Rakuten Marketing

One of the largest global affiliate marketing networks, competing directly with CJ Affiliate and Impact in the enterprise performance marketing space

Rakuten Marketing was the performance marketing division of Rakuten Inc., the Japanese e-commerce and technology conglomerate. Originally founded as LinkShare in 1996, one of the earliest affiliate marketing networks, it was acquired by Rakuten in 2005 and subsequently rebranded as Rakuten Marketing. The platform grew to become one of the world's largest affiliate marketing networks, connecting thousands of advertisers with a global publisher base to drive measurable customer acquisition and sales outcomes. Under the Rakuten Marketing brand, the company expanded beyond pure affiliate marketing to offer a broader suite of performance marketing solutions including display advertising, retargeting, and paid search management. Its flagship affiliate network provided advertisers with access to a curated ecosystem of publishers, influencers, and content partners, supported by robust tracking, attribution, and reporting technology. The platform served major global brands across retail, travel, financial services, and other verticals. In 2019, Rakuten Marketing was officially rebranded as Rakuten Advertising, consolidating its various marketing services under a unified brand identity that better reflected its expanded capabilities. The rebranded entity continues to operate today as a leading global affiliate and performance marketing network, leveraging Rakuten's broader ecosystem of consumer data and loyalty insights to differentiate its offerings in a competitive marketplace.