Criteo CEO and co-founder Jean-Baptiste Rudelle is the rankings. But where? Criteo Ad tech stocks may have taken a dive in the first quarter, but the industry is still big business. Spending on digital ads in the US alone is expected to reach $52.8 billion this year, according to Strategy Analytics.

And as money keeps flowing through the pipes, ad tech execs are being rewarded handsomely.

Methodology: Our ranking looked at SEC filings, taking account of total annual 2014 compensation, including salary, stock awards, option awards, and other incentives. That's an obvious flaw because a lot of people on this list hold a lot of their net worth in stock they have accumulated over previous years and through other assets and investments.

This list is by no means extensive: We chose to look at public companies only, so many big names like AppNexus, InMobi, and RadiumOne are not in there. We also only looked at pure-play ad tech companies: Otherwise ad tech execs at Google, Oracle, and Facebook would surely make the list too.