What changed
Criteo Q3 2026 retail media revenue fell 23% to about $52M; contribution ex-TAC fell 23% to $51M; underlying growth excluding two clients was 10%
When
Results released November 4, 2026, for the quarter ended September 30, 2026
Who it affects
Criteo, CEO Michael Komasinski; about 4,700 brands buying retail media on its platform; auction display live with 95+ retailers
What to do
Brands spending on non-Amazon retailer networks should test one network against a holdout and set 2027 budgets on incremental sales, not reported ROAS

Key takeaways

  • Criteo's Q3 2026 retail media revenue fell 23% to about $52M, mostly from two unnamed clients cutting back, reported November 4, 2026.
  • Underlying growth slowed from 24% in Q1 to 10% in Q3 even as brand media spend on the platform rose 22%.
  • Judge non-Amazon retailer networks on incremental margin from a holdout test, not on the ROAS the network reports.

How Criteo's retail media slide unfolded

  1. Criteo warns its largest retail media client will cut services

  2. 2026 outlook set at flat to +2% contribution ex-TAC

  3. Outlook cut to a 10% to 12% decline

  4. Q3: retail media down 23%, underlying growth 10%

  5. Display launches at some larger retailers moved here

What Criteo reported on November 4

Criteo's total revenue fell 11% to $416 million in Q3 2026 and net income dropped 85% to $6 million, according to its results release. Retail media, the part that sells sponsored product and display ads on retailer websites, fell harder: revenue down 23% to about $52 million and contribution ex-TAC (revenue after the cost of buying media) down 23% to $51 million, from $66.3 million a year earlier.

Criteo blamed a $20 million headwind from previously announced scope changes with two retail media clients, partly offset by growth across the rest of its retailer base. The company first warned in May 2025 that its largest retail media client would stop buying some services; it has never named either client. For the full year Criteo expects retail media contribution ex-TAC to fall by the high teens to 20% at constant currency, including about $75 million of impact from the two clients, and total contribution ex-TAC to fall 10% to 12%. For more on how this market is shifting, see the retail media news channel.

The number most coverage skipped: underlying growth is halving

Headlines focused on the 23% drop, which Criteo had flagged for over a year. The more useful signal for brands is the underlying line. Excluding the two clients, retail media contribution ex-TAC grew 24% in Q1 2026, 20% in Q2 and 10% in Q3, based on Criteo's releases and PPC Land's tracking. At the same time, retail media media spend on the platform grew 22% in Q3 and the number of brands buying reached about 4,700.

Put together, brands are still pushing more money through Criteo-powered retailer networks, but Criteo's own revenue from that business is growing far more slowly than the spend. On the call, management also said some retail media clients had a slower October and that display launches with some larger retailers have moved to 2027. Four of its largest retail partners renewed multi-year deals, and auction-based display is now live with more than 95 retailers, double the count at the start of the year.

Underlying retail media growth, excluding two clients

  • Q1 202624%
  • Q2 202620%
  • Q3 202610%
Source: Criteo results; PPC Land, 2026

What it tells you about ad money outside Amazon

Amazon Ads still takes most US retail media spend, and Amazon's own Q3 ad growth slowed to 11%, as covered on our Amazon advertising news channel. Criteo's numbers suggest the second tier, grocery, beauty, drug and regional retailers, is still growing in spend. More of those retailers are moving to open auctions, which in our view tends to push prices toward what the ads are actually worth.

Criteo is also betting on new places to sell ads: sponsored recommendations inside Albertsons' AI shopping assistant, a similar launch planned with THG in the UK, a Mirakl partnership that opens retailer ads to marketplace third-party sellers, and a tool called Commerce Max for planning and measuring across retailers. AdExchanger's take is that Criteo is a survivor but that growing beyond retail media will be its hardest test. For a brand, the practical point is that more non-Amazon shelves are becoming buyable in a self-serve auction, which is exactly where a disciplined test can find cheap incremental sales.

So what: the math for a brand's non-Amazon budget

The risk in second-tier retail media is paying for sales you would have made anyway, because the shopper was already in your aisle. Here is an illustrative example, with invented numbers. A snack brand spends $10,000 a month on sponsored products at a grocery chain and the network reports $50,000 in attributed sales, a 5.0 ROAS.

If a holdout test shows only 30% of those sales are incremental, the real return is $15,000 of new sales for $10,000. At a 35% contribution margin to the brand, that is $5,250 of margin for $10,000 of spend, a loss of $4,750 a month. If the same test shows 70% incremental, margin is $12,250 and the campaign earns $2,250. The reported ROAS is identical in both cases; only the incrementality test tells you which one you have.

Before you renew a retailer network

  • Spend and ROAS per network on one sheet
  • Open auction or fixed rate card?
  • Self-serve access available?
  • Four-week holdout test run
  • Incremental margin above break-even
  • New-to-brand share tracked

What sellers and brands should do

  • Brand owner: list every retailer network you spend on outside Amazon and Walmart and the share of total ad budget each takes. Metric: one sheet with spend, reported ROAS and new-to-brand share per network.
  • Retail media lead: ask each network account team whether its sponsored ads now run as an open auction and whether self-serve access is available. Metric: cost per click trend for the last 90 days on your top five keywords.
  • Analyst: run one geographic or audience holdout test on your largest non-Amazon network for four weeks. Metric: incremental sales and margin per $1 of spend, not attributed ROAS.
  • Marketplace seller on Mirakl-powered marketplaces: check with the retailer whether third-party sellers can buy its ads yet. Metric: ad access confirmed or a date given.
  • Owner: build 2027 budgets on incremental margin, cut networks below break-even, and get a second view from a retail media agency or our free Amazon audit if your Amazon ads need fixing first. Metric: blended ad spend as a share of revenue.

When this does not apply

If you sell only on Amazon, Criteo's results change little for you this quarter; your priority is Amazon Sponsored ads and, for upper funnel, the Amazon DSP versus Sponsored ads choice. Criteo also does not publish results per retailer, and it has not named the two clients, so you cannot read any single grocer's network health from these numbers. Underlying growth figures are Criteo's own adjusted measures, and the quarterly path for Q1 and Q2 relies partly on PPC Land's reconstruction of earlier releases.

Sources

Get the next change before your competitors do

We send the marketplace changes that matter each week, with what to do next.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy. Unsubscribe any time.
Want this done for your account?

We run these playbooks on client accounts every day. Start with a free audit.

Get a free audit