Affiliate marketing closed 2025 with record-breaking performance, reinforcing its role as one of the most consistent and measurable channels in performance marketing. Transaction volumes, publisher participation, and advertiser confidence all point to continued momentum heading into 2026.

At the same time, new industry data suggests that while affiliate marketing is performing well, challenges remain around how its value is perceived, measured, and funded at a strategic level.

Performance Remains a Clear Strength

In 2025, affiliate marketing recorded more than 360 million transactions, averaging roughly one million transactions per day, and continued to represent a meaningful share of online spend. Advertisers and publishers alike report stable or growing budgets, with the majority of publishers expecting growth in 2026.

This confirms that affiliate marketing is not a declining or experimental channel—it is a mature, high-volume driver of revenue that remains central to many digital strategies.

According to the Affiliate & Partner Marketing Association’s Voice of the Nation 2025 report, the channel enters 2026 “in a position of strength,” supported by broad participation across brands, agencies, and publishers (source: APMA, via Hello Partner).

Where the Gaps Appear
Rather than pointing to underperformance, the data highlights several structural areas where affiliate marketing has not fully caught up with its commercial scale.

Strategic positioning
Advertisers rated affiliate marketing’s strategic importance at an average of 6.5 out of 10. This suggests that while the channel is trusted to deliver results, it is not always embedded into higher-level planning alongside channels such as paid media, brand partnerships, or CRM.

Measurement frameworks
Attribution remains uneven across the ecosystem. While some advertisers have adopted non-last-click or participation-based models, usage is inconsistent, and shared standards are still lacking. This makes it harder to compare performance across partners and to clearly demonstrate affiliate marketing’s contribution beyond the point of conversion.

Investment and infrastructure
Despite accounting for approximately one in ten pounds spent online, affiliate marketing continues to have a relatively low profile across industry events, media, and internal budget discussions. On the publisher side, delayed commission payments remain a persistent operational challenge, with nearly half reporting moderate to significant impact from slow payouts.

A Period of Adjustment, Not Decline

Importantly, the outlook for 2026 remains positive. The majority of publishers expect growth, and advertisers report steady or increasing spend. Rather than signalling a lack of confidence, the current conversation reflects a period of adjustment as the channel evolves.

Industry leaders are increasingly focused on improving:

* How affiliate value is communicated internally
* How contribution is measured across the full funnel
* How partnerships are supported through better payment structures and transparency

This shift has been described as a move from focusing purely on output to refining how value is recognized and operationalized.

What Advertisers Should Watch in 2026

For advertisers, the takeaway is not that affiliate marketing is falling short—but that its scale and maturity now require better alignment across strategy, measurement, and investment.

In 2026, expect greater emphasis on:

* Hybrid attribution and participation-based models
* Deeper collaboration with high-quality publishers
* More integration between affiliate, influencer, and partnership-led growth strategies

Affiliate marketing continues to deliver. The next phase will be defined by how effectively the industry evolves the structures around it to match that performance.