Farewell Advertising Studio: The Rise of Data Cloud Ad Audiences

sfmcstories
Sep 7
3 min read

The End of an Era

For years, Salesforce Advertising Studio was the go-to tool for marketers looking to extend CRM data into the advertising ecosystem. It enabled easy audience creation, automated refreshes, lead capture, and activation across platforms like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn.

But all good things evolve. Salesforce has officially announced that Advertising Studio contracts won’t be renewable after August 15, 2026. That gives customers a clear timeline to prepare for transition. The replacement? Data Cloud Ad Audiences — a more powerful, privacy-first, and future-ready solution.

Why This Shift Matters

This isn’t just a case of one tool being swapped out for another. It reflects a larger industry transformation:

Decline of third-party data: Third-party cookies, once the backbone of digital advertising, are quickly disappearing. In 2015, nearly 100% of top websites used third-party cookies. By 2024, fewer than 50% did. Safari, Firefox, and now Google Chrome are leading the move to a cookieless world.
Stricter privacy regulations: With GDPR in Europe, CCPA/CPRA in California, and over 137 countries with national data privacy laws, compliant use of third-party data has become increasingly difficult.
First-party data at the center: Marketers are now pivoting to the data they collect directly — purchases, site visits, app engagement, service interactions. This data is consent-based, more accurate, and more relevant, but it requires the right platform to unlock its value.

That’s where Salesforce Data Cloud comes in.

Enter Data Cloud Ad Audiences

While the term may sound new, Data Cloud Ad Audiences is not just a replacement — it’s been evolving for years. Data Cloud itself is Salesforce’s unified data platform (formerly Customer 360 Data Cloud), capable of ingesting, harmonizing, and activating massive volumes of first-party data in real time.

With Ad Audiences in Data Cloud, marketers can:

Build segments on unified profiles that include behavioral, demographic, and transactional data.
Activate these audiences directly to ad platforms like Meta, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, and The Trade Desk.
Use hashed and encrypted identifiers to ensure privacy compliance.
Apply suppression logic to exclude irrelevant customers (like those who just purchased).
Refresh and sync audiences in real time.

Instead of siloed advertising, Data Cloud becomes the engine for segmentation, personalization, and cross-channel engagement.

How to Set Up Data Cloud Ad Audiences

Moving from Advertising Studio to Data Cloud requires planning, but the setup is straightforward once your data is in place.

Step 1: Prepare Your Data

Ingest customer data from CRM, commerce, web, and offline sources into Data Cloud.
Use identity resolution to unify identifiers like email, phone, and device IDs into golden profiles.

Step 2: Create Segments

Define your target groups (e.g., “High-value shoppers,” “Cart abandoners,” “Inactive subscribers”).
Segments can be real-time or scheduled, ensuring freshness.

Step 3: Configure an Advertising Target

In Data Cloud, set up your activation target for Meta, Google, LinkedIn, Amazon, etc.
Choose identifiers (hashed email, phone) that align with each platform’s matching requirements.

Step 4: Map Fields

Match Data Cloud attributes to fields expected by the ad platform.
Add suppression rules to avoid wasted ad spend.

Step 5: Activate the Audience

Push your segment into the activation target.
The audience syncs securely and becomes available in the ad platform.

Step 6: Measure & Optimize

Monitor performance in the ad platform.
Feed engagement data back into Data Cloud for continuous optimization.

Why This Is More Than a 1:1 Replacement

It’s important to note: Data Cloud Ad Audiences isn’t just Advertising Studio 2.0. It’s a foundational shift toward:

Real-time personalization rather than static refreshes.
Cross-cloud alignment across Marketing, Sales, and Service.
Privacy-first architecture, designed for a post-cookie world.
Composable, extensible data strategy, with zero-copy integrations to data warehouses.

For marketers, this means rethinking workflows and strategy — not just replicating past campaigns, but unlocking new value.

What to Do Next

If you’re currently an Advertising Studio customer, here are practical steps to take now:

Audit your use cases: Which audiences and campaigns rely on Advertising Studio today?
Map your data sources: Ensure all relevant first-party data is flowing into Data Cloud.
Evaluate licensing: Understand the new Data Cloud licensing model and how it applies to your setup.
Pilot early: Start testing Data Cloud Ad Audiences for smaller campaigns before making a full migration.
Plan the transition: Align IT, marketing, and media teams to avoid disruption as Ad Studio sunsets.

Final Thoughts

Advertising Studio had its time, but the future is clear: Data Cloud Ad Audiences is where digital advertising in Salesforce is headed. With unified profiles, privacy-first activation, and cross-platform reach, marketers can go beyond audience extension — they can orchestrate personalized, AI-powered journeys that span ads, email, web, and service.

The sunset of Advertising Studio isn’t the end of a capability — it’s the beginning of a smarter, data-driven future.