Japan Leadership Intelligence, Case Study
In most markets an adtech company can sell to advertisers directly. In Japan the agencies still sit between the technology and the money, and which agency group actually sells your product decides a lot, including who you should hire to run Japan. The Trade Desk and Criteo show two very different answers.
Japan's internet advertising passed half of all ad spend for the first time in 2025, at ¥4.05 trillion of ¥8.06 trillion, according to Dentsu's annual 日本の広告費 (Nihon no kōkokuhi) report. Programmatic buying makes up most of it. That is a big prize for foreign adtech, and most of it still flows through a small number of Japanese agency groups. Even after Dentsu's troubles overseas, Japan still produces more than half of its underlying operating profit.
I have a personal interest here. My team at Experis Executive placed Japan Country Managers for both of these companies.
The Trade Desk: agency-only, so it hired from the agencies
The Trade Desk opened in Tokyo in July 2014. Its business model is simple: it sells to agencies and their trading desks, never to advertisers directly. Its first Japan Country Manager, Tetsuya Shintani (新谷哲也), had spent about ten years at Dentsu, and said so plainly in 2015. The company has no direct advertiser deals anywhere, and agencies are its customers.
Shintani ran Japan for about five and a half years. His successor, Kei Majima (馬嶋慶), was named General Manager in 2020. He had held senior sales roles at Hakuhodo, was a founding member of Facebook Japan and had been Taboola's Japan Country Manager. His brief was to deepen relationships with agencies and media owners. Two Japan heads, one from Dentsu and one from Hakuhodo.
It has paid off in partnerships. In October 2025 Hakuhodo launched a joint service combining its TV viewing data with The Trade Desk's digital data. In July 2026 The Trade Desk added 7-Eleven Japan's retail data, covering about 28 million app members. Its current Tokyo job ads ask for experience with Dentsu, Hakuhodo and the global holding companies.
The risk is the flip side of the model. The Trade Desk's annual report shows two holding companies each made up more than 10% of its gross billings in 2025. This year WPP and Dentsu were reported to have pulled back from one of its programmes over fee transparency, which The Trade Desk disputes. Growth slowed to 3% in the second quarter, and it cut about 575 jobs in September. When the agencies are your only customers, a disagreement with them is a disagreement with your whole revenue base.
Criteo: one big partner, then the independent agencies
Criteo set up its Japan company in 2011 and made its name with one deal. In August 2012 it became the exclusive provider of personalised display ads on Yahoo! JAPAN, the first time Yahoo! JAPAN had let third-party technology onto its site in sixteen years. Yahoo! JAPAN also took a stake in the Japan company, 34% as of 2020.
Its founding Japan head, Masahiro (Max) Ueno (上野正博), built the region from four people to about 250 across six offices, at one point around a fifth of Criteo's global revenue. He went on to run BuzzFeed Japan and lead Sojern and Outbrain in the region.
Criteo's agency picture looks nothing like The Trade Desk's. Its own partner awards in February 2025 put CyberAgent in the top tier, with Septeni and Hakuhodo DY Group next. Dentsu wasn't on the list. CyberAgent calls itself Criteo's number one seller in Japan. And in a twist, Criteo's global CEO since 2025, Michael Komasinski, previously ran dentsu Americas.
What it means for the Japan hire
| The Trade Desk | Criteo | |
|---|---|---|
| Japan entry | Jul 2014 | 2011 |
| Route to market | Agencies and trading desks only | Yahoo! JAPAN exclusive, then a tiered agency reseller programme |
| Who sells the most | Major agency groups and holding companies | CyberAgent, Septeni, Hakuhodo DY |
| Japan heads' background | Dentsu, then Hakuhodo | Founder-builder who grew all of APAC |
The Trade Desk hired people the big agencies already trusted, because the big agencies were its customers. Criteo's volume comes mainly through the independent digital agencies, led by CyberAgent. A Country Manager with a long Dentsu career would open different doors for Criteo than for The Trade Desk, and maybe not the most useful ones.
What I'd take from it
- Work out which agency group really moves your volume before you write the job spec. Dentsu, Hakuhodo, CyberAgent and the global holding companies are different networks. Hire the leader whose relationships match your actual channel.
- Agency background is an asset with a ceiling. It gets you in the door. As more advertisers buy directly and retail media grows, as with 7-Eleven, the Japan head also needs to sell to brands without upsetting the agencies.
- Watch the single-partner trap. A launch built on one big partner, like Criteo with Yahoo! JAPAN, gives you scale fast. It also means the Japan business depends on that relationship holding.
Sources
- Dentsu, 2025 Advertising Expenditures in Japan, March 2026 (Japanese): kyodonewsprwire.jp
- Dentsu drops international sale, 2026: ppc.land
- The Trade Desk opens Tokyo office, July 2014: thetradedesk.com
- MarkeZine interview with Tetsuya Shintani, May 2015 (Japanese): markezine.jp
- The Trade Desk appoints Kei Majima, June 2020 (Japanese): businesswire.com
- Hakuhodo launches AaaS with The Trade Desk, October 2025 (Japanese): zaikei.co.jp
- The Trade Desk and 7-Eleven Japan, July 2026 (Japanese): kyodonewsprwire.jp
- The Trade Desk Tokyo job ad, 2026: careercross.com
- The Trade Desk annual report for 2025: sec.gov
- WPP and Dentsu and OpenPath, March 2026: storyboard18.com
- The Trade Desk Q2 2026 results: adweek.com
- The Trade Desk job cuts, September 2026: ppc.land
- Criteo and Yahoo! JAPAN partnership, August 2012: criteo.investorroom.com
- Criteo annual report for 2020: sec.gov
- Criteo Osaka office and Masahiro Ueno, July 2014 (Japanese): ecnomikata.com
- Criteo Japan partner awards, February 2025 (Japanese): webtan.impress.co.jp
- CyberAgent on Criteo Diamond status (Japanese): cyberagent.co.jp
- Criteo appoints Michael Komasinski CEO, 2025: commercepick.com
Research note: AI assisted with research and drafting. Murray Clarke reviewed the analysis and remains responsible for its conclusions. Market figures come from Dentsu's annual report on Japanese ad spend; company facts come from SEC filings, company releases and the Japanese and English press listed, read in October 2026. Views on hiring are his own. Source links may later become unavailable if publishers move or remove their pages.
