Criteo Crosses the $200 Million Threshold

LONDON, July 19, 2011 -

First Half Revenues Soar 185% as
Clients top 1,200 for Search-Expansion Advertising
Platform

Criteo, a pioneer in the
development of search technologies for the display market, boosted
revenues by 185% in the six months ended June 30, 2011, vaulting
the company over the $200 million threshold in just three years.
During the period, Criteo increased its renewal rate to
98%–meaning 98 out of 100 marketers that try Criteo now convert to
its system-and attracted key managers to lead a global expansion
starting with 10 countries. Overall, Criteo now employs more than
350 people in 20 countries across America, Europe and Asia.

Criteo’s growth indicates a shift in online marketing-namely,
the emergence of a new category of search expansion. Mainstream
e-commerce companies are using the Criteo platform to extend their
search efforts using display ads that beckon shoppers back, with
offers for products they recently looked at but didn’t buy.
Consumers get a more productive online shopping experience;
merchants get higher conversion rates, sales and profits.

Criteo delivered its first click to an advertiser in May 2008.
Today, the company generates millions of leads every day. Merchants
buy these leads on a cost-per-click basis the way they buy search,
bidding by category on Criteo’s real-time system or via their own
search engine marketing (SEM) systems. Criteo leads convert into
sales at the same rate as SEM, so the company is measured on a pure
performance basis. Nearly 50% of Criteo clients now give the
company an unlimited budget to bring shoppers back with relevant
ads.

“Many performance advertisers have saturated their existing SEM
campaigns,” said JB Rudelle, CEO and co-founder of Criteo. “They
know they’re missing sales, but they can’t get more from
traditional search. We’re giving them a supplemental channel with
the same level of post-click performance. They get a huge boost to
the bottom line that pays for itself.”

Simon Dupuy, Head of Online Advertising at Expedia, put it this
way: “Criteo has proven to be a valuable way for Expedia to deliver
targeted travel information which brings value for our customers
and further enhances their trips. Ensuring that we are engaging our
customers in a relevant manner is key for Expedia and the response
we have seen from customers over the last year shows that Criteo
shares our commitment.”

Criteo clients are increasing profitable sales significantly
because the company improves several key components of performance
marketing:

• Real-Time CPC Bidding self-service platform -
  Advertisers can set and modify CPC online 24/7 to immediately
  affect campaign performance, providing total campaign control.

• CPC Bidding by Category - CPC can be adjusted for each
  customised product category, allowing advertisers to optimise
  cost-of-sales by category.

• Turnkey banner production and real-time creative
  optimisation. Criteo creates and serves relevant ads
  dynamically, incorporating a multitude of factors and offers.

• Compatible with major SEM software - Advertisers and
  agencies can access Criteo through designated tools, such as Marin
  Software or Kenshoo.

• Full API access - SEM agencies can integrate Criteo into
  their own bidding and tracking platform to perform complete funnel
  management and attribution.

This spring, Criteo attracted two advertising heavyweights to
lead its worldwide expansion, beginning with 10 new markets
throughout Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas. In February,
Max Ueno, former President and CEO of both DoubleClick Japan and
Overture Japan, joined as managing director of the Asia-Pacific
region. In April, the company tapped Greg Coleman, former
Huffington Post President and Yahoo! EVP, for the new post of
Global President, overseeing global business strategy.

Meanwhile, Criteo continued its investment in technology,
recruiting more than 100 new engineers for its dedicated R&D
center, CriteoLabs. The company plans on hiring another 200 people
globally, across functions, in the second half of 2011.

About Criteo

Criteo expands the search budgets of the largest ecommerce
advertisers across 20 countries. Every day Criteo generates
millions of high-quality leads by serving relevant ads to people
who have left clients’ websites without completing transactions.
Criteo is measured purely on its post-click performance. Criteo
offers a turnkey pay-per-click model including extensive real-time
bidding tools, keyword level optimisation and even an in-house
creative studio. For more information, please visit  href="www.criteo.com/">www.criteo.com.

Contact Information: Peter Mycock, MD Australia, Tel: +61-2-9959-9665, Mob: +61(0)466-779-460, p.mycock at criteo.com