Rakuten Advertising & impact.com: A New Era for Your Partnership Program

Our Strategic Partnership with impact.com

What this means for advertiser clients on our network

The way brands grow through partnerships is evolving-and we’re evolving with it.

Rakuten Advertising has entered a strategic partnership with impact.com, bringing together two leaders in performance marketing to unlock the next era of growth. By combining industry-leading technology with our global expertise, analytics, and managed services, we’re creating a more powerful, connected approach to partnership marketing.

For our clients, this means more opportunity, more clarity, and stronger performance-without disruption to what’s already working.

A Stronger Foundation for Growth

As part of this partnership, Rakuten Advertising has selected impact.com as our exclusive technology platform. This brings together advanced infrastructure with the strategic expertise and service model you already rely on.

With Rakuten Advertising and impact.com, you’ll gain access to:

• A broader and more diverse global marketplace of publishers, creators, and partners of all types
• Deeper tracking and insights across the customer journey for more measurement and incrementality reporting
• AI-driven optimization and automation powered by joint innovation initiatives
• Access to one of the most comprehensive and flexible partnership platforms in the industry

All while at the same time, what matters most stays consistent – your Rakuten account team remains the same, your strategy remains intact, and your program continues to be managed with the same level of care, expertise to optimize your results. In addition, our products such as Audience Engine, will also be made available on impact.com. We will continue to accelerate our products like Mirai and Detect that will work seamlessly with running partner management on impact.com technology.

A Supported, Seamless Transition

We know that change only works when it’s done right.

That’s why Rakuten and impact.com have collaborated to ensure your transition to impact.com is fast, and easy, as well as fully supported, structured, and tailored to your program. Migrations will take place in carefully planned waves over the course of this year and next, ensuring every client receives the attention and guidance needed for a smooth experience.

Our priority is simple: business continuity with no disruption to performance. This transition will be substantially simpler than a typical platform migration.

To ensure a smooth and efficient transition, we’re doing the heavy lifting and providing:

• Account Integration: your existing program data, publisher partner relationships, and terms are seamlessly carried over, allowing you to go live quickly with minimal effort. Your partners will not need to rejoin your program.
• Extended link redirects: we will redirect your existing publishers’ links for at least two years so you don’t experience revenue loss.
• Program mirroring: your data will be reflected in impact.com and Rakuten Advertising for easy access for the foreseeable future.
• Historical data: you’ll be able to access your Rakuten Advertising data for a few years so nothing is lost, this data is also mirrored in impact.com.
• Contracting: impact.com will be a subcontractor of Rakuten Advertising and you will continue to work with Rakuten Advertising directly, so you won’t need to manage a separate vendor relationship.

All programs will eventually need to replace their technical Rakuten integration with impact.com’s technology, but this is not required upfront to complete the migration. Throughout that process, your account team at Rakuten remains your primary point of contact. We will work alongside impact.com’s solutions team for added technical support. Many of those integrations can be done quickly without any engineering assistance.

What You Can Expect Next

Every program is different, and your transition will reflect that.

• If you’re ready to move forward now, let your Rakuten account team know so you can discuss your available migration options.
• If you’d like to explore further, please contact your Rakuten team, we’ll work with impact.com to walk you through the platform and tailor a demo to your program.
• If you prefer to wait, no immediate action is needed-we’ll guide you through the process with plenty of notice and support.
• The goal is clear: a smooth transition that unlocks more value from your partnerships.

If your program is solely managed by an agency, your program will continue to be managed by the same agency on the impact.com technology – your relationships and publisher partnerships stay intact.

If your program is managed by an agency as well as Rakuten Advertising, this will also continue as is and we will work with that agency for all migration and implementation requirements.

Expanding What Partnership Marketing Can Do

Partnership marketing has grown beyond traditional affiliate models. Today, it spans creators, content, referrals, advocacy, and commerce across channels, devices, and regions.

This partnership reflects that evolution. With impact.com’s technology and Rakuten Advertising’s global strategy and execution, we’re enabling:

• More diverse and dynamic partnership opportunities
• Better measurement and attribution across the full funnel
• Greater flexibility to adapt to new channels and partner types

In short, you’re not just transitioning to a new platform-you’re stepping into a more advanced, scalable model for growth.

Built for Today-and What’s Next

This partnership is about more than technology. It’s about helping you navigate a changing landscape with confidence. You’ll continue to work with the same trusted team, now equipped with more powerful tools, deeper insights, and expanded capabilities to drive performance.

Together, we’re building a future where partnership marketing is more connected, more measurable, and more impactful than ever before.

If you have questions or want to explore what this means for your program, your Rakuten Advertising team is here to help every step of the way.

What this means for publishers and partners on our network

Rakuten Advertising is moving to impact.com as our exclusive technology platform – and for you, that means more opportunities with the same trusted partnerships. If you choose to sign up on the impact.com platform, the brand relationships you’ve built will carry over, your tracking will continue to work, and you’ll gain access to a more advanced platform designed to help you grow.

Getting started is simple:

• If you already have an impact.com account, you’ll be guided to link to enable an “auto-join” feature for a seamless migration into your current advertiser accounts.
• If you’re new, you’ll receive a personalized invite with your details pre-filled, so onboarding can be quick and easy.
• To make it even more streamlined, we will redirect existing publisher links for the foreseeable future for a quick and easy transition.

Once you’re on impact.com, you’ll unlock:

• Access to more brands and partnership opportunities
• Faster, deeper reporting and insights
• Industry-leading tracking to ensure fair attribution

There’s no immediate action required, but the sooner you’re live, the more opportunities you’ll unlock.

Same partnerships. More possibilities. A platform built to help you grow.