- Aug 18
- 17 min read
Updated: Aug 19
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Affiliate marketing is powering a massive shift in how brands grow online. With more than 80% of companies now using affiliate partnerships to drive traffic, sales and new customer growth (according to Influencer Marketing Hub), it’s clear this performance-based approach is a key part of modern marketing strategies.
We’ve pulled the latest affiliate marketing statistics and facts from average affiliate marketing income, demographic data and much more. Whether you’re a beginner or building a full-scale program, these stats will help you understand where affiliate marketing is today and where it’s going.
And with today’s all-in-one website builder platforms, launching your affiliate brand marketing plan is easier than ever. Let’s explore the data driving affiliate marketing in 2026.
Ready to bring your affiliate marketing site to life? Learn how to create a website from scratch and how to make an affiliate marketing website
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Top 10 must-know affiliate marketing statistics for 2026
Amazon Associates ranks first in Datanyze's affiliate network technology dataset, detected on 40,197 sites as of August 2026, or 45.42% of tracked usage. (Datanyze)
The global affiliate market was worth $18.44 billion in 2025 and is estimated to reach $20.07 billion in 2026. (Cognitive Market Research)
Asia Pacific holds the largest market share, accounting for 34.44% of the global affiliate market. (Cognitive Market Research)
US advertisers will spend $13.81 billion on affiliate marketing in 2026, an 11.3% rise from the previous year. (Emarketer)
Affiliate is forecast to drive $241.03 billion in US eCommerce sales in 2026. (Emarketer)
Almost three-quarters (74%) of brands generate between 11% and 30% of their total revenue through affiliate partnerships. (impact.com)
Loyalty and rewards partners closed 55% of all affiliate transactions in the first half of 2026, up from 48% a year earlier. (impact.com)
Discount and coupon publishers captured 42.4% of US affiliate revenues in the first half of 2025. (Emarketer)
Nearly all brands (97%) and creators (96%) are already using AI in their partnership programs. (impact.com)
Almost 70% of the sites cited when ChatGPT discussed one eyewear brand came from affiliate marketing content. (Emarketer)
Want to dive deeper into the data? Jump to the stat that interests you most below:
Affiliate marketing industry statistics
According to the latest affiliate marketing statistics from Cognitive Market Research, updated in June 2026, the global affiliate market was worth $18.44 billion in 2025. Asia Pacific led the way with 34.44% of the total, ahead of Europe at 24.92% and North America at 19.96%.
Asia Pacific's lead rests on a mobile-first consumer base and rapid growth in social commerce. Live-stream shopping and closed-ecosystem affiliate programs inside large regional marketplaces give the region a different growth profile from the content and coupon model that dominates Western markets.
Global affiliate marketing market size
Recent data from Cognitive Market Research projects that the global affiliate market will grow from $18.44 billion in 2025 to $35.43 billion in 2033. That is a rise of 92% over eight years.
If projections prove correct, the affiliate market will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5% over that period, passing an estimated $20.07 billion in 2026.
The report cites several reasons for growth, including rising adoption among eCommerce websites and brands, the expansion of the creator economy and advances in AI marketing automation.
"Affiliate marketing has emerged as one of the most dynamic strategies for business growth. It lets companies reach new audiences while growing meaningful, long-term relationships. The potential within this space is huge, and it's impressive to see how brands are leveraging it to adapt and thrive." - Adi Avraham, SEO growth specialist at Wix
US affiliate marketing market size
The US affiliate market stood at $2.92 billion in 2025*, which is 15.82% of the global total and makes it the largest single country market.
Data from Cognitive Market Research expects the US market to reach $5.36 billion by 2033, a rise of 84% at a CAGR of 7.9%.
*Market size and advertiser spending are different measurements. The commission spending figures in the next section are larger because they count what advertisers pay out, not the size of the market itself.
Affiliate marketing growth statistics
The affiliate market is projected to grow across every region between 2025 and 2033, according to Cognitive Market Research. Asia Pacific, the largest region, is projected to rise from $6.35 billion to $12 billion.
If correct, that represents a CAGR of 8.3% and a rise of 89% over eight years.
Europe, the second biggest market, is expected to grow from $4.6 billion to $8.48 billion over the same period, a CAGR of 8%. North America follows in third place, rising from $3.68 billion to $6.91 billion at a CAGR of 8.2%.
Africa is the fastest growing region by some distance. Its market is projected to rise from $1.15 billion in 2025 to $2.94 billion in 2033, a CAGR of 12.5% driven by mobile-first internet access and the spread of mobile money.
The Middle East follows with a CAGR of 9.1%, growing from $1.28 billion to $2.57 billion. South America grows from $1.39 billion to $2.53 billion at 7.8%.
Which regions have the biggest share of the affiliate marketing industry?
Analysis of affiliate marketing statistics shows that Asia Pacific owns the largest portion of the global marketing industry, accounting for 34.44% of the total.
The same report from Cognitive Market Research found that Europe had the next highest share at 24.92%, followed by North America at 19.96%. Between them the top three regions account for 79% of the market.
South America holds 7.52% and the Middle East 6.95%, putting both ahead of Africa on current size.
At the other end of the scale, Africa had the smallest regional share at 6.22%. It is also the only region forecast to grow at a double-digit rate.
Which countries have the biggest share of the affiliate marketing industry?
The US is the biggest single country market for affiliate marketing, worth $2.92 billion in 2025. That is 15.82% of the global industry, according to Cognitive Market Research.
China had the second biggest affiliate market in 2025 at $2.19 billion. It was the only other country above the $2 billion mark, with a global share of 11.86%.
Japan was third at $1.23 billion (6.65%), making it the largest market outside the US and China. Germany followed at $1.1 billion (5.99%), the biggest market in Europe.
Rounding off the top five was the UK at $834 million (4.52%). Together the five biggest countries account for 44.84% of the global affiliate market.
Affiliate marketing spending statistics
In its September 2025 forecast, Emarketer projected that US advertisers would spend $13.81 billion on affiliate marketing in 2026, an 11.3% rise from $12.42 billion in 2025.
That growth rate outpaces US retail eCommerce as a whole, which is forecast to grow 6.7% over the same period. The same forecast put affiliate-driven US eCommerce sales at $241.03 billion for 2026, which places the channel closer to core infrastructure than to a niche tactic.
Looking for tips to help monetize your website? Learn how creators and business owners are increasing revenue with smart strategies and high-performing Wix websites.
Affiliate network consolidation in 2026
The affiliate network landscape got smaller in 2025. Awin shut down the ShareASale platform on October 6, 2025, after migrating every active advertiser and publisher across in August. The combined network now covers more than 9,500 advertisers and 250,000 active publishers.
Consolidation continued into 2026. impact.com announced a strategic alliance with Rakuten in the first quarter, pairing its partnership technology platform with Rakuten Advertising's global network and Rakuten Rewards' consumer intelligence. impact.com says it now powers more than two million partnerships generating over $110 billion in annual gross merchandise value.
Ranking networks by size is harder than it looks. Published figures measure different things, from advertiser counts to partnership counts to gross merchandise value, so they cannot be compared directly. Technology detection datasets such as Datanyze rank by how many sites carry a network's tracking code, which means a retired platform can still register a share long after it closes. ShareASale is a case in point.
For most affiliates starting out, network choice matters less than fit. Amazon Associates remains the most widely detected program by some distance, which is why guides on how to sell on Amazon and how much it costs to sell on Amazon stay among the most requested starting points.
How brands are investing in affiliate marketing
In a 2025 survey of 818 marketers, 284 publishers and 421 content creators across eight countries, impact.com found that 74% of brands generate between 11% and 30% of their total revenue through affiliate partnerships.
The same research found that leading brands do not rely on one partner type. They build ecosystems of three to four partner types spanning creators, publishers, affiliates and advocates, which lets them reach customers across the full journey rather than only at checkout. That mix is now a standard part of digital marketing strategy.
Brands are also changing how they measure the channel. In the same impact.com research, 94% of brands said they were experimenting with or planning to adopt attribution models beyond last click within the next year, and 59% planned to put at least a quarter of their affiliate budget into creator partnerships.
Shoppers move between devices during that journey, which makes conversion depend on a fast mobile site or a well-built mobile app.
Which partner types drive affiliate traffic and sales
Affiliate programs do not run on one kind of partner. impact.com tracks how the work splits across the journey, from the partners who open it to the ones who close it. Affiliates bring their own audience to that journey, built with tools such as SEO features and organic search.
Across 2,319 North American brands in the first half of 2026, network partners generated 50% of all affiliate clicks, up from 44% a year earlier. Content review partners held 17%, loyalty and rewards partners 15%, technology solutions 7% and influencers 4%.
The picture flips at checkout. Loyalty and rewards partners took 15% of clicks but closed 55% of transactions, making them the strongest closing partner in the study. Network and content review partners generated 67% of clicks between them but only 29% of transactions, because they operate during the research phase rather than at the point of sale.
Those splits sit on top of the traffic each affiliate builds for itself. Content marketing, email marketing, SEO marketing and paid channels such as PPC all feed the research phase long before any partner gets credited on the sale.
That research phase now runs across devices, so mobile marketing is part of the same picture rather than a separate channel.
“To generate revenue with your niche website, you have two common options: displaying ads through Google AdSense or using affiliate programs that allow you to earn money for each sale you generate.” - Emilio García, SEO podcaster and educator at Campamento Web
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What does affiliate performance actually look like?
The pattern sharpened in 2026. Across the first half of the year, clicks on partner links rose 6% year over year while transactions fell 7% and conversion rates fell 12%. Shoppers were buying less often but spending more overall, with consumer spending up 8%.
Average order value climbed 16%, from $111 to $130. This time the lift came from what shoppers chose rather than how much they bought. Average item value rose 13%, from $47 to $53, while items per order moved only slightly, from 2.36 to 2.44.
The full-year picture for 2025 was milder. Clicks rose 2% while transactions fell 5% and conversion rates fell 6%, and average order value rose 4% from $118 to $123. Two years of the same direction suggest a structural change in how people shop rather than a single bad season.
Partner types behaved very differently. Technology solutions posted the largest conversion rate gain of any partner type in the first half of 2026 at 42%, and grew transaction volume by 15%. Influencer marketing partners held a small but steady position, taking 4% of clicks and transactions on 2% of brand spending.
Want to see how video marketing fits into the bigger picture? Check out the latest video marketing statistics.
Where affiliate spend goes
impact.com's benchmark shows that brand spend does not track transactions one for one. Content review partners took 26% of brand spending in the first half of 2026 for 9% of transactions, which reflects their role earlier in the journey rather than weak performance.
Loyalty and rewards partners dominated outcomes, closing 55% of transactions and accounting for 54% of consumer spending. Influencers took 4% of clicks and transactions on just 2% of brand spending, a small share that is becoming more efficient as its reach narrows.
Commission is taking a larger share of the money. Total brand spending rose 10% in the first half of 2026, but the mix shifted. Commission payments rose 14% while non-action payments such as bonuses and fixed placement fees fell 19%, pushing commission to 90% of total brand spending, up from 86% across 2025.
Affiliate performance is now seasonal
impact.com found that affiliate activity no longer spreads evenly across the year. Q4 accounted for 33% of all affiliate clicks in 2025, up from 29% in 2024, and 32% of transactions.
November was the clearest example. Clicks rose 45% year over year that month while transactions stayed almost flat, and conversion rates hit their lowest point of the year. Shoppers spent November comparing prices and building carts, then waited.
Brand budgets barely moved. Total brand spending rose just 1% year over year, but spending concentrated around peak moments. In November alone brand spend rose 6% and commission payments rose 10%, as brands raised rates by 7% to compete for placement during the busiest research period of the year.
The purchase window compressed into early December. With Cyber Monday falling on December 1, buyers held off until they could validate the deals they had been tracking, so purchases concentrated in the first few days of the month rather than spreading across it.
The quietest months told the opposite story. March and April recorded the highest conversion rates of the year. Without holiday promotion noise, the traffic arriving through partner links was smaller but far more decisive.
The first half of 2026 suggests that November was not a one-off. Commission payments stayed 14% above the previous year across nearly the whole half, holding at 90% of total brand spending. What used to be a one-month competitive spike now looks like the standing rate.
Affiliate marketing consumer statistics
Loyalty and rewards partners captured 54% of all consumer spending through affiliate links in the first half of 2026, up from 51% a year earlier, according to impact.com. Network partners took 20% and content review partners 12%.
Discount partners lost ground fastest. Voucher and coupon partners fell from 11% of consumer spending to 5%, and their share of clicks halved from 6% to 3%. Shoppers moved toward partners who reach them earlier in the journey or close the sale directly.
Overall consumer spending through affiliate links rose 8% year over year even though shoppers bought less often. Fewer, larger and more considered purchases are carrying the channel, which changes what a partner should be measured on.
Learn how to tap into this buying behavior with smart eCommerce marketing strategies.
Affiliate publisher and creator statistics
How is affiliate publisher revenue shifting?
The Performance Marketing Association measures the whole US market rather than a single network, and it publishes on a three-year cycle. Its latest edition covers 2024, when US affiliate spending reached $13.62 billion, up 49.8% from $9.1 billion in 2021. PMA and Emarketer use different methodologies and definitions, so their spending figures are not directly comparable.
Cash back, loyalty and rewards publishers held the largest share of that spend at 35%, with content publishers at 16%. The clearest shift since 2021 is in discounting. Coupon, voucher and rebate sites fell from 16% of total spend to 10%, a six-point drop that reflects budget moving toward partners who work earlier in the journey.
Measured by revenue earned rather than budget allocated, discount and coupon publishers captured 42.4% of US affiliate revenues in the first half of 2025, up from 39.7% a year earlier.
Creators are the fastest growing group. On Awin's network their share of revenue rose from 15.9% to 19.5% year over year, and 59% of brands plan to put at least a quarter of their affiliate budget into creator partnerships.
Affiliate marketing attribution and measurement
Attribution is the biggest open problem in the channel right now. Most programs still pay on last click, but the data shows that model misses where much of the work happens.
As shown earlier, network and content review partners generate 67% of affiliate clicks but only 29% of transactions. Those partners are not underperforming. They operate during the research phase, sometimes weeks before the sale, and last-click attribution
gives them none of the credit.
In impact.com's 2025 survey of 818 marketers, 284 publishers and 421 creators, 94% of brands said they were experimenting with or planning to adopt attribution models beyond last click within the next year.
Measurement gaps run deeper than attribution alone. Among marketers using marketing mix modeling, 27.3% fold affiliate into a general performance bucket and 14.8% do not represent it at all, according to an Emarketer and Rakuten Rewards survey. A further 43.2% either leave affiliate data out of campaign planning or only bring it in after budgets are set.
impact.com's own read of the 2026 data reaches the same conclusion. A purchase that now takes more clicks to reach spreads influence across more touchpoints than a last-click model can credit, which means research-phase partners are undercredited or not credited at all when the sale lands.
When a channel is not measured properly, it does not get funded properly. Tightening marketing analytics and rebuilding content strategy around the research phase is how programs avoid the most common marketing fails in the channel.
AI in affiliate marketing statistics
Adoption is close to universal. Research published by impact.com in 2025 found that 97% of brands and 96% of creators are already using AI in their partnership programs.
That near-universal adoption changes what the channel competes on. When every program can generate content, personalize offers and optimize placements at machine speed, the differentiator moves to partner relationships and to measurement that can prove which partner actually did the work.
What is changing for affiliate publishers in search?
Emarketer data shows that search is the pressure point. Between May and August 2025, Wirecutter's visibility in Google search results fell by more than 60%. Close to seven in 10 publishers say they are concerned that Google's changes will hurt their affiliate businesses.
AI assistants pull in the other direction. Almost 70% of the sites cited when ChatGPT discussed one eyewear brand came from affiliate marketing content, and more than a quarter of OpenAI's content partnerships since 2021 have been with publishers running scaled affiliate commerce content.
Shopping queries on ChatGPT grew faster than any other query type between December 2024 and June 2025. Consumers using generative AI have adopted it for price comparison, deal finding and review checking, which are the same jobs affiliate publishers built their businesses around. When those answers arrive inside a chatbot, the tracked click that triggers a commission never happens.
Discover how AI marketing and AI marketing automation are reshaping the future of affiliate strategies.
Explore more:
The future of affiliate marketing
As well as the move towards AI, other shifts are already reshaping the channel. WeCanTrack projects that mobile will account for more than 65% of all affiliate clicks by 2027.
Tracking is the other shift. WeCanTrack projects that 70% of affiliate platforms will move away from cookie-based tracking by 2027, in favor of first-party solutions and AI-driven site analytics. Google confirmed in April 2025 that it will keep third-party cookies in Chrome, but Safari and Firefox still block them by default, so the tracking gap remains for a large share of visitors.
"Once you decide to become an affiliate marketer, it's essential to focus on products you believe in. Your affinity for the product is crucial, and it's better to choose an unsaturated market with few players. Have you already chosen a competitive niche? Ensure there is profit potential that justifies your investment." - Guy Josipovich, online partnerships manager at Wix
Editor’s note: This blog post is based on the most recent data available as of August 18, 2026.
Affiliate marketing FAQs
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a popular type of performance-based digital marketing where businesses or individuals earn commission by promoting a brand’s products and services. Affiliates share unique tracking links via their website, social media, emails or other platforms. They earn commission when a buyer clicks through these links to make a purchase.
Examples of prominent affiliate marketing sites include NerdWallet, Skyscanner and Money Saving Expert.
How to start affiliate marketing?
You can begin your affiliate marketing by taking the following steps:
Choose a niche that matches your interest or expertise.
If there are no areas that immediately come to mind, take time to learn about a particular niche, gathering info on current trends, prominent brands and customer preferences.
Sign up for an affiliate network (like Amazon Associates or Awin).
Once signed up, you’ll be given unique tracking links for the products or services you intend to promote.
Share and promote your affiliate links
Once you’ve received your affiliate links, it’s time to start sharing them and driving sales. These links can be shared through your site or content like blog posts, YouTube marketing videos, social media and email newsletters.
When starting with affiliate marketing, focus on providing insight and value to your target audience. This will help establish you as a trusted voice within your niche, encouraging more traffic, click-throughs and ultimately sales.
What is high-ticket affiliate marketing?
High-ticket affiliate marketing is a form of affiliate marketing where the marketer promotes premium products that offer higher commission rates, typically worth $500 or more per sale. High-ticket items can be found across numerous niches, but often include things like luxury items, premium products, financial products and online courses.
As such, successful high-ticket affiliate marketing relies on lower quantities of more lucrative sales, compared to standard affiliate schemes. This can require a more strategic approach, with a greater need to build trust with high-quality content, nurture leads and take a more targeted approach to SEO.
What is EPC in affiliate marketing?
Earnings Per Click (EPC) is a metric that shows the average commission an affiliate marketer earns for every click they generate on their affiliate link. EPC is calculated by dividing the overall earnings by the number of clicks received. For example, earnings of $100 over 100 clicks would generate an EPC of $1.
This metric helps you evaluate the overall performance of your affiliate strategy, with a higher EPC indicating that each click is generating more commission value on average. It also allows you to compare which of your products and services are the most profitable.
How do I choose a niche for affiliate marketing?
The best way to choose a niche for affiliate marketing is to identify which areas you have a strong knowledge of or interest in. This will allow you to create informed and relevant content from the outset that will help establish you as a trusted voice within your niche.
Additionally, writing about a subject of interest makes it more likely you’ll maintain the passion and work ethic essential to successful affiliate marketing.
How do I build an affiliate marketing website?
Building an affiliate marketing website should start by selecting a niche that works for you and a relevant affiliate network (e.g., Amazon Associates, Awin). After establishing your niche, you should choose a relevant and memorable domain name and select a reliable web hosting platform for your site.
Wix is a customizable, user-friendly platform and website builder that works perfectly for affiliate marketing sites across an array of niches. The website can be easily set up and tailored to your brand, with numerous website design options and plugins available to enhance both user and backend functionality.
To grow your traffic and boost sales, focus on developing a robust SEO strategy or take advantage of free SEO tools to promote products on social media and producing content that appeals to your target audience. While success may not be immediate, consistently following these principles will yield results in the long term.
Explore these marketing niches to help you decide what direction to take your affiliate marketing business:
How much does affiliate marketing make?
An affiliate marketer's earnings can vary depending on an array of factors, including:
Niche
Selected products and services
Access to various promotions and discounts
Level of traffic
Trust among customers
Success of SEO trends and strategies
Quality of content
Social media presence
Earnings vary too widely for a single average to be useful, and most published figures come from self-selected surveys rather than verified income data.
Is affiliate marketing legal?
Yes, affiliate marketing is a legitimate and potentially lucrative business model where you earn commissions from brands for promoting and selling their products and services. As with any form of business or sales, however, affiliate marketing comes with guidelines, regulations and compliance laws that must be followed.
Failure to do so can result in activity that is considered illegal or even fraudulent, resulting in financial penalties or even legal action. Therefore, when beginning your journey as an affiliate marketer, you should take time to learn about the legal requirements of both the affiliate industry and the niche you plan to work in.
Is affiliate marketing worth it?
Yes. With the right effort, approach and dedication, affiliate marketing can be rewarding and profitable, both as a career path and a side hustle. While success is not easy, it offers the chance to build a regular and potentially lucrative income for those who take the time to find the right niche, build a user-friendly website, research and promote their products and produce engaging content.
Affiliate marketing is a low-cost model offering the potential for high scalability and is therefore definitely a worthwhile venture for those prepared to put in the required time and effort.
