Table of contents
MRC Accreditation
Criteo Description of Methodology
The purpose of this document is to describe Criteo’s methodologies around ad measurement, filtration, and reporting for impressions and clicks across desktop and mobile (application and web) for display ads. The methodologies in this document apply to all onsite Criteo ad formats (including Product, Search, Category/Taxonomy, Carousel, Home Page and Add to Cart) and all Retailer implementation types (JavaScript and API) for Criteo Retail Media on the Retail Media Platform (RMP) only.
Criteo employs General Invalid Traffic Detection (GIVT) as defined by the Media Rating Council’s (MRC) Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines to help identify and filter out all non-human traffic from reportable and billable click and impression metrics. Additionally, Criteo has partnered with industry recognized and MRC accredited service Pixalate to supplement our pre-bid and post-bid detection and filtration capabilities of IVT. Criteo has also received TAG Certification Against Fraud (CAF) and Brand Safety Certification (BSC) through an independent audit.
MRC accreditation process
MRC Accreditation Audit Process
The Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation certifies Criteo’s Commerce Max click and impression measurement systems adhere to IAB/MRC Guidelines for counting ad clicks and impressions. You can view our certification letter above. At this time the MRC Certification for Criteo’s Retail Media Platform does not include impressions or clicks associated with offsite or video campaigns. These formats are scheduled to be part of Criteo’s future phases of accreditation.
For additional information on these standards and guidelines, please visit the IAB/MRC Guidelines.
Partner Qualification
Criteo maintains both Supply Partner Guidelines (https://www.criteo.com/supply-partner-guidelines/) and Advertiser Guidelines (https://www.criteo.com/advertising-guidelines/) to ensure the operation of the highest-quality supply AND demand networks. Advertisers must have products already on the Retailer site to be able to serve ads through the Retail Media Platform and, while Criteo relies heavily on the Retailer to implement functionality on their site, Criteo performs a robust and comprehensive test plan to ensure complete integrations and implementations.
Filtration Methodology
Criteo uses a variety of methods and techniques to identify and filter out invalid click and impression traffic. This invalid traffic can take the form of non-human and human activity. Criteo uses data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) to identify traffic coming from known sources of non-human activity. Criteo also blocks internal traffic from employee accounts, internal testing accounts and internal IP addresses. Filtering rules are reviewed quarterly by an internal committee and adjusted ad hoc if a new filter is needed. Advertisers are able to see Invalid Clicks that are excluded from billing within the Analytics tab of the Retail Media Platform.
In the case where a new type of invalid traffic is discovered, Criteo will perform a backward-looking analysis to determine if previously reported date was materially impacted. If it is determined that data was materially impacted, Clients will be notified and steps will be taken to resolve any issues.
The Criteo Engineering Team updates the filtration methods below at a quarterly review cycle in addition to real-time updates if issues are uncovered or new standards are needed.
Decision Rate: Criteo traffic receives significant information to apply a 100% invalid traffic decision rate on activity.
Multiple-click-per-impression: Criteo limits billable clicks to 2 clicks per ad impression on ads generated from the Retail Media Platform. This includes a loopback window of 30 minutes after the initial impression. Any clicks outside the limit are no longer considered valid and are excluded from billing.
Click staleness: A click is considered invalid if the time between the ad impression and the click is more than the impression-staleness window. These invalid clicks are no longer considered valid and are excluded from billing.
User frequency caps: Criteo limits the number of click events that can be billed per user for a given period. If a user is found to exceed the limits, all activity from the user within the period is considered invalid. The frequency caps employed are proprietary and not disclosed.
Upfront Filtration: Criteo leverages upfront filtration to detect invalid traffic and exclude it. Upfront filtration techniques include industry-standard techniques like blocklists from endpoints deemed risky.
IAB/ABCe International Spiders & Robots List: The IAB/ABCe International Spiders & Robots List is used to identify and remove community known bots.
Activity Based Filtration: Criteo tracks user event and activity frequency to determine commercial intent and invalidates traffic (both impressions and clicks) that fails to meet a minimum level of quality as assessed through these techniques.
Click measurement methodology
Criteo Retail Media uses the “In-Unit Click” reporting methodology for measurement. This definition from the IAB Measurement Guidelines (https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/click-measurement-guidelines2009.pdf) states that this type of clicks “represent measurement of user-initiated actions on Advertisements but, in contrast to a “click” or “click-through”, an in-unit click does not lead to a redirect from the publisher”. Retail Media clicks can take the user to another page on the Publisher site but do not redirect the user to a different web location.
Impression measurement methodology
Criteo counts an impression when the placement or product is loaded and begins to render on the retailer page.
Since Criteo ads are native/organic and called by Retailer sites for placement, Criteo relies on the Retailer to implement the necessary beacons according to the appropriate guidelines. However, as an added assurance, Criteo conducts periodic testing to ensure that guidelines are being met. Criteo also maintains specific Supply Partner Guidelines (found here - https://www.criteo.com/supply-partner-guidelines/) to ensure the operation of the highest-quality supply network.
Data Logging, Processing, and Reissuance
Each call to Criteo delivery servers generates a logging event that is processed through the data pipeline and is then stored in the Criteo data warehouse. Criteo validates all required information is contained in the event. These events are then available in the Retail Media Platform reporting service.
If Criteo detects issues that impact advertiser spend or data, we follow established investigative and escalation processes to determine the overall impact and potential credits or refunds for advertisers. These are done on a case-by-case basis and are communicated to the impacted advertisers by Criteo’s customer service teams. In these cases, data can be reprocessed to provide correct billing and reporting metrics.
Media Rating Council Invalid Traffic (IVT) Reporting Columns
The Onsite Sponsored Products Activity and Onsite Display Activity reports available on the Analytics tab of Criteo’s Advertiser Platform (CMAX) have been enhanced to view click and impression quality information. For more information, see the tooltips on the report pages. Several columns related to click and impression quality may be added to these reports:
Clicks (Gross) - The number of times your ads were clicked, including suspected invalid traffic.
Clicks (Net) - This metric excludes invalid traffic per GIVT Requirements.
Clicks (Invalid) – Clicks identified as unintentional or fraudulent by our traffic monitoring.
Impressions (Gross) - The number of times your ads were shown, including suspected invalid traffic.
Impressions (Net) - This metric excludes invalid traffic per GIVT Requirements.
Impressions (Invalid) – Impressions identified as unintentional or fraudulent by our traffic monitoring.
Cache-busting techniques
To minimize undercounting due to caching, Criteo Retail Media uses expiry, unique string assignments, and cache-control headers.
Known Limitations
Since Criteo ads are native/organic and called by Retailer sites for placement, Criteo and the Retailer implement the necessary beacons according to the appropriate guidelines. As an added assurance, Criteo also conducts periodic testing to ensure that guidelines are being met. Criteo also maintains specific Supply Partner Guidelines (found here - https://www.criteo.com/supply-partner-guidelines/) to ensure the operation of the highest-quality supply network.