Criteo: The true Fraudster in the Adtech Industry?

Last week we released Method Media Intelligence’s report on Criteo. Today, Gotham City Research is releasing its first report on Criteo, explaining why we believe that ad fraud is a material problem for Criteo, and that the MMI observations are not isolated examples.

Specifically:

• Over 50% of websites using Criteo are of suspect quality

• Criteo is worse than its peers based on our study of its websites

• Clients can cut 50%+ spending on Criteo without hurting sales

• Criteo peer: 54.8% of Criteo’s clicks have no attributable source

• Industry estimates for fraudulent traffic: between 20% to 43%+

• Criteo is targeting less sophisticated clients & ARPU is declining

• Criteo has not disputed any of our or MMI’s specific claims

• What is a suspect website: our assumptions and methodology