Marin Software Research Shows Europe Fuels Increased Search Spend Around the Globe

SAN FRANCISCO, CA April 26, 2018 — Marin Software Incorporated (NYSE: MRIN), a leading provider of digital marketing software for advertisers and agencies, released research findings today showing an 11% global increase in search spend, fueled by significant Eurozone growth. Marin Software’s full research, results, and key takeaways are included in its global Q1 2018 Digital Advertising Benchmark Report. The report’s interactive format allows viewers to review and analyze ad spending trends by region, industry, and publisher.

Marin Software’s research reveals higher cost per click (CPC) as the primary driver behind increased search ad spend in Q1, with the highest spend growth in the healthcare (26%) and automotive (21%) industries.

“We’re looking forward to tracking search and social spend as regulations like GDPR go into effect,” said Wes MacLaggan, SVP of Marketing at Marin Software, “particularly given that the Eurozone led search spend growth in Q1. Also, with data privacy in the hot seat and changes like Facebook’s News Feed algorithm already contributing to the shift towards a consumer-centric landscape, 2018 will be a year to watch closely.”

Other key findings include:

• Mobile Ad Spend Increasing but Still a Bargain. Mobile now accounts for 40% of search spend and offers a 33% discount compared to desktop CPCs.
• More Search Clicks, Better Targeting. Click-through rates (CTRs) for search are up 25% year over year (YoY), showing how improved targeting allows publishers to deliver more relevant ads to people.
• Dynamic Ads Showing Strong Growth. Facebook Dynamic Ads, the highly personalized ad format based on user browsing behavior, were up 37% year over year.

To create its Q1 2018 Digital Advertising Benchmark Report, Marin Software aggregated data from customers who invest billions of dollars in combined annualized ad spend on paid search, social, and mobile. Marin Software only includes advertisers active on its platform for the past five quarters, measuring key performance indicators on a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis, and removing any outliers with significant YoY or QoQ changes.

About Marin Software

Marin Software Incorporated's (NYSE: MRIN) mission is to give advertisers the power to drive higher efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency in their paid marketing programs that run on the world's largest publishers. Marin provides industry leading enterprise marketing software for advertisers and agencies to measure, manage, and optimize billions of dollars in annualized ad spend across the web and mobile devices. Offering an integrated SaaS ad management platform for search, social, and display 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 eight countries, Marin's technology powers marketing campaigns around the globe. For more information about Marin Software, please visit: www.marinsoftware.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Marin’s research and business and tracking of certain regulations. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to our ability to grow sales to new and existing customers; our ability to expand our sales and marketing capabilities; our ability to retain and attract qualified management and technical personnel; delays in the release of updates to our product platform or new features; competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, entry of new competitors and new applications; quarterly fluctuations in our operating results due to a number of factors; inability to adequately forecast our future revenues, expenses, Adjusted EBITDA, cash flows or other financial metrics; delays, reductions or slower growth in the amount spent on online and mobile advertising and the development of the market for cloud-based software; progress in our efforts to update our software platform; adverse changes in our relationships with and access to publishers and advertising agencies; level of usage and advertising spend managed on our platform; our ability to expand sales of our solutions in channels other than search advertising; any slow-down in the search advertising market generally; shift in customer digital advertising budgets from search to segments in which we are not as deeply penetrated; the development of the market for digital advertising; acceptance and continued usage of our platform and services by customers and our ability to provide high-quality technical support to our customers; material defects in our platform including those resulting from any updates we introduce to our platform, service interruptions at our single third-party data center or breaches in our security measures; our ability to develop enhancements to our platform; our ability to protect our intellectual property; our ability to manage risks associated with international operations; the impact of fluctuations in currency exchange rates, particularly an increase in the value of the dollar; near term changes in sales of our software services or spend under management may not be immediately reflected in our results due to our subscription business model; adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; and the ability to acquire and integrate other businesses. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent report on Form 10-K, recent reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K which we may file from time to time, all of which are available free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Any of these risks could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release reflect Marin’s expectations as of April 26, 2018. Marin assumes no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

Media Contacts
Maria Breaux
Corporate Communications, Marin Software
415-814-9952
press@marinsoftware.com

Emily Adams
SHIFT Communications
617-779-1891
marinsoftware@shiftcomm.com