Exclusive: Major leadership rejig at Nestle India; Rajat Jain to get significant role within group

Meghalaya becomes first Indian state to sponsor an esports team

Indian broadcasters' Himalayan challenge in Nepal

Big salary gaps in Indian communications: Freshers start low, women hit glass ceiling

Infosys, ITC, Titan, Biocon: Industry leaders join Storyboard18’s Share The Spotlight movement

Nobody’s Perfect Retro Porsche Ad

In Conversation With Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard

Shahid Kapoor And Varun Ganjoo Speaks On PokerBaazi's Campaign

In conversation with IHCL’s Puneet Chhatwal & GroupM’s Kate Scott-Dawkins

Why are brands including e-sports in their sports marketing itinerary?

Storyboard18 x The English Nut: How to pronounce these 10 brand names

Experts' Take On Reinvention Of Ad Campaigns Through Technology

Experts Speak On Key Emerging Trends In Cannes Lions Entries

Leaders of the future have to be outstanding human beings: Nestle MD

In conversation with VMLY&R’s Hari Ramanathan

In a move to challenge Microsoft's dominance in the cloud computing market, Google has filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, accusing Microsoft of anti-competitive practices designed to lock customers into its Azure platform, as per reports.

Google, whose cloud computing business competes directly with Microsoft's Azure and Amazon Web Services, alleges that Microsoft is leveraging its dominant position in the Windows Server operating system to stifle competition. Amit Zavery, Google Cloud Vice President, highlighted that Microsoft charges customers a 400% markup for running Windows Server on rival cloud providers, while offering no such premium for Azure.  Additionally, Zavery claims that users of competing cloud systems receive delayed and limited security updates compared to Azure users.

Google points to a 2023 study by CISPE, a cloud services organization, which found that European businesses and public sector entities are paying up to €1 billion ($1.12 billion) annually in Microsoft licensing penalties. In July, Microsoft settled a similar antitrust complaint with CISPE concerning cloud computing licensing practices, averting an EU investigation. However, the settlement excluded AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and AliCloud, leading to criticism from the first two companies.

Google further alleges that Microsoft has engaged in similar tactics with its collaboration application, Teams, effectively locking customers into using the application even when they prefer alternatives.

"The time to act is now," said Zavery.  "The cloud market will become increasingly restrictive if action isn't taken." 

Google contends that only regulatory intervention can effectively break Microsoft's "vendor lock" and create a level playing field for competitors.  They are calling on the European Commission to investigate Microsoft's practices and ensure that customers have genuine choices in the cloud computing market.

Google emphasizes that Microsoft's Windows Server and other products hold a market share exceeding 70% in European businesses. For years, Microsoft permitted its products to run on any hardware. However, in 2019, as the company expanded into the cloud business, restrictions were imposed. 

The cloud computing market in the EU is growing rapidly, projected to expand at a rate of 20% per year. A McKinsey study in April found that two-thirds of EU companies have migrated less than half of their workloads to the cloud, demonstrating significant untapped potential. 




Google accuses Microsoft of anti-competitive cloud practices, files complaint to EU

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), a subset of AI, has experienced an explosive demand in the competitive job market across sectors worldwide.

A report by staffing firm Cornerstone OnDemand Inc. mentioned that GenAI-related job postings have increased by 411 percent since 2019 across the world. Additionally, AR and VR jobs have increased by 154 percent and the share of automation and robotics job postings has increased by 36 percent since 2019. 

As per Cornerstone's SkyHive data, India led with 4.1 percent of its job postings focused on AI/ML and nearly 18 percent of data analytics jobs, reflecting its growing role in the global AI landscape between January and July 2024.

India also ranked second with 0.66 percent of its job postings focused on GenAI in the first half of the current calendar year.

Organizations are eager to be early adopters of GenAI technology. Notably, the surge in demand for GenAI skills is not just a tech story. Industries such as financial services, pharmaceuticals, and banking are also leveraging AI for their operations.

GenAI is gradually revolutionizing customer segmentation and personalized content creation by automating the analysis of vast
data sets, leading to more targeted and effective campaigns. In finance, it’s optimizing risk management and fraud detection through predictive analytics. In HR, GenAI is streamlining talent acquisition by automating resume screening and enhancing employee engagement with AI-driven feedback systems.

However, the demand for human skills, or soft skills, such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence, consistently exceeded the need for digital skills across regions (US, UK, India, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Japan).

In Asia, 21 percent of employers were looking for human skills in the first half of the current calendar year as per the SkyHive data by Cornerstone while 15.34 percent of employers were looking for digital skills.

In North America, human skills are in demand 2.4 times – and in Europe 2.9 times– more than digital skills, the data mentioned.

“While we can never fully predict the future, history remains a critical guide to understanding how technological advancements reshape industries and skill demands,” said Bledi Taska, Ph.D., Head of Analytics at SkyHive by Cornerstone. 

Further, the report underscored a 40 percent surge in demand for remote or flexible work in Australia, New Zealand, and Western countries. Australia and Germany with 22.8 percent and 21 percent of their job postings were looking for remote or flexible workers. However, in India, only 6.3 percent of employers were looking for remote workers in the past six months.

As per the report, digital platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Uber, and Upwork have made it easier for individuals to find flexible work opportunities.

Millennials and GenZ, in particular, prioritize flexibility and work-life balance more than previous generations, the report added. s. For instance, 22% of Gen Z classify as NEETs (not in employment, education, or training), and a staggering 53% perform freelance work, indicating a shift away from traditional career-based roles.

GenAI demand skyrockets 411% globally since 2019; India leads in AI/ML job postings

A survey conducted by PwC India, titled, ‘GenAI in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT): From concept to reality’, suggests that 58% of organisations in TMT consider GenAI as a long-term disruptor and acknowledge its potential for transformation within the sector. The report explores how GenAI is being used and its expected impact on TMT companies in India. The survey also focuses on GenAI’s adoption levels, use cases, implementation strategies, operational effects and potential challenges.

A majority of TMT CEOs in India have identified GenAI as one of their top five strategic priorities, with nearly 42% ranking it among their top three. CEOs in the technology sector expect significantly more disruption compared to their counterparts in the telecom and media sectors. In technology companies, 68% of respondents view GenAI as a long-term disruptive force, followed by media and entertainment at 51% and telecom at 40%.

Manpreet Singh Ahuja, TMT Sector Leader and Chief Digital Officer at PwC India, commented, “GenAI is rapidly revolutionising the TMT sector, with each industry finding unique applications for the technology. In the technology sector, GenAI is driving product development and system integration, with 80% of companies already leveraging AI solutions. Media and entertainment firms are focusing on content generation and are using GenAI to create audio, video and text, with significant implementations expected within a year, while telecom companies are utilising GenAI for real-time operational support, including automated fault detection and AI-powered digital assistance. These use cases are transforming business models, enhancing customer experiences and unlocking new efficiencies across the sector."

Key findings of the survey:

●        Strategic importance of GenAI: 65% of TMT respondents have already implemented at least one GenAI application and almost half of these companies have outlined a comprehensive strategic roadmap for GenAI implementation. Within the TMT sector, the technology segment shows the highest adoption where around 80% organisations have deployed their first GenAI solution.

●        Adoption by sector: Among companies which have rolled out their initial GenAI solution in the technology, media and entertainment sector, the focus is primarily on product/service enhancement, at 97% and 80% respectively, while the telecom sector emphasises cost optimisation (100%).

●        Return on Investment (RoI): 40% of TMT C-suite, especially in technology and telecom (44% and 40% respectively), are already seeing the benefits of their GenAI initiatives and are on track to achieve the expected RoI. Furthermore, 32% C-suite in the technology sector expect to realise the desired RoI within the next year. However, 30% of telecom sector respondents are uncertain about when they will achieve the desired RoI.

●        Challenges in adoption: As GenAI becomes more autonomous, concerns about control, safety and accountability are becoming more prominent. Companies may face significant challenges related to addressing ethical issues like bias and discrimination, preventing misuse and overuse, protecting data privacy and copyright, and ensuring transparency and explainability in complex algorithms. While 87% of organisations conduct board-level reviews, 67% acknowledge that their policy frameworks are insufficient to effectively address security concerns. Additionally, 62% of companies have increased funding for employee initiatives to promote GenAI adoption.

“The adoption of GenAI can lead to a major transformation in the telecommunications sector. By incorporating GenAI, companies will be able to improve operations and customer satisfaction. This technology is also crucial for reshaping operational structures and achieving greater efficiencies, establishing new benchmarks in customer engagement, and achieving operational flexibility within the sector” added Manpreet

The survey emphasises the importance of adopting a strategic approach for GenAI’s integration and advocates careful assessment of use cases, effective resource allocation and fostering industry collaborations to fully harness GenAI's potential.

Technology companies have higher awareness and use of GenAI among the companies of TMT sector. GenAI is expected to influence many areas of the telecom industry including marketing, customer service, data analysis and product creation. It can also help M&E and technology companies to bring out personalised content for users of all ages, streamline the content development process and explore innovative concepts.

42% TMT CEOs rank GenAI among top 3 strategic priorities: Report

Being a little bit wrong at the right time is better than being entirely right at the wrong time. 

A Cassandra refers to a person who has the ability to foresee or predict future events, but is unable to change or prevent them from happening. 

This term comes from Greek mythology, where Cassandra, the daughter of King Priam of Troy, was granted the gift of prophecy by Apollo. However, when she refused his advances, he cursed her so that no one would believe her predictions. 

Before the Trojan War, Cassandra warned that the Greeks would invade through a wooden horse and sack the city. Her warnings were ignored. Troy was gutted. 

The cruelty of her gift and the tragedy of her malefic fate eventually drove her mad.

Being a Cassandra means possessing a keen insight or intuition about future events. Having the ability and gumption to issue warnings yet being ignored, dismissed, or disbelieved by others.

A Cassandra is often dismissed as a paranoid alarmist. The analysis is dismissed for pessimism.

To have a unique perspective or foresight, but not be taken seriously can make one feel frustrated or powerless especially in the face of impending doom.

Being a Cassandra can be a challenging and isolating experience.

Oracles with no authority, Cassandras keep blabbering about imminent calamities while the world keeps doing its thing. 

Is that so? Does it need to be tragic? 

Think again. In today’s world, to be a Cassandra may be a source of deep power and profit. 

Today - with a connected world of capital and market flows - predicting the future is most profitable exactly when everybody thinks you're wrong.

Knowing - correct and exclusive information - ahead of time is a gold mine when others don’t think so. 

Look for Cassandras - experts, research, or improbable insights. Then check if they are predicting what has been ignored.

The next Cassandra won’t emerge from smarter information management. What data tells us is known to all. It’s the insight that reveals truly. 

When a movie star is a hit, everyone lines up to sign the next movie. This drives up the price and makes the next flop a disaster. Common knowledge erodes return from a good investment. 

Wildlife enthusiasts know of this as the ‘sentinel behaviour’, the ability to detect danger from warning signs before others see it. The behaviour is observed in a variety of animals, such as antelopes. The predator-prey dynamic is such that the pack seems genetically predisposed to respond quickly to the warnings.

In humans, that ability is less well developed. Mankind doesn’t intuitively get probabilistic downsides.

That is precisely why predicting the future is most profitable when everybody thinks you're wrong.

Shubhranshu Singh is CMO, Tata Motors CVBU. He writes Simply Speaking, a column on Storyboard18. Views expressed are personal.

Simply Speaking: Shorts #2 - Cassandra revisited

Paytm founder and Chairman Vijay Shekhar Sharma on Thursday spoke about how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will revolutionize the fintech industry. Sharma, during the 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Paytm's parent firm One97 Communications Ltd, said, "Companies and businesses that will start adopting AI at a very early stage will become successful," and added, "GenAI will have a profound impact on every industry across the country".

The Paytm chairman also mentioned, "Just like India has taken the lead in the financial technology, the same way it will do it in the AI space. Paytm will lead the industry with AI capability".

Talking about Japan's PayPay, Sharma said Paytm has adopted AI in Japan, supporting risk management and fraud detection.

"Our risk management and fraud detection systems not only enhance our payment solutions in India but also support one of the largest mobile payment companies in Japan (PayPay), where we are also a potential shareholder. There is strong demand and high expectations for us to continue advancing our AI-powered risk management solutions," Sharma added.

	
<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-makers/paytm-money-appoints-venkatesh-srinivasan-as-non-executive-independent-director-40670.htm">Paytm Money appoints Venkatesh Srinivasan as Non-Executive Independent Director</a>

He said that the company's goal right now is to harness AI in the fintech space.

"Our goal is to harness these technologies to improve our core business operations and drive down expenses," Sharma said.

Notably, the company laid off more than 1,000 employees from its operations, sales, and engineering teams in December after adopting AI in most of the operational work.

Apart from AI, the Paytm boss said he would reapply for a payment aggregator (PA) license to reserve Bank in due course.

Recently, the Centre allowed Paytm to invest in its payment services business.

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-marketing/paytm-agrees-to-sell-entertainment-ticketing-business-to-zomato-for-rs-2048-cr-cash-40159.htm">Paytm to sell Entertainment Ticketing business to Zomato for Rs 2,048</a>

“We would like to inform you that PPSL has received approval from the government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, vide its letter dated August 27, 2024, for downstream investment from the company into PPSL. With this approval in place, PPSL will proceed to resubmit its PA application. In the meantime, PPSL will continue to provide online payment aggregation services to existing partners,” Paytm had informed the stock exchanges earlier.

RBI had rejected Paytm’s PA licence permit application in November 2022 and instructed the company to reapply with Press Note 3 compliance under the foreign direct investment norms.

One97 Communications stock closed at 0.083% up at Rs 667.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Thursday.

AI will have profound impact on every industry: Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Paytm

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL.O), has lost its appeal against a €2.42 billion fine imposed by the EU for anti-competitive practices. This is one of three significant fines levied on the company in the past decade.

In 2017, the European Commission fined Google for using its own price comparison shopping service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European rivals. A lower tribunal upheld the EU's decision in 2021, prompting Google to appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

The CJEU judges ruled that EU law prohibits dominant companies from engaging in conduct that hinders competition and harms individual undertakings and consumers. Google has now accrued €8.25 billion in EU antitrust fines. It is also facing EU charges that could force it to sell part of its adtech business.

EU court upholds €2.42 billion fine against Google

The Context – Economy and Digitization

Both central and state governments offer thousands of e-services from education to e-Commerce, healthcare to hospitality, and translation to taxation. The testing times during the Covid-19 pandemic provided further evidence on importance of e-services.

Enabling policy instruments, well-resourced public institutions and world-class infrastructure are essential for India’s transformation to ‘Viksit Bharat’. However, in line with ‘Ease of Living Mission’ highlighted by the Prime Minister on Independence Day, e-services would be crucial in this national endeavor. No wonder, theme of 27th National Conference on e-Governance was ‘Viksit Bharat: Secure and Sustainable E-Service Delivery’.

With more than 1.2 billion mobile connections a majority on smartphones and almost one billion Internet users with almost half of them on one or more social network, average monthly mobile data consumption in India is 24 GB, according to Nokia. Not only India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) model is being highlighted by World Bank, UN and G20 but is also being adopted elsewhere. For example, while India clocked 14.4 billion UPI transactions during July 2024, UPI also works at Eiffel Tower, Singapore taxis and UAE stores.

However, such a massive and busy networks with diverse users and providers, devices and services, are also a hotbed of cybersecurity risks like identity theft, financial frauds, misinformation, disinformation and much more. 

While all cybersecurity risks create challenges, the impact is further accentuated in case of government services. Moreover, malicious actors could even compromise and cripple critical infrastructure, as seen during the 2023 cyber-attack targeting AIIMS, the most premier healthcare facility in the country. During the New Delhi G20 Summit in September 2023, its official website experienced 1.6 million attacks per minute. Hence, it is crucial to ensure that the e-Services are secure by design and by default. 

The Challenges – Speed, Software and System

Public sector e-services have some unique challenges of balancing seemingly divergent needs – speed and scale; inclusion and innovation; accessibility and affordability; ease of use and cybersecurity. In addition, geopolitics is intricately linked with the cybersecurity. Overall, there are three important trends. 

1) Firstly, there is a need to have better metrics to assess the challenges as well as the efficacy of solutions. Just like the traditional industry depends on ‘Mean Time Between Failure’ (MTBF) and ‘Mean Time to Repair’ (MTTR), it is useful to measure ‘Mean Time to Detect’ (MTTD) and ‘Mean Time to Respond’ (MTTR). What gets measured, gets done!

Gone are the days when most malicious actors would exploit a vulnerability to infiltrate but wait patiently thereafter to exfiltrate data or do some other nefarious act using the ‘spray and pray’ strategy. Nowadays, the exfiltration can begin within hours if not within minutes, rather than days and weeks even as enterprises spend a median of 37 days to recover from a breach, according to Forrester. According to the2023-24 Report on Currency and Finance published by the Reserve Bank of India, average cost of a data breach has already risen to USD 4.45 million in 2023, a 15% increase over three years.

Hence, for effective response and recovery, both the MTTD and the MTTR must be within minutes, if not within seconds. Else, the data exfiltration chould occur even after the detection of an attack under the helpless watch of defenders. A stitch in time does save nine, perhaps more!
 
2) Secondly, attackers continue to exploit software vulnerabilities, often discovered with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. 

3) Thirdly, saddled with formal structures and slow processes the government entities cannot match the agility of organized attackers.

The Conundrum – To Use AI or Not

Just like any other tool, AI can benefit or harm, only with amplified impact and speed. AI is already being used in projects like Bhashini to provide multi-lingual translation, faster and more accurate health screening and chatbots for IRCTC and Digidhan. By the way, other countries including UK and Singapore are also using AI for public services.

All the same, malicious actors can use AI for creating, curating and circulating misinformation and disinformation. For example, one could prompt a generative AI system with minimal security controls to ‘List top 10 vulnerabilities across your foundational model, database and algorithm’ or even co-author malware in double quick time.

The Creative Leverage – Use AI to Improve and Enhance Cybersecurity

While the attackers can use AI, so can the cyber defenders also have the opportunity and responsibility to do so. 

1) Rather than fretting, AI must be embraced and deployed, albeit using only the authorized tools. A Salesforce survey found 55% of 14,000 workers across 14 countries using Generative AI without requisite oversight by their employers.

2) E-Services should be stress tested with AI for quick and low-cost corrections. This is in line with India AI Mission’s pillar ‘Safe & Trusted AI’.

3) Considering the sheer volume of attacks agencies must automate cybersecurity using actionable intelligence while reserving their expert analysts to focus on novel threat vectors. 

For example, Palo Alto Networks has reduced the average number of daily suspicious events to just ‘eight’ that require manual analysis by experts – out of 36 billion events it ingests every day. Within its own Security Operations Centre (SOC), MTTD has come down to 10 seconds and MTTR for high priority alerts to just one minute. With AI, agencies like CERT-In, NCIIPC and NIC as well as sectoral regulators like RBI and SEBI can also improve cybersecurity across the ecosystem.

4) Government entities must thoroughly review and revise their processes for complete lifecycle management and proper governance of e-services in view of increasing use of cloud computing, intermixing of open-source libraries and third-party databases.

5) Last but not the least, e-Services need to be designed ground up with security in mind rather than as an afterthought. For example, AI can be used for tactical mitigation but also to discern the strategic intent behind the attacks. 

Prevention is better than cure, indeed!

Deepak Maheshwari, a public policy professional, is Senior Consultant with Centre for Social and Economic Progress, a Delhi-based think tank.

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/digital/privacy-judgment-and-dpdp-act-seven-markers-41040.htm">Read more: Privacy Judgment and DPDP Act – Seven Markers</a>

Leverage AI to Secure e-Services

A cloud services outage of Microsoft impacted several industries across the globe on Friday. According to the Reuters news agency, airlines, the stock market, businesses, and banks were severely affected due to the software outage. The services were affected due to technical problems at the US tech giant and American cyber security company CrowrdStrike.

The outage affected Microsoft 365 and Azure cloud services. Microsoft Windows is one of the clients of the CrowdStrike. Whereas Falcon is one of the main products of the CrowdStrike. 

George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike said that the company is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.

Kurtz said they have identified the issue and a fix has been deployed.

"We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website," he said.


Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a social media post that the Indian government is in touch with Microsoft regarding the global outage. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) issued an advisory about the outage that occurred due to CrowdStrike agent Falcon Sensor. 

The CERT-In said the issue occurred in the last update of CrowdStrike and the changes have been reverted by the CrowdStrike team. It advised to "boost window into Safe Mode or WIndow Recovery Environment; Navigate to the C:\Windows\System32\drivers\CrowdStrike directory; Locate the file matching "C-00000291*.sys", and delete it, and boost the host normally" to stay online to receive the Channel File Changes. It said that the preliminary cause was a configuration change that "resulted in connectivity failures".

Microsoft has said that it was probing into the matter.

Here's how the Microsoft outage affected the global businesses:

All major Indian airlines such as IndiGo, Vistara, SpiceJet, Air India, and Akasa Air experienced issues with online services due to problems with their service providers. The Indira Gandhi International airport mentioned that some of its services were temporarily impacted "due to global IT issues" on Friday. Besides, several major US airlines such as Delta, and American airlines were grounded due to communication issues. Besides, Australian airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas Airways were also impacted by massive tech disruption. Singapore's famed Changi Airport also faced IT disruption.

In Australia, banking and telecoms institutions such as ANZ, Westpac, Visa, and Optus were affected.

UK's major television channel Sky News was unable to broadcast after the outage. 

Israel's health ministry said that the outage affected hospitals and other health services in the country. "This is not a cyber-attack but a malfunction" in one piece of software, affecting servers and computers.

Both the London Stock Exchange and the Malaysian Stock Exchange experienced disruption due to CrowdStrike Microsoft Windows. In India, some brokerages reported technical glitches. Such as 5paisa and IIFL Securities told clients that their systems were affected due to a cyber outage.

Microsoft outage hits airlines, stock markets, hospital services globally

In the age of digital disruption, 77% of the startups in India are investing in advanced technologies, including AI, ML, IoT, and blockchain, according to a study by SAP-Dun & Bradstreet.

The study titled, "Value Creation and Sustainable Growth: The Blueprint for Startup Profitability in India," said that startups have proactively integrated advanced technologies to achieve operational efficiency.

Almost 80% of the startups believe that adopting enterprise applications integrated with new-age technologies such as AI is essential for scaling and improving unit economics. Whereas 72% of startups already have or are looking to invest in new-age technologies.

85% of startups in the country said that unit economics is a clear path to profitability and enhancing valuation.

The report noted that Tier-2 and 3 cities have become innovation hubs. As many as 40% of total tech startups originate from these cities, the report added.

"Cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur, Madurai, Indore, Kochi, Warangal, Hubli, Raipur, Vishakhapatnam, and Guwahati, among others, host 15% of the country's tech skill pool," according to the study.

"The rising prominence of Tier II and Tier III cities as innovation hubs has further decentralized economic development. As we navigate the challenges of funding limitations and market volatility, start-ups must focus on unit economics and profitability to build sustainable and profitable enterprises," Avinash Gupta, Managing Director & CEO – India, Dun & Bradstreet said.

Several startups have adopted new-age technologies such as agritech startups have adopted AI-powered drones and IoT devices optimising farming practices, enhancing yield, and reducing labour costs. Fintech startups are using AI algorithms for credit scoring and risk assessment and also detecting fraud.

64% respondents of in the study said that the adoption of enterprise applications is key to measuring rapidly changing customer behavior and making strategic decisions to scale and improve unit economics.

Nearly 80% of Indian startups investing in AI, other advanced technologies: Report

Commerce media company Criteo has announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft Advertising to boost retail media growth. Microsoft Advertising has also intended to work with Criteo as its preferred onsite media partner, the company added.

Retail media is one of the fastest-growing sectors in advertising and is expected to represent over $150 billion in global ad spend by 2026, according to GroupM. However, 93% of marketers worldwide cite market fragmentation as a significant challenge. Criteo and Microsoft Advertising have intended to develop a more unified buying experience for global advertisers. According to Criteo, the collaboration may empower Microsoft Advertising’s 500,000 plus active advertiser clients that operate across 187 global markets.

"We’re thrilled to expand our relationship with Microsoft Advertising to make it easier for brands to buy retail media and for retailers to expand demand into their media solutions,” said Brian Gleason, Chief Revenue Officer at Criteo. "We look forward to continuing to evolve our collaboration and help drive growth across retail media".

Criteo is also exploring the potential to tap into Microsoft Advertising’s generative AI technology, such as its AI-powered Retail Media Creative Studio.
 
“Together, Microsoft Advertising and Criteo can chart a new path forward for retail media, empowering the entire ecosystem with scale, simplicity, and innovation,” said Lynne Kjolso, Vice President of Global Partnerships and Retail Media at Microsoft Advertising.

The demand integration and preferred onsite collaboration are expected to roll out in the second half of 2024.

TECHNOLOGY