Part 1 of The 3 Keys to Affiliate Intelligence by Rakuten Advertising Series: The Richest Data, Industry-First AI

As one of the first pioneers of affiliate marketing, Rakuten Advertising has been driving the industry ever since. Virtually every innovation in the industry, we’ve led the way with new tech and techniques. And now, we’re ready to reveal what’s next.

Affiliate Intelligence—brought to you exclusively by Rakuten Advertising—is designed to equip both brands and publishers with the very best affiliate has to offer, to take full advantage of everything affiliate can do. It’s a combination of things: Decades of deep data. Unprecedented use of AI. A global, full-funnel network. Expert strategies focused on results, both today and tomorrow. All brought together to reach audiences like never before.

In this 3-part series, we’ll take a closer look at the 3 key elements of Affiliate Intelligence and how Rakuten Advertising is continually working to deliver on them. First up: The richest data. And industry-first AI.

The best data in affiliate. Backed by affiliate’s biggest data science team. Simply put, we’ve got a level of breadth and depth to our intel that others just don’t: Over 3.5 billion data points tracked annually—augmented by additional high-fidelity info, including:

• Exclusive transaction and loyalty data
• Geographic data from trusted sources around the globe
• Shopping and sales data from consumer panels that no one else is even touching
• Performance data, data from web traffic and market research

There’s also our unique approach to analyzing and applying this data: With a combination of sophisticated AI, machine learning, and in-house analytics, we’re able to uncover connections, patterns, trends, and insights like no one else. This rigorous approach helps us find the best opportunities at the greatest scale: Intel that’s always improving, always delivering smarter strategies, greater efficiencies, better outcomes—and all while continuing to respect consumer privacy.

But, data alone can only do so much. We also have more data scientists than anyone else in affiliate—hundreds of experts working together, sharing their findings, spotting what others don’t. Together, they help everyone on our team and every one of our clients better understand audiences, across each vertical, and in each region.

This data is powerful. And it already helps our customers do so much. But, at the same time, we’ve also been preparing this data for something even greater.

Leading in affiliate AI. To spot the opportunities. And predict their performance.

At the moment, it feels like everyone is talking about the power and potential of AI. But, while most businesses are just getting on board with the concept, we’ve been working towards a vision of powerful affiliate AI tools for years.

And now, after years of research, development, and testing, we’re well ahead of the game. Rakuten Advertising now offers AI-powered tools, features, and capabilities like no one else—to help affiliate marketers run better campaigns, every step of the way. AI that recommends the best partners and places to reach your audiences. AI that let you predict and measure how those partnerships play out. AI that help you see what others miss, win in new ways, and keep learning and improving, so you can keep winning and winning.

• Partnership Discovery – AI and machine learning help you find the specific partners that will drive greater for your product—including unexpected and emerging opportunities. Backed by proven data from millions of sales, Partnership Discovery lets you perform detailed searches in plain language, so finding the right fit and the most successful spend is faster and easier than ever.
• Forecasting and Benchmarking – Included as part of our platform, you can now use AI to predict and assess program performance, wherever you are in the funnel. Accurately plan, scope, and budget where and how to spend, based on previous publisher data, so can you make these crucial decisions faster and more confidently. Then, measure and compare ongoing performance against your own data or from similar businesses. Uncover the reasons behind what’s happening, and then use these findings to find even more value.
• Placement Recommender – If you’re just launching a program, you may have specific goals in mind, but you might not know exactly where to begin. Placement Recommender lets you tap into our historical data to explore the potential placements shown to best meet your unique needs—from sales to ROAS. From there, you can test and experiment to see how these sometimes-surprising partnerships play out in the long run.

We’ve rethought the entire affiliate journey and user experience, to help you unlock the highest level of performance, and show your business what affiliate can really do.

And that’s just the beginning. Rakuten Advertising is now the first affiliate solution to partner with OpenAI. Together, we’ll work to introduce and enhance new AI innovations to help affiliate do more with less effort: Natural language interfaces. More detailed reporting. Spotting anomalies. Developing content.

Ultimately, at Rakuten Advertising, our goal is to prepare affiliate marketers for the future, so we’ll continue to invest in and advance AI—and any other emerging technology that can help you succeed.

Data and AI are the driving force behind Affiliate Intelligence.

Next time, see where we’re driving.

With Affiliate Intelligence, we’re tapping into the full range of data and investing in the very latest AI technology to drive greater understanding, smarter choices, and stronger partnerships. In Part 2, we’ll explore the next piece of the puzzle—the global network of the premium channels and publishers our data and AI lead you to: A rich marketing mix, backed by powerful tools and real relationships, to help meet your unique goals for affiliate— awareness, consideration, conversion, and beyond.