Capital-efficient media buying services deliver more growth, with more efficiency.
Capital-efficient media buying services deliver more growth, with more efficiency.
Across borders and industries, our expertise is growing our client's business.
Across borders and industries, our expertise is growing our client's business.
Paid Media Agency with Proven Results
Paid Media Agency with Proven Results
To navigate media buying investment, our first task is to question assumption.
To navigate media buying investment, our first task is to question assumption.
We look forward to hearing from you.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Mexico is worth entering on its own
Criterion Global is an independent international media agency planning and buying in Mexico for brands that want to win the Mexican consumer, not only the cross-border corridor: national TV, digital, retail media and out-of-home, bought to the rules Mexico sets.
Mexico is Latin America's second-largest economy and a market of 131 million people that would be worth entering without nearshoring. As a digital marketing agency in Mexico that also buys TV, radio, out-of-home and retail media, Criterion Global plans global brands for the Mexican buyer first and treats US cross-border demand as upside, not the brief.
Mexico is Latin America's second-largest economy, with GDP of US$1.83 trillion in 2025 (World Bank), and advertisers spent US$10.0 billion (converted at Banxico's 2025 average of 19.2 pesos per dollar) reaching its 130.9 million people that year, according to the Valor Total Media study from IAB México, AVE and CIM. About two-thirds of that went to digital, but the rest of the mix is moving too: television drew US$2.6 billion, with connected TV already 16.4% of TV budgets; retail media US$1.0 billion; out-of-home US$755 million, up 32.5%; and radio and audio US$344 million, up 23.2%.
Because a Mexican plan rarely wins on digital alone. Digital took about two-thirds of 2025 ad investment, but television still drew US$2.6 billion. Criterion Global is independent and paid only by its clients, so it buys both on evidence, and the same desk runs a brand's other markets. LIV Golf ran its Mexico City campaign with us, and our clients stay an average of 6 years and 6 months.
Check the product against the warning-seal rules first. A food or drink carrying a NOM-051 seal can't advertise with characters, celebrities, athletes or mascots, and needs a COFEPRIS permit before its TV, cinema or online ads run. Consumer law also requires product information and advertising to appear in Spanish, with prices in pesos. Criterion Global builds both into the timeline.
Enough to read a result in more than one city. Mexico City's metro area holds 21.8 million people, and Monterrey and Guadalajara more than 5 million each (2020 census), with their own radio and outdoor markets. Criterion Global sizes the entry to a Minimum Viable Market Investment℠ (MVMI℠), so the first flight covers the cities that matter and is large enough to measure.
Mexican television is concentrated. TelevisaUnivision reports more than 55% of the free-to-air audience across Las Estrellas and Canal 5, while TV Azteca, the second national network, has been in court-supervised restructuring since 2026 and remains on air. Pay TV is just as consolidated: Grupo Televisa's izzi and Sky hold 53% of the country's 18.4 million subscriptions (CRT, Q4 2025). Streaming adds reach on top, through the ad tiers of ViX, Netflix and Prime Video. Commerce media is growing around the country's biggest retailers, with Mercado Ads, Walmart Connect and OXXO's Retina Media, which runs on the Spin Premia loyalty program. Out-of-home is shaped by Mexico City's 2022 outdoor advertising law, which ordered rooftop and unipole billboards down and left licensed sites in Polanco, along Reforma and at the airport carrying premium reach. Radio stays local: Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara are bought as separate markets.
One rule changes the creative before the media. Since 2022, ads for food and drink carrying a NOM-051 warning seal can't use children's characters, animation, celebrities, athletes or mascots on any channel, and need a COFEPRIS permit before they run on TV, in cinema or online. Nearshoring adds upside: Lazard sees room for Mexico to grow roughly 1.5% in 2026, "supported by US supply chain shifts and stabilizing domestic activity."* Criterion Global plans and buys media in Mexico as an independent agency paid only by its clients, and sizes spend through the Criterion Global Budget Blueprint℠ to a defined Minimum Viable Market Investment℠ (MVMI℠). *Lazard is a global media AOR client of Criterion Global, cited here for its published market analysis only.
