Brands Generated Over $65B in Organic Revenue Via BrightEdge in 2016

Customer success and innovation drive 38 percent CAGR and propels BrightEdge as the standard in organic search

SAN MATEO, CA - Marketwired - February 22, 2017 - BrightEdge, the leader in enterprise organic search and content performance, today announced that its base of 1,500+ global customers generated more than $65 billion in organic revenue from the BrightEdge platform in 2016. The SaaS company now works with 57 of the Fortune 100. Organic search is quickly going mainstream in modern marketing organizations and converging with content marketing into a single discipline. This trend is fueling the rapid growth of BrightEdge, which experienced 38% annual compounded growth between 2014 and 2017.

Content marketing is set to become a $300 billion industry by 2019, according to PQ Media. However content has limited value unless it is targeted, optimized, and found. BrightEdge research shows that, in B2C markets, only 1 in 5 pieces of content produced are actually engaged with – for B2B markets the number is slightly higher at 50%. BrightEdge's mission critical technology provides marketers with the insights that allow them to understand customer intent, optimize content, and improve overall content marketing performance. Organic search, the market-wide voice of the customer, has now become a driver of content marketing success across all industries and markets.

"We have our customers to thank for the fantastic momentum and growth we have experienced. At BrightEdge we invest heavily in the success of our customers and community via a steady stream of innovation that delivers real, tangible ROI that impacts business outcomes," said Jim Yu, CEO and co-founder of BrightEdge. "Our mission at BrightEdge is to inspire new ways of thinking about how marketers use data and content insights to connect with their audiences in key moments that matter."

As part of its tremendous growth, BrightEdge has achieved a number of major milestones, including:

Customer Success

Brands are now standardizing on the BrightEdge platform across key industry verticals. Customer include Nike, 3M, Microsoft, and Four Seasons Hotels. BrightEdge now works with eight (8/10) out of the top ten largest online retailers, eight (8/10) out of the top ten technology companies, eight (8/10) out of the top ten financial services companies and seven (7/10) out of the top ten hotel companies. Over the course of the last year hundreds of customers upgraded to BrightEdge from point solution vendors. More than 6,000 marketers are now certified on the BrightEdge platform.

"As a marketer, I look toward platforms that will give us the ability to discover opportunity and connect with our online audience in more meaningful ways . Technology that drives performance and revenue has an important place at the executive table," said Clay Stobaugh, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Wiley. "The BrightEdge platform has helped us transform our content strategy and digital operations."

Expansion of the Leadership Team

Key executive hires include Kevin Bobowski, who will serve as the SVP of Marketing. Kevin is responsible for the company's global go-to-market efforts, brand strategy, product marketing, and field marketing. Previously, Kevin was the Chief Marketing Officer of Act-On Software and Vice-President at ExactTarget and Salesforce, as part of its acquisition of ExactTarget in 2013. Vickie Holtmeier will serve as the VP of Global and Corporate Sales and Renewals where she will work with the company's most strategic accounts. She brings over 25 years of sales leadership experience to BrightEdge, including over 11 years at Oracle in key leadership roles -- most recently as the VP of Enterprise Sales. Prior to Oracle, Vickie worked at Siebel Systems, leading teams focused on large-scale strategic deals for global enterprise customers. BrightEdge now employs more than 350 people across the globe with further plans to expand and recruit top talent throughout 2017.

New Waves of Innovation

BrightEdge continues to lead the market and drive innovation in lockstep with evolving search experiences. The BrightEdge DataCube, the industry's largest content and data repository, now processes more than 250 terabytes of data a week. Recent product innovations included Intent Signal, which helps marketers prioritize topics for which customers can realistically increase brand visibility. Exciting new product innovations that will be announced later this month will further empower marketers to pinpoint local search demand and optimize content in a mobile-first world.

Share Global Insights Conference

Recognized as one of the best industry conferences by Inc. and Forbes, BrightEdge is taking its leading industry conference "Share" on the road in 2017. The Global Share Insights tours will take place in New York (May 18) Chicago (June 8) San Francisco (September 21) and London (October 5). Past Share speakers include leaders from Google, YouTube, Microsoft, Facebook, Salesforce, Oracle, Adobe, and Wiley.

Geographic Expansion

As well as increasing headcount in all of its global offices, including its EMEA headquarters based in London, BrightEdge opened a new Cleveland office, home to the Content Marketing Institute, with plans to double the number of Cleveland employees in 2017.

"Customer success is driving our continued growth and we've made major investments in servicing our customers while remaining cash-flow positive and profitable. Customers recognize that we are a durable, long-term partner – we are here to stay – and the best company to help them navigate the rapidly evolving world of marketing," said Jim Emerich, CFO at BrightEdge.

About BrightEdge

BrightEdge, the global leader in enterprise SEO and content performance, empowers marketers to transform online content into business results such as traffic, conversions, and revenue. The BrightEdge S3 platform is powered by a sophisticated deep learning engine and is the only company capable of web-wide, real-time measurement of content engagement across all digital channels, including search, social, and mobile. BrightEdge's 1,500+ customers include global brands such as 3M, Microsoft, and Nike, as well as 57 of the Fortune 100. The company has eight offices worldwide and is headquartered in Foster City, California.