Methodologies and Measurement
MRC Accreditation and Your Onsite Inventory
Criteo holds accreditation from the Media Rating Council (MRC), an independent industry body that certifies measurement systems meeting the standards set by the IAB/MRC Guidelines. This certification covers how Criteo measures clicks and impressions on your onsite inventory — giving brands and agencies the assurance that the traffic reported through your site meets industry quality standards.
Understanding what MRC accreditation means for your inventory helps you communicate measurement quality to your brand partners and ensure your site's implementation supports accurate reporting.
Why It Matters
Validates that Criteo's measurement systems follow industry best practices.
Confirms that invalid traffic is identified and excluded from billable metrics reported to your brand partners.
Supports your credibility as a high-quality supply partner.
Who Is It For?
Retailers managing onsite inventory through Commerce Yield.
When This Is Relevant to You
When communicating inventory quality and measurement standards to brand partners.
During partner audits or compliance reviews.
When ensuring your site's beacon implementation supports accurate reporting.
What MRC Accreditation Means for Your Inventory
MRC accreditation certifies that Criteo's click and impression measurement on your onsite inventory complies with IAB/MRC Guidelines, including:
Invalid traffic (IVT) is identified and excluded from billable metrics.
Measurement methodologies follow industry standards for click and impression counting.
Filtration rules are reviewed quarterly and updated as needed.
This accreditation currently applies to onsite campaigns only.
Your Role in Accurate Measurement
Because Criteo ads are native and called by your site for placement, you are responsible for implementing the necessary measurement beacons according to the appropriate guidelines. Criteo conducts periodic testing to verify that implementations are complete and guidelines are being met.
Retailers must comply with Criteo's Supply Partner Guidelines to ensure our supply network adheres to applicable laws, regulations, and industry standards, including traffic quality requirements. Criteo performs thorough integration and implementation tests before retailers go live on the platform.
How Criteo Filters Invalid Traffic
Invalid traffic (IVT) refers to clicks and impressions generated by illegitimate sources — such as bots or automated scripts — rather than real shoppers. Criteo uses multiple methods to identify and remove this traffic — both non-human (bots, automated scripts) and human (accidental or fraudulent activity). This protects the quality and credibility of your inventory's reporting for brand partners. We use data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) to detect non-human traffic. Criteo has also partnered with Double Verify, an MRC-accredited IVT detection service, to supplement pre-bid and post-bid filtration capabilities.
Criteo is independently TAG Certified Against Fraud (CAF) and TAG Certified Against Malware (CAM), and for TAG Brand Safety Certification (BSC), meaning Criteo has been granted TAG Platinum status, confirming its efforts against fraud and brand safety meet industry standards.
You can find official press releases here and here and blogposts here and here.
You can also find Criteo's latest certifications in the TAG registry.
Criteo also blocks traffic from employee accounts, internal testing accounts, and internal IP addresses.
Filtering rules are reviewed quarterly and adjusted as needed. If a new type of invalid traffic is discovered, Criteo conducts a backward-looking analysis. If previously reported data was materially affected, impacted advertisers are notified and steps are taken to resolve any issues.
The filtration methods applied are:
Decision rate. Criteo traffic receives significant information to apply a 100% IVT decision rate on activity.
Multiple-click-per-impression. Billable clicks are limited to two per ad impression, within a 30-minute lookback window. Clicks outside this limit are excluded from billing.
Click staleness. Clicks occurring after the impression-staleness window are considered invalid and excluded from billing.
User frequency capping. The frequency of ads served to individual users across all advertisers is capped. The specific caps are proprietary and not disclosed.
Upfront filtration. Industry-standard blocklists identify and exclude traffic from risky endpoints before it is counted.
IAB/ABCe International Spiders and Robots List. Community-known bots are identified and removed using the IAB/ABCe International Spiders and Robots List.
Activity-based filtration. Criteo monitors user events and activity patterns to assess commercial intent. Traffic that fails to meet a minimum quality threshold is invalidated.
Click and Impression Measurement Methodologies
Click measurement. Criteo uses the "In-Unit Click" methodology. As defined by the IAB Measurement Guidelines, in-unit clicks measure user-initiated actions on ads but do not redirect users away from your site. Retail media clicks may navigate users to another page on your site.
Impression measurement. Criteo counts an impression when a placement or product is loaded and begins to render on your page. Proper beacon implementation on your side is essential to ensure accurate impression counting.
Data Logging and Reissuance
Each call to Criteo delivery servers generates a logging event. Criteo validates that all required information is contained in each logging event. This event is then processed through the data pipeline and stored in the Criteo data warehouse, where it becomes available in the Commerce Yield reporting service.
If Criteo detects issues that affect advertiser spend or data, we follow established investigative and escalation processes. Impacted advertisers are notified and data can be reprocessed to correct billing and reporting metrics.
Known Limitations
MRC accreditation does not currently cover all inventory types:
Offsite inventory is not included in the current certification scope. Impressions and clicks from offsite campaigns follow Criteo's standard measurement methodology, but MRC IVT filtering does not apply.
For more information on MRC standards, visit the IAB/MRC Guidelines.