With its quarterly index State of Commerce Advertising, mrge takes the temperature of internationally-active publishers, advertisers, and networks in the Commerce Advertising industry. Results for the first quarter of 2023 are now available – and they offer many surprises.

In the advertising industry, the first quarter is considered the most difficult, compared to the “shop-happy” fourth quarter. Nonetheless, in the report State of Commerce Advertising, 83.3 percent of respondents say they are satisfied, very satisfied, or neutral regarding Q1/2023. Compared to Q4/2022, sales increased for only 26.2 percent of respondents; in Q4/2022, sales had increased for 66 percent. For a combined 67.2 percent, sales at least did not decrease in Q1/2023. Perhaps for this reason, more than half (54.7 percent) of respondents are optimistic or very optimistic about the coming months, which is only slightly less than in the last index (57.5 percent).

“The steady sense of optimism could be a sign that Commerce Advertising is a comparatively safe haven, especially in times of crisis. This positive assessment is surprising, especially following the traditionally strong fourth quarter, and boosts confidence,” says Felix Witte, General Manager & SVP Publishers, mrge.

For the industry survey State of Commerce Advertising, mrge asked 49 senior executives worldwide for their assessment of the past quarter and their expectations for the coming months. This survey took place from February 28 to March 19, 2023. To view the full report, please click here.

More results at a glance:

• Greatest challenges are the global economic situation & inflation, privacy-compliant tracking, and generating high-quality traffic sources.
• Cost-per-order (CPO) is the most popular billing model.
• Improved tracking technologies offer the greatest growth potential for publishers and advertisers, according to the largest group of respondents (35.5 percent). This is followed by publisher diversification, and integration of mobile and app tracking (32.3 percent each).

For the second time in a row, the mrge index showed that artificial intelligence and machine learning are among the hottest topics in Commerce Advertising. 55.8 percent consider this area one of the key developments in the coming year, followed by influencer advertising and privacy-friendly tracking (41.2 percent each) as well as dynamic attribution and brand safety (29.4 percent each).

Marketing Technology News: MarTech Interview with Dmitry Kudrenko, CEO at Stripo

“The demands that advertisers and users place on publishers are increasing. Especially when it comes to data privacy and protection, more and more people are paying very close attention. On the other hand, advertisers and publishers can win users’ trust by demonstrating serious commitment to these issues. Fortunately, our survey shows that the industry is well aware of this, and has recognized the potential of alternative tracking technologies,” comments Nikolaus Spitzy, General Manager & SVP Advertisers, mrge.

mrge is a leading commerce advertising platform, connecting 5,500+ publishers, 55,000+ advertisers, and 100+ networks – in over 160 countries. In 2022, the group generated 3.5 billion affiliate clicks for its publisher clients, resulting in more than two billion euros of additional e-commerce revenue for its advertiser clients. By merging smart tools, technologies, and formats, mrge brings campaign messages closer to content, creating value for publishers, advertisers, and users alike. mrge combines the strengths of four market-leading companies: digidip, which focuses on premium publishers with high traffic; shopping24, which offers product recommendation solutions; SourceKnowledge, an established CPC platform; and Yieldkit, which enables high reach and quality performance. mrge is backed by the private equity investment group Waterland as majority shareholder and is led by CFO Michael von Stern and CTO Nils Grabbert. mrge has offices in Germany (Hamburg, Berlin) and Canada (Montreal) and currently employs over 140 people.

Marketing Technology News: 5 Ways to Create a Breakthrough Moment For Your Brand