The Trade Desk starts selling onsite retail media ads, taking on Criteo
The independent DSP now lets advertisers buy onsite retailer placements programmatically, challenging Criteo's core business.
Mariano De Vitto · July 2026
The Trade Desk is moving deeper into retail media, now offering advertisers the ability to buy onsite placements, the ads shown directly on a retailer's own site or app, programmatically through its platform. That puts the independent DSP in more direct competition with Criteo, long a dominant player in this corner of retail media.
Previously, The Trade Desk focused mostly on offsite retail media, helping brands use retailer data to target ads across the open web. This expansion means advertisers can now manage onsite and offsite retail campaigns from a single platform, rather than juggling separate tools or relying on each retailer's proprietary ad tech.
For marketers, the appeal is consolidation. Buying onsite inventory programmatically through a DSP they already use for other channels could simplify measurement, reduce friction, and improve budget allocation across retail media networks.
It also signals how competitive the retail media space has become. Retailers want more demand flowing through their networks, and DSPs want a bigger share of the budgets shifting toward commerce media. The Trade Desk entering onsite inventory directly challenges Criteo's core business, and could pressure pricing and technology standards across the industry.
Expect retailers to weigh partnerships carefully, since working with multiple DSPs could mean more competition for the same ad space, but also more overall demand. For brands, the practical upside is clearer reporting and easier campaign management across a fragmented retail media landscape.
The Signal Brief · Mariano De Vitto — Head of Marketing, Barcelona