Methodologies and Measurement
MRC Accreditation for Private Market Campaigns
When you run campaigns through the Private Market in Criteo Commerce Yield, your click and impression data is held to the same rigorous measurement standards that govern all Criteo onsite inventory. The Media Rating Council (MRC) accredits Criteo's measurement methodologies, certifying that click and impression counting adheres to the standards set by the IAB/MRC Guidelines — and that invalid traffic (IVT) is identified and excluded from your reporting and billing.
This article explains how MRC accreditation applies to your Private Market campaigns and what it means for your measurement confidence.
Why It Matters
Validates that inventory purchased through the Private Market meets industry measurement standards.
Confirms that invalid traffic is identified and excluded before it affects your reporting or billing.
Supports accurate performance evaluation across your Private Market campaigns.
Who Is It For?
Advertisers buying onsite inventory through the Private Market in Commerce Yield.
When This Is Relevant to You
When verifying click and impression billing accuracy for Private Market campaigns.
During audits, compliance checks, or agency reviews.
When analyzing campaign performance quality using IVT data.
MRC Accreditation Scope
The MRC accreditation certifies Criteo's click and impression measurement systems for Private Market campaigns in Commerce Yield. You can view our certification letter attached to this article.
For more information on MRC standards, visit the IAB/MRC Guidelines.
How Invalid Traffic Is Filtered
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 across all inventory types, including Private Market. Filtering is applied automatically — you do not need to configure anything. 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, you will be notified and steps will be 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 is capped across all advertisers. The specific caps are proprietary and not disclosed.
Upfront filtration. Industry-standard blocklists 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 frequency to determine commercial intent. Traffic that fails to meet minimum quality thresholds is invalidated.
IVT Reporting for Private Market Campaigns
You can view click and impression quality data in your campaign reports in Commerce Yield. The following columns are available:
Clicks (Gross). The total number of times your ads were clicked, including suspected invalid traffic.
Clicks (Net). Clicks after invalid traffic has been excluded, per GIVT (General Invalid Traffic) requirements.
Clicks (Invalid). Clicks identified as unintentional or fraudulent by Criteo's traffic monitoring.
Impressions (Gross). The total number of times your ads were shown, including suspected invalid traffic.
Impressions (Net). Impressions after invalid traffic has been excluded, per GIVT requirements.
Impressions (Invalid). Impressions identified as unintentional or fraudulent by Criteo's traffic monitoring.
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 Commerce Yield's reporting service.
If Criteo detects issues that affect your spend or data, we follow established investigative and escalation processes to determine the overall impact and any potential credits or refunds. These are handled on a case-by-case basis and communicated by Criteo's customer service teams. When needed, data can be reprocessed to correct billing and reporting metrics.
Known Limitations
MRC accreditation does not currently cover all campaign formats:
Offsite campaigns are not included in the current certification scope. Impressions and clicks for offsite formats follow Criteo's standard measurement methodology, but MRC IVT filtering does not apply.
For more information on MRC standards, visit the IAB/MRC Guidelines.