Rakuten Advertising Unveils Innovation Labs to Accelerate AI Innovation in Affiliate Marketing

New AI hub in Rakuten Advertising's Insights & Analytics portal launches with AI Recommendations for advertisers and publishers

SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Rakuten Advertising, the leading global affiliate marketing network, today announced the launch of Innovation Labs — a product collaboration hub dedicated to accelerating the development and application of AI to generate greater ad spend efficiency to target and engage customers across Rakuten Advertising's world-leading affiliate publisher network. Now available in Rakuten Advertising's Insights & Analytics portal, Innovation Labs provides advertisers and publishers with a space to explore and collaborate on future-forward AI capabilities for advancing their businesses.

"Innovation Labs is the culmination of years of work growing our Affiliate Intelligence suite of AI-powered tools, bringing together data, AI, premium partnerships, and expert strategies," said Nick Stamos, CEO at Rakuten Advertising. "This initiative is a critical step in how Rakuten Advertising contributes to the broader Rakuten Group's 'Triple 20' commitment to using AI to drive 20% greater efficiency for our employees, our internal teams, and most importantly, our clients. Innovation Labs will shorten the build–measure–learn cycle of AI transformation, helping us fast-track future investment in capabilities that improve outcomes for our advertisers and publisher partners."

At launch, Innovation Labs brings advertisers and publishers new AI Recommendations.

• For Advertisers: AI Recommendations will holistically analyze multidimensional advertiser attributes to determine new types of publishers. This involves analyzing profiles, products, and other characteristics to identify publishers with demonstrated success in similar campaigns, and also identifying new categories of publishers that will maximize growth.
• For Publishers: AI-driven Product Recommendations reduces research time and enhances monetization for publishers by instantly identifying emerging trends from partnered and non-partnered advertisers, then curating them for a targeted audience and narrowing options with brand and category filters.

Rakuten Advertising's Data Science team will conduct rolling experiments within Innovation Labs, guided by client and partner feedback, leading to an always-on research and development space where new features will be added and updated on a regular basis.

"Innovation Labs delivers on our promise to continually innovate our products in a way that benefits every participant in the affiliate marketing universe, from brands, to publishers, and ultimately, consumers," said Adam Rostan, Chief Product Officer. "This will be a space where advertisers and publishers can experiment, collaborate, and scale new use cases with AI to deliver greater efficiency for everyone and accelerate the industry's growth."

About Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising delivers performance-driven, brand-driven, and people-driven ad solutions that help the world's top brands connect with unique, highly engaged audiences – from first impression to final sale. Backed by industry-leading technology, global media properties, and the largest, high-quality partner network, Rakuten Advertising taps into data and experience to develop the strategies and ad experiences that will drive engagement, sales, loyalty, and beyond.

A leader in the industry since its beginnings, Rakuten Advertising is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world's leading internet service companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices throughout EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and North America. Learn more at RakutenAdvertising.com.

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SOURCE Rakuten Advertising