On September 4, 2025, Salesforce announced that it will retire all Marketing Cloud Advertising Studio products, with subscriptions no longer renewable after August 15, 2026. This marks a major transition for marketing teams who have relied on Advertising Studio and its predecessors (ExactTarget MC Advertising and Active Audiences) for years.
As an official Salesforce partner, Granite Data Pro has managed Advertising Studio accounts for enterprise-scale clients with subscriber counts exceeding 18M+ records. We’re already working closely with all of our Salesforce clients to migrate their Advertising Studio operations to Data Cloud Ad Audiences or other alternative solutions—ensuring continuity, compliance, and future-ready campaign execution.
Which Products Are Being Retired?
Salesforce’s retirement notice applies to the full suite of Advertising Studio and related products, including both professional and enterprise editions. The complete list includes:
- Active Audiences: Package 1 & 2
- Advertising Performance Package
- (ExactTarget) MC Advertising Enterprise
- (ExactTarget) MC Advertising Enterprise – Emails (1,000)
- (ExactTarget) MC Advertising Professional
- (ExactTarget) MC Advertising Professional – Emails (1,000)
- Marketing Cloud Advertising Enterprise – Contacts (1,000)
- Marketing Cloud Advertising Professional
- Marketing Cloud Advertising Professional – Contacts (1,000)
- Marketing Cloud Advertising Standalone Enterprise
- Marketing Cloud Advertising Standalone Professional
If you currently subscribe to any of these, your access will continue through your existing contract term, but you won’t be able to renew beyond August 15, 2026.
Why Is Salesforce Retiring Advertising Studio?
Salesforce is consolidating its advertising and data activation capabilities under Data Cloud Ad Audiences.
Where Advertising Studio historically connected CRM data to platforms like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn for targeted advertising, Data Cloud Ad Audiences expands that functionality with richer identity resolution, broader integrations, and real-time activation.
This move reflects a larger industry trend: phasing out older point solutions in favor of unified data platforms that can handle segmentation, targeting, and measurement in one place.
Granite Data Pro is an official partner of Salesforce and many other marketing platforms. If you want to know how this announcement will affect your business, schedule a free consultation with us today.
Features & Benefits of Data Cloud Ad Audiences
Salesforce is positioning Data Cloud Ad Audiences as the successor to Advertising Studio. Key benefits include:
- Real-Time Segmentation: Move from static audience lists to dynamic, real-time updates powered by Salesforce Data Cloud.
- Cross-Platform Activation: Deliver audiences to a growing list of ad platforms, from social networks to DSPs, without relying on manual exports.
- Identity Resolution: Connect fragmented customer data across Salesforce clouds and external sources for a unified view.
- Privacy & Compliance: Built to support evolving privacy regulations with secure data handling and governance controls.
How Marketers Should Prepare
If your team relies on Advertising Studio today, here are practical steps to take:
- Audit your current setup. List the automations, segments, and ad connections that run through Advertising Studio.
- Engage your Salesforce AE. Salesforce recommends contacting your Account Executive to discuss migration timelines and options.
- Pilot Data Cloud Ad Audiences. Begin testing use cases in Data Cloud to ensure a smooth transition before your renewal date.
- Review integrations. If your workflows involve other platforms (Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn), confirm that Data Cloud Ad Audiences supports them.
Troubleshooting & Settings Considerations
For teams making the switch, expect a learning curve. Some things to keep in mind:
- Access Rights: Ensure your team members have proper Data Cloud permissions; roles and access controls differ from Marketing Cloud.
- API Changes: If you’ve integrated Advertising Studio with external systems, you may need to reconfigure or migrate API calls to Data Cloud endpoints.
- Audience Matching Rates: Monitor how your matched audience sizes compare in Data Cloud versus Advertising Studio, as improved identity resolution may change delivery volumes.
- Reporting Differences: Data Cloud offers more granular reporting, but dashboards may look different than what your team is used to.
How Granite Data Pro Can Help
At Granite Data Pro, we’ve guided some of the world’s largest Salesforce Marketing Cloud implementations through transitions like this. With direct experience managing 18M+ subscriber accounts and deep expertise across Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud, and advertising integrations, we’re uniquely positioned to help enterprise marketers navigate this shift.
We’re actively:
- Auditing Advertising Studio operations for existing clients
- Designing migration roadmaps into Data Cloud Ad Audiences
- Advising on alternatives when Salesforce-native options aren’t the right fit
- Ensuring continuity of advertising campaigns during the transition
Final Thoughts & Next Steps
The Salesforce Marketing Cloud Advertising Studio retirement may feel disruptive, but it’s also an opportunity to modernize your ad tech stack. By preparing now, you’ll avoid disruption and unlock the full potential of Salesforce’s Data Cloud for advertising.
👉 If you’re a Salesforce Marketing Cloud user and want to understand how this change impacts your business, reach out to Granite Data Pro for a free audit. We’ll help you explore next steps and ensure you’re ready for the future of data-driven advertising.
Let’s Talk
Schedule a time to connect and make sure your custom audiences don’t experience any downtime.
Let’s Talk
Schedule a time to connect and make sure your custom audiences don’t experience any downtime.