The affiliate marketing is a $17 billion a year industry. With this technique, companies can increase their sales without advertising. As for individuals, they can earn money online using this method.π°
As a reminder, affiliate marketing is simply the act of recommending a company’s products in exchange for a percentage of the sale, also called a commission.
Still underestimated, affiliate marketing is a very profitable strategy. To help you visualize the impact of this technique, we will present you with a list of statistics and key figures. π
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Contents
The affiliate business
As mentioned in the introduction, the global affiliate marketing business is worth $17 billion a year. π
π 6 billion comes from the US alone(leader in affiliate marketing).
π Affiliate marketing accounts for 16% of total sales
The affiliate market is growing at about 10% per year. π(Awin)
Among publishers(blogs, YouTube channels, social networks, etc.), 31% use affiliation as their main source of revenue.
Among B2B marketers, 20% say that affiliate marketing is the most effective acquisition channel.
π Nearly 50% think affiliate marketing is a key skill.
Among all the income generated by affiliation, we can distinguish that some categories stand out. Among all the commissions earned:
- 43% come from retail(e-commerce like Amazon, Cdiscount, etc.)
- 24% from media and telecom(including training and infoproducts)
- 16% come from the travel theme(booking air tickets, hotels, activities, etc.)
Fashion is the niche with the most affiliate programs, and also the one with the most affiliates. π
There are alsoother popular niches(Influencer Marketing Hub):
- Beauty
- Luxury
- Travel
- Pets
- Gaming
- Sport
- Personal Finances
If you want to get started in affiliation, we invite you to read our list of the 33 most profitable niches . π
The most profitable niche remains health and wellness ( Influencer Marketing Hub ).
Brands and affiliation
80% of brands have an affiliate program. π€
70% of companies believe that affiliate marketing will help themincrease their sales. (fetchprofits.com)
There are also what are called affiliate platforms, which bring together several programs and different brands.
Here are the most important affiliate platforms in the world:
As you can see, Amazon’s partner program completely dominates the affiliate market. Then there is CJ Affiliate, a big American affiliate platform.
Affiliate programs can choose several methods to pay their affiliates including:
- Cost per share (CPA)
- Cost per lead(CPL)
- Cost per click(CPC)
Among all affiliate programs(iabuk.com):
- 99% propose the cost per share model
- 24% propose the cost per lead model
- 24% propose the cost per click model
Note that a good portion of advertisers offer multiple types of compensation. πΈ
Affiliate marketers
Affiliate marketing is also a way to make money. Many web marketers have specialized in affiliate marketing in order to generate income online. π°
Affiliate marketing generates sales mainly through the creation of content (blogs, social networks, YouTube channel and others). However, 59% of marketersuse affiliate marketing to make product placements with influencers.
π 88% of consumers have already purchased a product after seeing it from an influencer.
On the internet, you can find many review and comparison sites. These blogs will test products and give their opinion. Generally, these sites contain affiliate links .
π 77% of consumers say they consult reviews before buying a product online.
π ΒΎ of U.S. consumers look at affiliate sites before they buy.
π 37% of the “ first time buyer ” or “first time customer“ come from an affiliate link. (Awin – 2021)
As we told you above, affiliate marketing is also a way to make money on the internet. Thanks to a study conducted by affise.com, we can know the average income of affiliate marketers in the United States:
- 18. 8% earn less than $20,000 per year
- 10. 1% earn between $21,000 and $40,000 per year
- 10. 1% earn between $41,000 and $80,000 per year
- 13. 3% earn between $81,000 and $120,000 per year
- 12.8% earn between $121,000 and $200,000 per year
The average conversion rate for affiliates is between 0.5 and 1%. (business2community.com)
More than half of all affiliate traffic comes from mobile.π±
Which communication channels for affiliate marketing?
Of the publishers, 95% use different traffic sources to sell to affiliates.
The most used communication channel is still blogging.
π 65% of publishers have a blog and use it as their primary channel. βοΈ
What are the favorite traffic sources for affiliates?
- Natural referencing at 69.2%.
- Social networks at 67.3%.
- Blogging at 64.4%.
Which themes do affiliates prefer to promote?(financesonline.com)
- Technology at 41
- Fashion at 39.8
- Online services at 29.9%(e.g. software)
Who are the publishers?
We have seen how much affiliate marketers can earn, what their favorite niches are, but we don’t know who they are. Here are some statistics on publishers:
54% of affiliate marketers are men. π¨
46% of affiliate marketers are women. π©
32% of marketers are between 35 and 44 years old.
57% of affiliate marketers live in the United States.
π 10% are in Canada.
π 2% are in India.
54% of affiliate marketers work from home. π»
19% work from an office.
Thanks to these different statistics, you can see that affiliation represents a real opportunity for all businesses. But it is also a good way to earn money by generating commissions on a regular basis. Many individuals, but also companies earn a regular income just with the affiliation. πΈ
If you want to learn more about affiliate marketing, take a look at our comparison of the best affiliate training courses .
If you want to make money with affiliate marketing, we invite you to download our ebook “Affiliate & SEO“. You will learn how to create an affiliate site in order to generate passive income through this method. If you want to earn your first money on the internet in the next few months, you know what you have to do!
Join 10,000+ makers and get all our latest tips for making a living from Blogging and Affiliate Marketing.