mrge, one of the world’s leading platforms for Commerce Advertising, regularly releases insights into the industry landscape through its industry index “State of Commerce Advertising.” The index captures prevailing sentiments among publishers, advertisers and networks. For the first time, four top industry experts contributed “guest questions”: Kate Knight (CJ), Paul Stewart (Awin), Felix Lander (Business Insider) and Daniel Baptiste-Pilkington (PayPal Shopping). Key takeaways of the survey indicate good partnerships are the cornerstone for success in Commerce Advertising. Commerce Advertising has been able to increase its share of revenue vis-à-vis other marketing channels and many respondents indicated revenues are on the rise, overall. With these positive indicators, the vast majority of respondents are optimistic about 2024.

61.7% of the publishers, advertisers and networks surveyed are satisfied or even very satisfied with their partnerships in Commerce Advertising. Only 5.5% are dissatisfied. 74% of respondents generate at least 15% of their revenue through Commerce Advertising, compared to 58.1% in the same period of the previous year. For 2024, respondents consider the expansion of existing partnerships, the coordination of common goals and solid reporting as decisive factors for successful partner marketing.

Responses to the question posed by guest author Kate Knight (EMEA Group Director / Publisher of Development at CJ) confirm the importance of partnerships. When asked to name the biggest opportunity for revenue growth in 2024, the top 3 results were:

• Increasing investment in partnerships drives revenue (49.3%)
• Diversifying the partner base (31.5%)
• Expanding into other markets (31.5%)

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Felix Witte, General Manager, SVP Publishers & Advertisers at mrge, said: “Commerce Advertising drives revenue. Its share of total revenue increased in 2023 and Commerce Advertising budgets are expected to rise in 2024. This is predominantly attributed to the seamless collaboration among diverse partners and the inherent flexibility of Commerce Advertising. Throughout ongoing changes in cookie management and the entrance of artificial intelligence into the world of marketing, the industry reports of the past two years have shown that Commerce Advertising adapts quickly.”

Select results at a glance:

• Share of total revenue generated by Commerce Advertising is increasing: For 82.2% of respondents, Commerce Advertising accounted for at least 10% of total revenue, compared to 72.1 % in the same period of the previous year.
• Increased budgets planned for 2024: 57.5% of respondents want to increase their budget in 2024 and plan to spend more on Commerce Advertising, while only 2.7% want to reduce their budget.
• Highly satisfied with Q4/2023: 64.3% of respondents are satisfied or even very satisfied with their commercial performance in the fourth quarter of 2023. Despite the economic downturn and consumer restraint, only 6.9% are dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.
• Optimistic outlook for 2024: The overwhelming majority (74%) of respondents are optimistic or very optimistic about their commercial performance in 2024, while only 8.2% are pessimistic.
• Three top trends in 2024: For 58.9% of respondents, “artificial intelligence and/or machine learning” is the most important trend of 2024, followed by “influencer advertising” (47.9%) and “measuring dynamic attribution” (27.4%).

A total of 73 industry experts worldwide were surveyed for the State of Commerce Advertising industry report between December 6 and 19, 2023. The participants consisted of publishers, advertisers, networks, agencies and technology providers.

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