50+ Affiliate Marketing Statistics in 2026

1. The majority of affiliate marketers believe strongly in the affiliate channel. Over 70% expected their affiliate marketing revenue to grow in 2024 (1) and 50% agree that affiliate marketing helps with new customer acquisition. (2)
2. Affiliate marketing encourages loyalty and return purchases. Customers who click through a brand’s site via an affiliate publisher repeat purchases at a 21% higher rate. (3)
3. Search engine algorithm changes are significantly impacting publishers’ revenue, with over half in the UK reporting traffic and commission losses. (44) These challenges are likely to make publishers more selective, preferring brands with competitive products and clear value propositions for their audiences.
4. Marketers recognize the potential of affiliate marketing but face obstacles. 46% of marketers globally cite affiliate commission structures and sustainable rates as one of their biggest challenges. (7) And 18% can’t properly quantify results because of tracking difficulties. (49%)
5. 57% of marketers are increasing their investment in affiliate marketing, fueling its continued growth. (55) Brands that delay exploring affiliate opportunities may risk falling behind as the space matures and competition intensifies.

Affiliate marketing continues to see the global growth experienced in the last few years, and remains an expanding channel. In 2023, Forrester reported that 78% of senior marketers planned to grow their affiliate programs. (8)

While it has widespread adoption, affiliate marketing is especially popular in the United States—double-digit market size growth from 2023 to 2024 has led to predictions that affiliate spend will reach $15 billion by 2028. (9)

Source: Affiliate Marketing 2024 on EMarketer (10)

The United Kingdom is another strong affiliate marketing market with spend growing by 17% year-over-year from 2022 to 2023. (11) This increase seems poised to continue, as a survey by The Affiliate and Partner Marketing Association (APMA) shows that +50% of UK brands want to put more money into the channel for 2025. (12)

In Europe and Asia, affiliate marketing is expanding at a slightly more modest pace, with an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5% from 2024 to 2031 for Europe, and 10% for Asia. (13)

Although North America, Europe, and Asia hold the majority of global affiliate market revenue (14), other markets will also experience growth. 

A Cognitive Market Research report predicts that Latin America, the Middle East and Africa will exceed a CAGR of 7%. However, these markets are currently small. Collectively, they make up less than 10% of global affiliate revenue, and will remain behind the projected expansion of other regions. (15)

No matter each domestic market’s size, much of the research shows that affiliates will remain a way to connect with international customers. For example, over 70% of Australian companies and digital marketing agencies run affiliate marketing programs overseas. Approximately 60% of these target the US market. (16)

Global consumer behaviour stats: How customers interact with affiliate marketing

Global growth is not surprising, as studies show consumers engage with affiliate marketing when making purchase decisions. A Partnerize survey found that 71% of online shoppers said they “spend the same amount or more on purchases” made on affiliate websites versus other retail sites. (17)

Meanwhile, Sprout Social’s 2024 influencer marketing report noted that 49% of shoppers bought something monthly because of an influencer post, and 86% made influencer-inspired purchases yearly. While influencer marketing is only one subset of affiliate marketing, this is a clear sign that consumers do not shy away from using sponsored content to inform their spending decisions. (18)

Despite global growth and strong indicators that the affiliate channel can persuade customers to purchase, Forrester’s 2024 affiliate report revealed that only 7% of marketing managers budgeted for affiliate marketing to be their top priority. (19)

That means the majority of businesses are under-investing in a proven customer acquisition channel. Even with double-digit growth in some markets, it’s unlikely that firms are unlikely to get the most out of their affiliate channels in 2026 and beyond.

Some sectors have invested more in the affiliate channel than others. Industries whose businesses support digital purchases currently invest the most in affiliates, both in B2B and B2C.(23)

Overall, publishers across sectors plan to expand a variety of offerings in consumer and B2B. This suggests they’re responding to a varied consumer appetite and that both markets still have clear room for growth.

Influencer Marketing Hub reported that among global respondents, by revenue, retail has 44% market share, followed by 25% telecom, 16% travel and leisure, and 16% other. (20)

Source: Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report by Influencer Marketing Hub (21)

In the UK, the APMA reports similar statistics—retail accounted for 48% of affiliate marketing spend in 2024. Travel totalled 13%, telecom 19%, finance 8% and other industries (including education, media and B2B companies) came in at 12%. (22)

Source: The Affiliate Marketing Partner Association (AMPA) 2024 State of the Nation Report (23)

For travel, Expedia Group’s quarterly travel affiliate roundup to end 2023 noted:

• Q3 had stable search volume, both from quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year perspectives.
• EMEA markets had the most growth in search by volume year-over-year at 5%.
• Travel consumers are searching key dates, events (sports, concerts, festivals) and potential promotions. (24) For example, Taylor Swift’s Eras tour led to 250% year-over-year growth for host cities’ search queries. (25)

This shows that the travel market has sustained a strong rebound from Covid-19 and that online research is a popular resource for travel purchases. Publishers and affiliates in the travel space will want to promote content for specific destinations via search, and tie affiliate marketing campaigns to events such as concerts or sports contests. 

Financial services affiliate marketing statistics: Responding to audience demands

Financial services publishers are focused on uncovering and meeting consumer demands. 

For B2C, our survey of over 110 finance-focused publishers in the US and Canada found both groups expected savings accounts, investment products, and credit cards to be in-demand and planned expansions in those categories. (26)

Source: Fintel Connect’s Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report (27)

Our survey on B2B financial publishers revealed that:

• 50% of respondents said business loans would be a major area of growth for the US (28), showing a growing demand for capital.
• 28% of respondents expected payment solutions and 22% expected credit cards would grow in Canada (29), showing more interest in streamlined spending.

To learn more about what financial services affiliates have to say about the North American market, read Fintel Connect’s Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report.

While the exact influence of marketing varies for each company, plenty of data points to affiliate marketing as a revenue driver. 

According to a 2024 Forrester report, marketers see affiliates as one of their most effective marketing channels, coming only behind content marketing and PPC. They also favour the effectiveness of affiliate marketing above email marketing, SEO, social media influencers, and push notifications on mobile devices. (30) 

Source: 5 charts on affiliate marketing: Marketers face mixed priorities by EMarketer (31)

Marketers from over 100 brands and agencies also responded positively about partnership marketing’s influence on revenue in a Digiday 2023 survey. About 80% said affiliate marketing is becoming more important for revenue, and 50% say affiliate marketing helps their business drive sales and new customer acquisition. (32)

Source: The State of Affiliate and Partner Marketing by Digiday (33)

Our Fintel Connect report shows that 46% of publishers in the US and 38% in Canada recognize the significant benefits of cost-effective acquisition. This shows that publishers, like marketers, focus on optimizing conversion rates. (34)

In the UK retail and e-commerce sector, AMPA has estimated that “the affiliate channel is driving one in ten pounds spent online.”  (35) And, according to a global Rakuten 2022 report, customers who arrive on a site via affiliates make 21% more repeat purchases than those who arrive through other channels. (36)

How affiliates drive these results is spread over a variety of tactics and campaign types. In the UK, affiliate networks invest most in rewards and editorial content, followed by coupons and comparison sites. (37)

Source: The AMPA State of The Nation Report Oct 2024 (38)

In our experience with financial services clients, we see firms use many affiliate marketing strategies for successful acquisition in North America. Because financial products share common attributes (e.g., credit card fees, loan terms) and involve complex decision making by consumers, they are particularly suited to comparative content like NerdWallet rate tables.

In North America, comparison sites are particularly active, and account for 40% of the world’s comparison-site revenue. (39) Globally, Cognitive Market Research projects that comparison sites will see steady growth across regions. (40)

Affiliate traffic is growing. In 2024, 60% of publishers in the UK attributed bigger commissions to increased traffic, showing that their affiliate content reaches larger audiences, which is good for brand awareness. (43)

In Digiday’s survey, 58% of marketers agree affiliates help their branding efforts. (41)

In fact, our research shows that 44% of US and 41% of Canadian affiliate publishers prioritize audience behaviour or search intent when evaluating whether they will work with a financial product. They want to make sure their audience has a high intent to purchase the products or services they showcase. (42)

Source: Fintel Connect’s Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report (42)

Some publishers in the UK felt the brunt of search engine changes in 2024. About 52% lost traffic and commission, citing algorithm changes as the major factor in the drop in revenue. As publishers deal with significant policy shifts by search engines, they may be even less willing to work with brands that don’t have a competitive product and don’t provide clear value to their audience. (44)

Overall, marketers in the US are using affiliates throughout their marketing funnel to boost awareness, trust, acquisition, and retention. This shows that affiliates are not only a strong tactic for brand awareness but also building credibility with customers. (45)

While marketers recognize the effectiveness of affiliate marketing, over 60% cited relationship management, brand consistency, and fraud as the top three challenges with the affiliate channel, potentially holding them back from greater KPI results. (46)

Source: Unlocking The Full Power Of Affiliate Partnerships by Forrester (47)

Unlike other channels, affiliate marketing thrives when publishers and companies build their relationship on a solid foundation of trust and mutual respect. When fraudulent activities or messaging that’s inconsistent with a brand’s guidelines breach that trust, it can damage the partnership and undermine the campaign’s success.

And these disruptions happen––click bots and fake traffic continue to rise 33% since 2022, costing $71 billion in advertising spend. (48) Fraud will always be a risk in digital advertising, but it is possible to prevent affiliate marketing fraud with proactive steps.

Affiliate tracking is another challenge for marketers. 18% of marketing managers said better tracking and reporting tools would make them consider increasing affiliate spend more than any other improvement. (49) This speaks directly to the difficulties marketers have quantifying and analyzing affiliate results. Since there are many ways to track affiliate campaigns, depending on the strategy, each requires unique technical solutions. 

Other factors preventing companies from further investments in affiliates include difficulty finding more effective and aligned partners and getting expert support, both cited by 17% of marketers. (50) This further suggests that the affiliate channel requires different skills to run than other digital marketing options. 

Source: Unlocking The Full Power Of Affiliate Partnerships by Forrester (51)

In terms of publisher insights, our survey found that US and Canadian affiliates expect search engine algorithm changes, regulatory changes, and economic uncertainty to be the biggest concerns. (52)

Source: Fintel Connect’s Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report (53)

With the uncertainty around changes in search and the growing influence of AI as a search tool, both publishers and brands are likely to keep their eye on traffic through 2026.

Yet around 13% of North American financial publishers cited affiliate marketing budgets as a challenge while 46% of marketers globally cite commission structures and sustainable rates. (54) This means affiliate marketers will have to continue to make a strong case for the channel to protect their portion of marketing spend.

Based on 2024 forecasting and our direct experience, we expect affiliate marketing to continue its growth trajectory in the next five years. For example, among UK marketers, 57% expect to increase their affiliate marketing spend, and 40% plan to keep their current level of investment. (55)

One discovery from our research is that AI wasn’t an obvious first priority for publishers when asked about future tactics they will lean on in the financial services space. Publishers ranked video content and email marketing highly, while podcasting and user-generated content lagged behind. (56)

Source: Fintel Connect’s Financial Industry Affiliate Marketing Report (57)

This hierarchy may vary depending on industry, and could change as AI tools develop. For now, it seems that publishers are taking a pragmatic approach to AI exploration. 

There’s still time for new entrants to affiliate marketing to start and scale a program before the space fully matures. That said, with the current pace of growth, brands that do not start to explore their affiliate options soon may be scrambling to catch up in a few short years.

These top statistics show clear financial services trends you can use to shape your affiliate marketing efforts. 

By understanding the challenges and opportunities highlighted—such as the impact of search engine changes, the need for stronger fraud prevention, and the growing role of trusted partnerships—you can create strategies that drive results.  

If you’re a financial services company who is looking for a dedicated affiliate network, platform and agency, contact Fintel Connect today to discuss how we can help.