The APMA is delighted to launch 2026’s edition of the State of the Affiliate Nation, our annual look at the size, shape and direction of the UK affiliate and partner marketing industry.
In it we reveal how the affiliate and partner marketing industry grew by 7.3% in 2025, outstripping the UK economy by a factor of five. Revenue, the amount tracked by British brands running affiliate programmes in the UK, surged by 8%, bouyed by significant increases in health and beauty and travel.
This is the third year the APMA has produced the report, and it remains the only piece of UK research built directly from network and platform data. Eleven businesses shared their 2025 data, with leading CSS supplier Genie Shopping, this year’s report sponsor.
The data from 2025 survey shows brands invested £1.8bn in affiliate and partner marketing, generating £20.7bn in revenue. That equates to a 15:1 return on investment, rising to 19:1 in travel. The channel also drove 357 million transactions across the year, or roughly 41,000 every hour.
The big numbers don’t stop there. Clicks, an often forgotten aspect of the channel, were responsible for 14.8bn interactions in 2025, or 470 per second.
At peak trading, that impact becomes even clearer. Across Cyber Weekend, more than £1 in every £7 spent tracked through an affiliate link, up from £1 in £8 the year before.
There are a few underlying shifts worth calling out. First, revenue and spend have grown at the same rate, while transaction growth has been more modest, pointing to higher basket values across parts of the market.
Second, the channel is no longer defined purely by last-click CPA. While it still dominates, a growing share of activity now sits in tenancy, hybrid and other non-CPA models. In fact, close to one pound in five is now spent outside traditional last-click CPA, reflecting how affiliate is being used across more of the customer journey.
And third, growth is coming from multiple places. Retail remains the largest sector, accounting for 47% of spend, but travel, finance and telecoms are all showing strong momentum. In telecoms alone, affiliates are delivering around one million new customers a month.
None of this happened in a vacuum; consumer confidence remained fragile through 2025, and marketing budgets were under pressure. In that context, affiliate’s role as a significant sales channel, connecting brands to their next customer, is clear.
We’ve designed the report to be practical. You can use it for headline stats, internal planning, or as supporting evidence in pitches and reviews.
If you’re a member, you can log in to the members area and download the full 93-page report for free. For non-members we’ve created a highlights report, available when you fill in the form below.
If you’re an APMA member login here for the full 93-page report
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