Executive Summary

As consumers increasingly use media content to discover and research products and brands online, publishers are forging an increasingly meaningful place in the customer journey. Publishers are instituting ecommerce strategies that now position them as retailer and brand partners capable of driving conversions. And marketers are recognizing publisher partnerships as valuable ways to shorten the funnel.

How are publishers monetizing through ecommerce?

Mostly through affiliate commerce partnerships with brands and merchants. But new use cases and content strategies are emerging, including those offered by social commerce and affiliate-driven online marketplaces.

What drove affiliate marketing revenue growth in 2020?

Thanks to the pandemic, 2020 was a massive year for revenue growth in the affiliate marketing channel. Driving this growth were the surge in consumer ecommerce spending, rising numbers of online shoppers, and heightened marketer demand for outcome-based performance.

How is affiliate evolving as a performance marketing channel?

The affiliate channel is still primarily used as a performance marketing channel, largely dependent on last-click attribution and commission-based payment models. But some affiliate network platforms are becoming more technically sophisticated, offering multitouch attribution tools that allow marketers to reward publisher touchpoints throughout the funnel. Likewise, even though most deals are still paid on a cost-per-action (CPA) basis, publishers are also attracting more flat-fee and hybrid-structured deals.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report investigates how publishers are growing ecommerce monetization through the affiliate channel, and how their appearance in the channel is helping to propel evolution in affiliate marketing, as commerce and content continue to converge.

KEY STAT: In a May 2020 Gartner survey, 65% of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing executives worldwide expected to spend more on affiliate, or partner, channel marketing in 2021.