The Affiliate and Partner Marketing Association (APMA) has unveiled its 2024 State of the Nation Report, revealing impressive growth and highlighting the significant role affiliate marketing plays in the UK.
In the first major affiliate marketing research review of the channel in a decade, the report contains a series of impressive highlights:
Size of the sector in 2023
> £1.67bn spent on affiliate marketing
> £20.9bn tracked in online sales
> Retail: £1 in £10 spent through affiliates
> 1m sales tracked daily (356m in total)
> £40,000 tracked every minute
Growth
> 17% YoY increase, outpacing digital spending by 50%
> Travel surged 160% since 2021.
> Influencers up 42% YoY increase, CSS 39%, content 34%.
> SMEs flocking to affiliate: now 12,000 UK programmes.
> 67,000 active UK publishers.
Health of UK Affiliate Market
> UK brands make £17 for every £1 spent.
> UK per capita spend 15% higher than the US
Future of Affiliate Marketing
> More than 50% of UK brands intend to increase 2025 spend.
> Tracking, Google’s impact and higher commission rates key areas for collaboration
A decade in the making
The State of the Nation report is the most comprehensive overview of the industry since 2014, featuring data submissions from eleven affiliate networks and platforms, and survey responses from more than 300 affiliate professionals.
The report was produced by Jatkinson Research Consulting and the APMA.
Despite the economic gloom and faltering consumer confidence, faith in the channel remains high with more than half of brands planning to up their budgets in 2025. The UK is also outperforming the US market, with 15% more spent on affiliate marketing per capita.
The last time the industry surveyed its reach, an estimated 4,000 affiliate programmes were promoted by around 12,000 publishers. In the decade since, the number of programmes has trebled, with even more pronounced growth among the publisher base. In 2023 brands could tap into 67,000 sale or click-active publishers, a more than five-fold increase.
One chart that may surprise readers is how diverse the overall publisher mix is, with cashback, loyalty and reward as the biggest ‘type’ by brand investment, but with a 25% share, there is no dominant model. Content pips voucher sites to second position.
Attitudes and commercials
Beyond the quantitative data, the 80-page report gauges industry attitudes and commercial terms as well as explores the challenges that Google, AI, cookies and tracking have on the channel.
Almost six in ten brands said they intend to up their 2025 affiliate marketing budgets, and three-quarters of publishers agreed with the statement that there is a great deal of opportunity to grow their businesses in the next 12 months. In 2023 one in three publishers added to their workforce.
There is however a disparity between perceptions of how ‘fair’ commissions are, with a much higher percentage of affiliates feeling their efforts do not match the reward compared to brands.
Future trends
There are cautionary notes when our respondents were asked about factors that often feel beyond their control. Some of these macro factors are causing jitters among publishers and their ability to invest in the long term. GA4 has similarly spooked brands and they continue to express a nagging concern about the channel’s reputation.
Tracking remains a major threat and is now compounded by external factors like Google’s algorithm changes and cookie banners. One of the industry’s strengths in the past is to work together to solve some of these challenges and that need has become more pressing.
Test & learn meets risk-free
APMA Founder, Kevin Edwards, said “Affiliate is the original performance marketing channel, but it can often fly below the radar. This report cements it at the heart of a brand’s acquisition plans; there is an affiliate for every brand out there and that’s the beauty of the channel. We’re a test and learn hub for every new technology and innovation and savvy retailers are now fully invested, thanks in no small part to our risk-free commercial model.
“I’m hugely encouraged by the diversity in revenue flowing through the affiliate channel but there is also real food for thought in some of the external factors that risk squeezing investment. It is contingent on us all to be vigilant and for the industry to continue to reinvent itself as it’s done so successfully over the years. We are committed to releasing further insights as part of our commitment to investment in affiliate marketing research”.
A huge thank you to our sponsors, without whom this report would not have been possible, Awin, Moonpull, Rightlander, Partnerize, Tradedoubler and Webgains. Also, we’re very grateful to Georg Wolf and Anthony Clements for their guidance, contributions and advice.
The APMA supports the industry through a series of initiatives, including affiliate marketing research, events and best practice.
You can download your copy of the report by filling out the form below.
