60.9% of US marketers prioritize generative insight summaries as their top AI enhancement for next-gen marketing mix modeling (MMM), nearly double the share focused on dynamic learning features, according to an October 2025 survey from EMARKETER and Rakuten.

OpenAI introduced product recommendations into ChatGPT on Monday, creating a potential opportunity for advertising—and a threat to affiliate marketing sites.

Affiliate marketing is now a $10 billion industry, and marketers recognize its effectiveness. Yet many aren’t prioritizing affiliate marketing spend, due to difficulty with attribution or classifying it as social media spend. Here are five charts demonstrating the state of affiliate marketing.

“Affiliate, to my mind, is one of the most under-discussed and underappreciated spending areas in media and advertising,” our analyst Max Willens said on a recent EMARKETER webinar. US affiliate marketing spend will reach $10.72 billion this year and drive $307.27 billion in ecommerce, per our forecast. Driving that spend is a persistently value-conscious consumer, a growing creator economy, and a pivot to publishers with first-party data. Here are five factors contributing to affiliate marketing’s success.

Spend on affiliate marketing will surpass $10 billion in the US for the first time this year, and will increase 47.4% by 2028, according to EMARKETER’s latest forecast. However, with traffic from Google declining and consumers becoming more discerning, both publishers and advertisers are grappling with shrinking margins and rising competition.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss if influencers can actually deliver both upper- and lower-funnel outcomes, the common successes (and mistakes) brands make when blending influencer and affiliate tactics, and how best to align influencer content with a brands message. "In Other News," we talk about Frank McCourt's bid to buy TikTok and what to make of Meta shutting down 'Workplace'. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Max Willens and Carissa Flinders, the team lead of influencer partnerships for AWIN.

US marketers are using affiliate strategies throughout the purchase journey, including upper-funnel awareness (56%), mid-funnel consideration (58%), and lower-funnel conversion (50%), per June 2023 Gen3 Marketing data.

Expanding audience reach requires targeting the correct consumers. While true one-to-one advertising is still a dream, similar outcomes can be achieved by reaching the right audiences through affiliate marketing, paid social, and buy now, pay later (BNPL). “This whole trend around personalization really applies to audiences as well,” David Gill, vice president of consumer insights at Rakuten Advertising, said during our recent “Master the Holidays with Winning Performance Marketing Strategies” Tech-Talk Webinar. Data from affiliate marketing and social platforms can be used to identify which kinds of consumers brands should be reaching out to in order to expand their customer base.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how affiliate is helping marketers take back control of their ad spend. "In Other News," we talk about Amazon unveiling a smarter, more conversational, Alexa and TikTok Shop hitting the US. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Max Willens and Alexandra Forsch, president of Awin Americas.

“Consumer acquisition costs have gone up. Data is harder and harder to access. It’s trickier to figure out how to target our consumer in the right way.” That’s Kendra Scott’s CMO Michelle Peterson, summarizing the state of marketing right now. The jeweler has found success both online and in-store by leveraging its D2C roots, pushing a viral TikTok presence, and working with the right influencers.

Affiliate marketing is getting a second wind as emerging publishers and creators attract a new crop of advertisers. Here’s a refresher on the benefits of affiliate marketing, as well as a word of caution for advertisers interested in giving it a try.

Creators and influencers are looking for ways to diversify platforms in order to increase audience outreach, foster community, and assure they’re not at the whims of any single social media algorithm.

The power of creators is alive and well—despite reports suggesting the opposite. Marketers are increasing, not cutting, their influencer spending, particularly on TikTok. But creator partnerships may not be right for every marketer, as challenges from brand safety to measurement persist.

Here’s how publishers are developing and expanding their ecommerce monetization strategies, and how brands and retailers can partner with them to drive purchases in the affiliate channel.