Marin Software Reveals "Advertising Cloud" Platforms Becoming Increasingly Critical to CMOs

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jun 23, 2015) - Marketing and Advertising Technology is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the technology industry, with revenues expected to reach $32.8 billion by 2018. The advertising cloud, a subset of the marketing cloud, can fundamentally change the way CMOs manage multimillion-dollar digital marketing programs going forward. But the category is plagued with complexity, according to a new white paper from IDC sponsored by Marin Software (NYSE: MRIN). "Cloud Platforms: the Future of Marketing and Advertising Technology" reveals that with more than 1,000 vendors in 75 different categories, the marketing and ad-tech industry is experiencing unsustainable complexity.

According to the white paper, advertising cloud platforms will become increasingly attractive to CMOs who seek to gain competitive advantage in a fast-moving market. Companies that lack deep IT resources can use ad cloud platforms to unify their digital marketing programs across search, social, display, video, and mobile, competing head-to-head with nimbler early adopters that already own a constellation of advertising technologies to run their marketing programs.

"It is critical that brands are able to take action on their marketing data to both create and fulfill demand for their products and services," stated David Yovanno, Marin Software CEO. "This is advertising, and this is what drives revenue for a business. And brands and their agencies are increasingly looking to centrally manage more of their digital ad spend on fewer technology platforms. This trend is giving rise to the importance of the ad cloud."

Key insights from the white paper:

Unsustainable Complexity: Because marketing and advertising technology vendors have been in "innovation mode" for the last decade, many point solutions have come to market independently and asynchronously -- forcing buyers into reactionary purchase behaviors. As a result, CMOs have struggled to manage fragmented marketing infrastructures and been forced to hire increasingly specialized staff.

From Managed Services to SaaS: Brands are more frequently rejecting platform vendors that rely on managed services and lack of transparency and control, according to IDC. There is widespread frustration among brands not only about fees and margins, but more fundamentally about being able to apply business acumen to ad performance in real-time. Digital advertising in general, and search in particular, require real-time management, and software as a service (SaaS) ad cloud platforms can make the in-house approach for brands and agencies both feasible and cost effective.

Data as Differentiator: For advertisers to outperform in the competitive digital landscape, they need to not only capture but also leverage their data. Brands with the ability to aggregate multiple first-, second-, and third-party data and actionable insights across their advertising operations will have a clear advantage.

Ad Tech Sector Growth To Remain Strong: IDC predicts that the market for software solutions for marketing will grow from approximately $20.2 billion in 2014 to more than $32.3 billion in 2018. It will be one of the fastest growing areas in high tech with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4%. Cumulatively, over the five years from 2014 to 2018, organizations will spend approximately $130 billion on software for marketing departments.

The complete white paper "Cloud Platforms: the Future of Marketing and Advertising Technology" (IDC #255781, April 2015) can be downloaded here.

About Marin Software
Marin Software Incorporated (NYSE: MRIN) provides a leading cross-channel performance advertising cloud for advertisers and agencies to measure, manage and optimize more than $7.2 billion in annualized ad spend across the web and mobile devices. Offering an integrated SaaS platform for search, display and social advertising, Marin helps digital marketers improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions. Advertisers use Marin to create, target, and convert precise audiences based on recent buying signals from users' search, social and display interactions. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices in 9 countries, Marin's technology automates advertising with the largest publishers around the globe. For more information about Marin's products, please visit: http://www.marinsoftware.com/solutions/overview.

Whitney Sunseri
Corporate Communications
Marin Software
415-814-9984
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