Every year, the Affiliate & Partner Marketing Association asks the UK industry how it feels about the channel
The APMA’s Voice of the Affiliate Nation is the only industry-wide qualitative snapshot of how brands, agencies and publishers are assessing their changing fortunes and responding to industry challenges and opportunities.
Collected alongside the numbers presented in the State of the Affiliate Nation, the two pieces of research present the most complete view of any affiliate industry in the world
Our Voice of the Nation 2026 surveys are now open, and this year we’re once again asking three distinct parts of the industry to take part:
Publishers and affiliates
Brands and advertisers
Agencies and consultants
Last year we had more than 300 survey submissions, and this year, we’re hoping to top that.
What is Voice of the Nation?
Each survey contains around 25 questions. Some are identical to those we asked last year so that we can track trends over time, such as how strategically integrated affiliate marketing is within a company’s business, or how confident publishers are in their ability to grow in the next 12 months.
Others change to reflect the major issues impacting our channel. This year that means asking different questions about topics such as AI, attribution and measurement, to tracking, compliance, payments, investment and the changing role of different partners within the channel.
Why does it matter?
Affiliate and partner marketing is now a £2 billion UK industry, supporting thousands of jobs and businesses. Our industry views give us a more complete picture of how that money is being spent and where there’s potential for future growth.
The more responses we receive, the more complete the picture. And that’s important because it helps the APMA decide its priorities for 2027, directly informing our roadmap.
Not only that but it helps the wider industry navigate the issues they should be concerned about, and individual companies to benchmark themselves against their competitors.
Giving the industry a voice outside the industry
More than just helping the industry to understand itself better, we have used the aggregated views in our discussions with government, regulators and policymakers, all of whom are making decisions about things that could impact us.
We want to hear from everyone
You don’t need to be an APMA member to participate.
This year we have separate surveys for publishers and affiliates, brands and advertisers, and agencies and consultants.
We’re particularly keen to make sure we’re hearing from businesses of different shapes and sizes. A large network agency or multinational publisher will inevitably have a different perspective from an independent consultant or small affiliate business.
And the more responses we receive from each part of the market, the more useful the comparisons become.
Anonymous, and nothing is compulsory
We’ve also tried to make participating as straightforward as possible. We’re using a new survey platform this year, which we hope will make the surveys quicker and easier to complete.
None of the questions is compulsory. If there’s something you don’t know, can’t answer or simply don’t feel comfortable answering, skip it.
Responses are treated anonymously and findings will only be reported in aggregate. We won’t attribute comments, data or feedback to individual respondents or businesses.
We do give you the option to provide your company name and email address, but that’s entirely voluntary.
What happens next?
The three surveys will initially remain open for four to six weeks. We’ll then analyse the findings and publish the Voice of the Nation 2026 report in Q4, bringing together the charts, data and major themes from across all three surveys.
If you leave us your email address, we’ll make sure you receive the findings when they’re published.
Last year’s 300+ responses gave us an incredibly useful picture of the industry.
So whether you’re a publisher, advertiser, agency or consultant, we’d really appreciate 10 minutes of your time.
Take part
Publishers & Affiliates: TAKE THE SURVEY
Brands & Advertisers: TAKE THE SURVEY
Agencies & Consultants: TAKE THE SURVEY
Last year’s Voice of the Affiliate Nation report can be found here.
