NEW YORK,Sept. 12,2024 -- Rakuten Advertising,the leading global affiliate marketing network,announced the launch of its AI-driven Partnership Discovery solution for advertisers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market. This innovative solution,which has already transformed how advertisers find new partners in the US and UK,will empower advertisers in the Rakuten Advertising APAC network to identify the most effective publisher partners for high-performance affiliate campaigns.

In addition to its new availability to advertisers in the APAC region,Partnership Discovery now has new industry-leading search functionality that relies on network performance data to uncover valuable publisher audiences. This functionality provides advertisers with a unique solution for identifying publishers with a proven history of selling a specific brand.

"This expansion of Partnership Discovery is part of our ongoing initiative to be a leader in affiliate marketing innovation and harness the power of AI to deliver stronger partnerships with publishers," says Nick Stamos,CEO of Rakuten Advertising. "With our vast database of transactional data,use of advanced machine learning models,and a robust AI-forward infrastructure,Rakuten Advertising is leading the way to help brands unlock efficient affiliate and influencer marketing strategies."

Partnership Discovery enables advertisers to:

Assign products with an accurate category tag from Google's Product Taxonomy

Analyze billions of annual sales delivered through the Rakuten Advertising network toidentify the publishers that deliver the best performancein their product category

Offer advertisers alternative search terms and categoriesto find optimal publisher partners to reach audiences at both category and product levels

The new brand search functionality builds on the existing AI capabilities of Partnership Discovery and unlocks the capability for advertisers to:

Search by brand name to receive recommendations for publishers with a proven history of selling specific brands

Identify publishers that reach niche audiences,such as luxury buyers,by searching for high-end brand names,allowing advertisers to tap into specific,high-value consumer segments

Partnership Discovery,including the new brand search functionality,is available now to all Rakuten Advertising clients in the APAC,US and UK markets. For more information,visit www.rakutenadvertising.com.

About Rakuten Advertising

Rakuten Advertising delivers performance-driven,brand-driven,and people-driven ad solutions that help the world's top brands connect with unique,highly engaged audiences – from first impression to final sale. Backed by Affiliate Intelligence,industry-leading technology,global media properties,and the largest,high-quality partner network,Rakuten Advertising taps into data and experience to develop the strategies and ad experiences that will drive engagement,sales,loyalty,and beyond.

A leader in the industry since its beginnings,Rakuten Advertising is a division of Rakuten Group,Inc. (4755:TOKYO),one of the world's leading internet service companies. The company is headquartered inSan Mateo,California,with offices throughout EMEA,APAC,LATAM,andNorth America. Learn more atRakutenAdvertising.com.

Media Contact: steven.shaw@rakuten.com