cookieless future,” he predicts. “Criteo is prepared with tailored strategies to address these concerns, including our three-pronged approach of first-party data, Privacy Sandbox integration, and closed environments.”

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As consumer behaviour continues to evolve, so will commerce media. Advertisers and retailers will increasingly focus on creating meaningful, personalised connections with shoppers across all touchpoints, ensuring that every interaction is relevant and impactful.

Commerce media is not just a tool—it’s a transformative strategy that empowers brands to maximise their impact in an increasingly complex advertising ecosystem. With AI-driven insights and privacy-first solutions paving the way, the future of commerce media will be defined by precision, personalisation, and enhanced performance.

Singapore – A new report from MAGNA has indicated that global media owners’ ad revenues have reached US$933b in 2024, seeing up 10% in increase in line with mid-year expectations. For the media owners, the growth is driven by a combination of factors including cyclical events, digital innovation, and industry shifts.

Traditional media owners (TMO), encompassing television, radio, publishing, out-of-home, and cinema, saw a remarkable 4% increase in ad revenue, reaching US$274b. This marks the strongest performance in 14 years, excluding the post-COVID recovery of 2021. Key factors contributing to this growth include a record number of cyclical events like elections and major sporting events, as well as a 12% surge in non-linear ad sales, particularly ad-supported streaming, which now accounts for 25% of total TMO ad revenue.

Meanwhile, digital pure players (DPP), including search, retail, social, and short-form digital video, experienced even more substantial growth, with ad sales increasing by 13% to US$659b. This growth was fueled by strong performance in search/commerce ad formats, short-form video, and social media. Organic growth factors such as increased competition in e-commerce, the rise of retail media networks, advanced AI targeting, and improved monetization of short vertical videos further propelled DPP growth.

While the global ad market experienced a strong first half, growth slowed in the second half. However, the US market remained the largest, accounting for US$380b, followed by China at US$155b. Key dynamic markets in 2024 included France, the US, India, and the UK, while growth was more subdued in Japan, Canada, China, Germany, and Australia.

Industry-wise, CPG/FMCG, Government, Betting, and Finance were among the fastest-growing verticals, while Tech recovered and Travel slowed down. In 2025, MAGNA expects Auto, CPG, and Tech to be dynamic sectors.

Moreover, the ‘Big Three’ digital media owners, Google, Meta, and Amazon, continued to outperform the market, with ad revenue growth of 11%, 22%, and 21%, respectively. Their combined market share reached 51% of global ad revenue and 61% outside of China.

Looking ahead to 2025, the report forecasts the global ad market to grow by 6.1%, approaching the trillion-dollar mark.

Vincent Létang, EVP of global market research at MAGNA, said, “The strong growth of advertising spending in 2024, despite a challenging economic environment, was of course driven by an unusually high number of major cyclical events but, more fundamentally, media innovation is what attracts a growing share of marketing budgets into advertising formats.” 

He added, “Digital pure-play ad formats (search, retail search, social and short form video) are fueled by the rise of commerce media redirecting billions of dollars from trade marketing into digital formats. The growing reach of ad-supported CTV streaming makes cross-platform long-form video more attractive to advertisers as it now offers scale on top of addressability and brand safety. With no major cyclical drivers in 2025, MAGNA expects ad spend growth rates to slow, but the organic factors will remain at work, stabilizing TMO ad revenues, and growing DPP ad sales.”

Singapore – PubMatic has announced that Peter Barry will be returning to Australia to serve as its vice president for addressability and commerce media for Asia-Pacific. He was previously based in New York as PubMatic’s global vice president for addressability and commerce.

Barry will report directly to Jason Barnes, chief revenue officer for APAC at PubMatic.

In his new role, he will be responsible for rolling out PubMatic’s commerce media solution, Convert, across the APAC region. Convert provides retailers, brands and advertisers with a unified audience monetisation and acquisition platform to maximise the reach and revenue of commerce media, one of the fastest-growing media channels. 

In addition to this, Barry will be responsible for working with publishers, advertisers, identity vendors and industry bodies to ensure PubMatic’s customers are maximising addressable opportunities across their businesses as signals shift and regulations change.

During Barry’s time in the U.S., he led multiple cross-functional teams, helping PubMatic’s partners to execute against addressability strategies to drive monetisation today, as well as future proof of their business. He helped launch the Convert platform in 2023, opening up a new set of opportunities for PubMatic and its customers. Prior to that, Barry was PubMatic’s regional director for Australia and New Zealand, leading the rollout of the company’s Addressability Suite across the region and working with data and APAC identity partners.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “I am excited to work with PubMatic’s APAC team again to drive the addressability and commerce media businesses across the region. I’ve learnt a lot from my time in the US, and now I’m looking forward to ensuring PubMatic’s customers make the most of both the onsite and offsite opportunities through our Convert product.”

Meanwhile, Barnes commented, “We’re delighted to see Peter return to APAC following his time in New York. His wealth of experience is invaluable and I look forward to seeing how his expertise impacts our ever-expanding commerce media offering in the region.”

Singapore – WPP’s media investment group GroupM and commerce media company Criteo have announced their partnership to strengthen omnichannel commerce media capabilities in the Asia Pacific region.

This is a first-in-APAC partnership that unifies product sales data and the proprietary media solutions of GroupM with Criteo’s proximity-based insights to enable omnichannel commerce through in-store and retail media integration.

GroupM’s clients will be able to access Criteo’s insights technology to further enhance media planning, budget allocation, and best-in-class activation, enabling new levels of relevance, optimisation, and conversion.

The partnership will also expand access for GroupM’s clients to Criteo’s holistic omnichannel monetization solution, allowing retailers to manage their entire media inventory across both ecommerce and physical retail while enabling brands and agencies to seamlessly discover and purchase omnichannel media from leading retailers.

The tools now available to GroupM clients include 360° media asset activation, ranging from in-store activations such as point-of-sale displays to out-of-store activations like inbox sampling and online activations such as email and social.

Criteo and GroupM are also planning to evolve the partnership by looking at strategic opportunities across media-buying capabilities and insights to drive predictive decision-making. Their collaborative efforts to develop best practices in the area aim to unlock many exciting possibilities as a response to the continuous acceleration of commerce media.

Anita Munro, chief investment officer at GroupM APAC, said, “The innovation in commerce that will be made possible through this collaboration with Criteo is a significant and hugely exciting development for advertisers in APAC and for our industry as a whole.”

She added, “Combining Criteo’s commerce media capabilities with our own not only strengthens our commerce offering in the region but also allows us to set a new standard for what’s possible in advertising by bringing products, media, clients, and consumers closer than ever before.”

Speaking on the partnership, Taranjeet Singh, managing director of enterprise at Criteo APAC, also shared, “Together with GroupM, we are honoured to usher in the next era of omnichannel marketing in the region. This partnership represents a union of industry leadership, and we are optimistic that it will drive greater integration across omnichannel campaigns and elevate success for brands and advertisers.”

Singapore – Integral Ad Science (IAS) has announced a new partnership with commerce media platform Criteo to enable a first-to-market product for measuring onsite quality metrics for retail media. 

Through this new integration, IAS will enable viewability and invalid traffic (IVT) measurement for Criteo’s network of retail media partners, ensuring that marketers are reaching real users and maximizing engagement across this critical channel.

Powered by Criteo’s predictive AI, Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform solutions enable retailers and brands to seamlessly reach shoppers throughout their entire journey, executing efficiently and at scale on both unique retail media inventory from category-leading retailers and scaled, open web supply while offering real-time, closed-loop sales measurement. 

Through this new integration with IAS, advertisers can be confident in verifying the quality of their digital media investments.

Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer at IAS, said, “We are excited to extend our presence in the fast-growing retail media space to meet increased demand from advertisers. Through our upcoming integration with Criteo, we can enable marketers to maximize their return on ad spend through third-party measurement across the powerful retail media networks working with Criteo. IAS has long been a major player in the retail media network space, and today’s announcement reinforces our leadership in this crucial area.”

Meanwhile, Brian Gleason, chief revenue officer at Criteo, commented, “Criteo has been a leader in the retail media space since 2016 and we are thrilled to partner with IAS to be the first to provide advertisers with transparency into their retail media campaigns via our ‘Commerce Media Platform’.”

He added, “As more industry players realize the tremendous opportunity of retail media, we remain committed to standardization that reconciles media spend with performance and building an ecosystem that drives marketers’ and retailers’ business forward.”

California – Global adtech company PubMatic has announced the launch of ‘Convert’, a unified self-service advertising platform for commerce media which allows commerce media networks to have a unified single self-service platform for transactions. 

Built on PubMatic’s global cloud infrastructure, Convert empowers commerce media networks with a single, self-service platform that streamlines the complex and fragmented commerce media marketplace by bringing together essential monetization and optimization capabilities across sponsored listings, CTV, video, and display ad formats.  

Convert also aims to ensure transparency in fee and pricing structures along with automation and scalability for commerce media networks and advertisers.

Industry brands, retailers, and advertisers such as IPG Mediabrands, dentsu, Lyft Media, MiQ, and Wallapop have joined PubMatic as initial partners in the development and announcement of Convert.

The new platform complements PubMatic’s existing commerce media capabilities offered via Connect, the omnichannel addressability solution launched in 2022 that enables data access and control on the sell-side, closer to the consumer.

Peter Barry, VP of addressability & commerce media at PubMatic, said, “Data access, monetization, and control are critical for commerce media networks and their advertisers, and PubMatic has a strong history of leadership and innovation in these areas. By making substantial investments in developing customised technology with Convert, we are confident in our ability to continue to drive increased value for our customers.”