After all the talk and worry mounting for months (before plateauing for a week or two as many marketers gave up caring, or at least pretended to), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is finally here, and finally enforceable.

With each of the affiliate networks choosing to take their own route to consumer data compliance, deadline day today will have seen the rollout of solutions hard in the making for a number of weeks. While an early morning browse over the affiliate industry’s bread and butter – the voucher code sites – finds little in the way of striking differences from yesterday, one network’s approach to acquiring affirmative consent is drawing out the end-of-week ire in certain members of the industry.

It is CJ Affiliate by Conversant that is bearing the brunt of the critical affiliate eye today, owed to a rather verbose pop-up message on any attempt to access one its partner’s offers – in this case, a 10% TUI discount code via VoucherCodes.co.uk.  

Contained in the CJ-branded message is a detailed explanation of how the voucher code publisher has partnered with the network for use of its “advertising and analytics technologies (including cookies)”, which enable it to grant a commission on any purchase made by the consumer as a result of using a voucher code.

The message continues; “We use these technologies to collect data to better understand your browsing activity on this site and other third-party websites and apps. We use this data to serve you with interest-based advertising and for analytics purposes, and may share this data with our service providers for those same purposes.”

The consumer is then instructed to either click ‘Continue to site’ or close the banner in order to provide consent to the use of cookies on TUI’s site and “other sites that work with us”. A ‘Learn more’ button, meanwhile, shows a checkbox list of partners involved in the transaction – in this case, just the network itself – which consumers can select in order to decline access to their data.

It is, seemingly, just CJ Affiliate by Conversant that has such measures in place, with offers placed by merchants under various other networks bypassing any such consent tool on the path to purchase. In fact, the network is one of the few which is taking a blanket approach across publisher and advertisers according to comments made by the group’s European head of strategy, Owen Hancock, to PerformanceIN recently, in an interview with multiple networks. 

“The implementation of GDPR will change the definition of consent in the current ePrivacy Directive,” said Hancock; “Sharing the Consent Tool industry-wide means that we can help bring best practice, ensuring affiliate is not at the centre of compliance controversy after May 25th.

Competing networks, however, have taken different tacts, many requiring advertisers to seek their own consent, in some cases with an adaptation of the ubiquitous cookie banner alert; while others have encouraged partners to use “whatever tool they wish”, as long as it plugs into the IAB Europe’s Consent Framework.

However, while CJ Affiliate by Conversant’s approach may seem somewhat interruptive to the user and brand experience at present, it is still early days in the new world of GDPR, and perhaps a blanketed, universal approach to gaining consent could hold strong as a sensible decision in the longer term.

Let us know what you think below…

The post Good Morning GDPR: Affiliate Network Catches Eyes for Consent Tool appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Performance marketing agency Performics has shed new light on the relationship between search queries and where consumers are in their purchasing journey.

Working with the Northwestern University in a research partnership called Intent Lab, alongside the Bing Search Network, the study found that searchers with a high purchase intent were 180% more likely to click on results with the word ‘shop’, while those with browsing intent are 20% more likely to click on results with abstract words, like ‘best’.

The insights came from a collaboration with Bing’s owner Microsoft, which leveraged searcher intent from across the search engine, reviewing the impact of search queries on user actions.

“Our study found that a person’s search query can indicate their psychological distance to an action or goal, like buying something,” said Ashlee Humphreys, associate professor at Northwestern.

‘Insights machine’

The researchers concluded that search queries containing fewer concrete words and more abstract ones like ‘why’, indicated an abstract mindset, which tends to occur earlier in the purchase journey. Concrete queries like ‘shop’, meanwhile, indicated a shorter distance to action.

“Search isn’t just a marketing channel for brands,” commented Esteban Ribero, SVP planning & insights at Performics; “It’s also a behavioural insights machine; search query language uncovers consumer signals that can inform media planning and optimisation in search marketing and beyond.

“Our study proves that marketers who identify the mindset of consumers by their search queries and match ads and experiences accordingly will increase performance.”

As part of the study, Performics also ran three live ad campaigns in the beauty products category, bidding on keywords with various levels of concreteness; ‘how’ (most abstract), ‘best’ (abstract) and ‘buy’ (concrete), finding a 17% increase in likelihood to click when matching concrete/abstract search keywords with the ad.

The post Performics Reveals Search Queries Signalling Purchase Intent appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Accenture Interactive, the digital arm of the management consultancy firm, has rolled out its own Programmatic Services unit, which will incorporate planning, buying and management of programmatic ad campaigns.

The development comes as 65% of US brands stated to the IAB that they are making efforts to bring programmatic in-house, and according to the new arm’s global lead Scott Tieman, assisting brands in developing their own operating models is exactly the opportunity that it’s swooping in on. According to the firm, it will now be able to help “design, build and staff” in-house trading desk capabilities, or alternatively, run full-service global digital media campaigns.  

With a growing number of brands looking to bring programmatic in-house for better control, transparency and economy, the IAB claimed the process could take companies up to a year to implement, taking into account talent recruitment, organisational buy-in, complex coordination of partner contracts, and staff training and orientation.

“It’s not an undertaking for the faint of heart,” Tieman admitted to AdWeek; “It’s something that’s fairly involved.”

The rollout of Accenture Digital Programmatic Services includes three core services including programmatic consulting and in-housing for long-term strategies; media strategy and activation, and ad tech implementation.

Trial by fire

According to the experts, Accenture’s launch of a programmatic ad-buying unit was not so much of an ‘if’ as a ‘when’.

“The company already has its foot firmly in the door of many major brands for which it undertakes other consultancy-related services around technology recommendations, systems integration and optimisation; media buying is a natural extension that enables it to leverage its knowledge of and integration with each client’s specific environment,” commented Brian Fitzpatrick, general manager demand solutions at IPONWEB.

While the move has been on the cards for some time following the acquisition of a number of mergers and acquisitions, Fitzpatrick says that “agencies should be concerned”.

“Account reviews are at an all-time high, brands are looking for areas to cut costs and drive better performance, and Accenture has been staffing strategically in advance of this move.”

The next few months will be a test for Accenture and its potential impact on the programmatic industry. However, Fitzpatrick believes that if the consultancy is able to “hold and grow” its media buying client base, it’s likely more brands will “defect” from their agencies.

“Failure to do this, however, will indicate that performance is an issue,” he adds; “There is the very real possibility that Accenture may not be able to match the performance and ROI delivered by agencies which have media buying in their blood.”

The post The Next Few Months Will Prove if Accenture is Ready to Enter into Programmatic appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Just under two thirds (65%) of marketers in the US have moved programmatic ad buying in-house or are beginning to, according to research by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

Breaking that figure down, 18% have already achieved internalisation of programmatic ad bidding strategies, while the remaining 47% are making continued efforts, according to the survey of 119 US-based brand representatives.

With cost efficiency and transparency cited as a chief driver of these decisions among increased ad performance and better control, the research comes alongside a GroupM report revealing programmatic platforms took around 10% of ad spend passing through them to publishers.

However, while in-housing programmatic strategies could cut costs for companies and eliminate existing concerns over hidden fees, the IAB claims the process takes up to a year to implement, while a full in-house setup – from media strategy, ad operations, optimisation and stewardship - is incredibly resource intensive.

Hybrid approach

Instead, the majority will favour a “hybrid approach”, where select programmatic functions will be taken in-house or shared with partners. The particular areas that brands are looking to control are the strategic aspects, which include media strategy, establishing KPIs, data management and direct control of contracts with Data Management Platforms (DMPs) and Demand Side Platforms (DSPs).

Campaign analysis and optimisation, meanwhile, are areas which may be “kept in check” by resource limitations, according to the report, while technology related to highly-specialised programmatic functions will likely be outsourced.

While programmatic platforms themselves have felt the squeeze as more brands seek to trim down their partner bases, resulting in an up to 25% decline in fees within the last few years, it’s unlikely they will suffer from a desertion of customers in the very near future; the IAB warns moving functions in-house is not a move to be made lightly, requiring talent recruitment, organisational buy-in, complex coordination of partner contracts and staff training and orientation.

Within the study, some 13% of companies had trialled in-house programmatic but had decided not to go forward while 22% had decided to forego any development of internal capabilities entirely.

The IAB’s study for 2018 follows a similar report by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in 2017, which found that 35% of brands have expanded their in-house programmatic media buying capabilities and limited the role of outside agencies, up from 14% in 2016. Meanwhile, Adobe predicted 62% of brands would bring programmatic in-house by 2022.

For those brands still set on internalisation, the IAB provided a five-point checklist of considerations, including evaluating potential media performance and conducting cost-benefit analysis; creating a “ramp up” plan; practising data-centricity; establishing a tech stack, and attracting and retaining talent.  

The post IAB Warns of Mammoth Task as 65% US Brands Consider In-Housing Programmatic appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Facebook is close to rolling out a Branded Content Matching search engine allowing advertisers to select content creators based on their unique audiences, according to leaked screenshots acquired by AllFacebook.de and confirmed by TechCrunch.

According to the announcement, the social network first noted that it would build a “creator-brand” tool in March, but details acquired from the screenshots shed more light on how it will work when officially launched.

Set to roll out exclusively on Facebook as opposed to within partnership with its own company Instagram, the tool is geared at allowing brands to strike up new partnerships with influencers for more authentic ad content, in turn offering the creators themselves another way to monetise their content and fan base.

Brands will be able to search for potential partners based on audience parameters such as region, interests, gender, education, among more specific criteria such as life events, home ownership and type; after selection, the parties are put in contact to iron out terms without Facebook’s involvement, while the only thing it won’t allow is re-sharing deals – the re-posting of brand’s ready-made content.  

The early-stage tests will require opt-in from a number of lifestyle influencers to start with, who will be required to set up a portfolio demonstrating audience size and metrics, and their “best branded content”.

While Facebook will not initially take a cut from these partnerships, it’s speculated the roll out might be a play to retain brand spend via an avenue for “more compelling and original” content away from key competitors in the sector such as YouTube, while also making advertising more “tolerable” for Facebook users themselves.

A threat to influencer startups?

As noted in the announcement by TechCrunch last week, Facebook’s Branded Content Matching tool could threaten to “squash” an entire new industry of independent creator search engines and databases built for the same purposes of connecting brands with the right influencers, including Whalar, Hypr and Tap Influence to name just a handful.

This ousting could really come to the fore if Facebook began pulling in first-party data from across its properties – including Instagram where sponsored post spend doubled last year – or eventually managed to scrape stats from competing platforms.

Commenting directly on the original post, Whalar co-founder Neil Waller said; “While on the one hand there is, of course, a risk of influencer marketing platforms getting squashed, the reality is that those who know they add value to the ecosystem should be very excited by this news.”

Comparing the Branded Content Matching tool to Facebook’s standard advertising services, Waller noted that third-party platforms continue to operate and supplement Facebook’s ad interface, adding that “anything that helps bring further transparency and structure to it gets a big thumbs up in my book”.

“At the end of the day, there are advertisers out there who can’t just use the standard advertising tools; they’re either needing something specialists, needing a multi-platform solution or they need support and/or want to have a third-party run it for them,” said Waller.

“I don’t see why it should be any different with influencer marketing and unlike Facebook’s standard ad product, influencer marketing is a double-sided marketplace with people that will need support on both sides…advertisers and influencers.”

Meanwhile, Waller suggested that the investment is also positive evidence that the industry is continuing to grow; “onwards and upwards,” he added.

Find out more about the PerformanceIN Influencer Marketing Show 2018, which will tackle topics like this and more in London this October. 

The post Is Facebook’s New Influencer Search Engine a Threat to Competing Startups? appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Voucher code technology company RevLifter has today (May 17) announced the launch of its platform to market across three territories, with ambitions to ‘disrupt’ the affiliate incentive industry.

While it may not be the first many have heard about the publisher and tech platform, having been steadily rolling out its offering over the last few months – as well as gaining recognition within the Performance Marketing Awards (PMAs) – the announcement marks official access to its services by advertisers across the UK, US and Australia, allowing brands to enhance their customer incentivisation through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as well as the launch of a new site. 

Co-founder and former MD of global voucher portal Savoo, Simon Bird – who built the technology alongside former docdata MD Ryan Kliszat with the aid of £300K in funding from angel investors – called the technology “game changing” at the recent Affiliate Huddle conference where according to Bird, this would be owed to its potential to drive an action for retailers “every time” thanks to the integration of a simple tag on a retailer’s site based on objectives such as increasing AOV (Average Order Value) or building new customers.  

Once installed, the technology reads first-party customer basket data from retailers’ sites, which is then fed through an AI-powered ‘deal library’, pairing customers with matched incentives which are then presented through tools such as on-site and exit-intent messaging, and retailer-branded coupon pages.  

On the launch across multiple regions today, Bird spoke of the company’s pride in unveiling access across three “booming” e-commerce markets, claiming RevLifter was a result of inspiration from conversations with retailers who were demanding a “more intelligent way of issuing discounts and rewards to their customers.”

Ambitions to disrupt

RevLifter’s intentions to disrupt the incentive space have been evident from early on this year, with the company receiving high commendation within the PMAs new-for-2018 Industry Disruptor Award, against competitors including Button, Monotote, NMPi, Trackonomics - and follows the controversial launch of incentive toolbar Pouch, also aimed at retaining incentive-focused consumers on retailer’s sites.  

“This area of performance-based marketing has been starved of innovation in recent years, and the use of AI for delivering personalised incentives in real time is a huge step in the right direction,” commented Bird.  

Meanwhile, on the functionality which allows users to “track, alter and control” the offer targeting process via the RevLifter dashboard to “dissuade” users from migrating to third-party discount sites, Kliszat called the current reaction among early testers “astounding”.

“Personalisation can be applied to a range of different criteria that some retailers haven’t even considered yet, and we’re looking forward to expanding our capabilities to help each client progress,” he said. 

RevLifter is supported by a team of performance marketing experts, including Lewis Lenssen, formerly of Rakuten Marketing and DC Storm, and Tina Judic, CEO of performance marketing agency Found. According to today’s announcement, the group is already preparing for the solution’s launch in additional markets and plans to make a series of new hires in 2018.

The post RevLifter Launches AI-Driven Voucher Code Technology appeared first on PerformanceIN.

RevGlue is a new entrant making waves with UK affiliates, bloggers, influencers and online publishers. Adeel Farooq has been working in the UK affiliate industry for over fourteen years and brings a wealth of design and development experience.  

He has spotted that, for the current market growth to continue, affiliates require access to products and services with less reliance on technical expertise.  We met with Adeel to explore how RevGlue helps publishers save time and money with their affiliate marketing projects.

How did the idea of RevGlue come about?

Adeel Farooq – After working on 120 worldwide affiliate projects such as cashback, voucher codes, price comparison, daily deals, browser extensions and mobile apps via my last affiliate design and development company, I have realised there are two core issues that most affiliates marketers face. The first issue is that new publishers entering the affiliate marketing arena are not technically savvy and need technical support at the lowest cost possible. Secondly, the complex data profiles with different API structures and technologies make it difficult for affiliates to work with multiple network providers. They end up spending hundreds of pounds and countless hours either managing the design and development aspects of their websites or cleaning, formatting and updating the data on a daily basis.  

But the real job of the affiliate should be to earn commissions by bringing traffic to their websites and then sending qualified customers to retailers. Until the core issues of technical complexity and data management can be solved, the risk is affiliates do not push their marketing projects to the next level of profitability.  Too many projects will fail, with the result that publishers drop the idea of becoming an affiliate.

These are the two key factors that RevGlue is solving for affiliates – saving time and money with affiliate website design & development and data management. We want affiliates to concentrate on what they do best which is to promote their websites and convert those users to earn the highest commissions.  

What’s the purpose of RevGlue?

AF – The purpose of RevGlue is to bring simple, easy to use tools to UK affiliates. This is particularly important for new publishers entering the market so that they can set-up their affiliate websites quickly and cost-effectively.

There are two core elements that RevGlue offers to affiliates to help them save time and money. The first is structured data sets available for existing affiliates on monthly subscription plus free WordPress plugins. The second are modules that have been developed specifically for publishers who are not familiar with traditional affiliate networks so they can have an entry point to start affiliate marketing on a revenue share model.

The RevGlue core technology engine is based on the data collection, cleansing and formatting of different niche segments that are required for every affiliate project. We believe that for affiliates to be successful we can take away the headache of data management and technical site support. And in turn, this will broaden the appeal of affiliate marketing to a wider audience of publishers, particularly millennials.

Which RevGlue tools are offered to experienced affiliates?

AF – RevGlue is working with all the leading UK affiliate networks and 5,000 e-commerce stores. We provide four core modules to existing UK affiliates:

Data Sets – to set-up UK shopping directory, discount coupons, cashback website, price comparison project, daily deals website or mobile comparison projects. All our structured data sets are free to try for the first 30 days.

WordPress Plugins – free WordPress plugins are available for affiliates to download to setup affiliate websites compatible with the RevGlue data sets.

Affiliate WordPress Templates – for affiliates wanting to create a new website. Fully responsive templates can then be purchased for a low one-off cost which are compatible with all the RevGlue data sets.

Stats – for affiliates working with multiple networks the statistics module allows all sales and conversion data to be viewed and downloaded into a single admin panel. The statistics module is also offered free for the first month.

These four dynamic modules mean that experienced affiliates can save enormous amounts of time and money on website design, development, data management and analysing sales and statistics data. The outcome is better marketing strategy decisions for their affiliate websites.

Which RevGlue tools are offered to new publishers?

AF – RevGlue has built four modules for publishers who are not familiar with the affiliate network route to affiliate marketing but still want to monetise their web projects such as blogs, social media apps, YouTube channels or content websites.

RevSocial – allows social media influencers using Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to promote a product, voucher code, mobile deal, banner or daily deal and publish it on their social channels with a click of a button, earning commission on each sale.

RevLinks – offers bloggers the ability to convert all their blog content into paid links by simply adding a code on their website, and thereby yield revenues on each sale.

RevAds – allows publishers to create static, banner or product ads on their websites or mobile applications and then control the content and layout of these ads, earning commission on each sale.

RevEmbed – offers publishers a dynamic iframe solution to embed entire website content onto their domains that looks and feels part of their project. The real beauty of this module is that publishers can set-up discount coupons, cashback, mobile comparison or product feeds websites on their web domains without needing any additional resources to manage the website content or the data.

All publisher tools are offered absolutely free to use and publishers keep 80% of the commission made from each and every sale generated with these tools.

What do you suggest to millennials who are thinking about affiliate marketing?

AF – The common factor across the millennial generation is they have huge passion and energy to make a difference to their world. I see new affiliates coming from all sorts of disciplines such as lawyers, accountants, marketers, IT professionals if we, as an industry, can make it easy for them to succeed.

Affiliate marketing has always seemed attractive to new entrants as a source of passive income but we all know the reality is a lot of hard work is required. That begins with understanding the basics of the affiliate market, finding a niche to work in, and then sticking to it until they start seeing the commission coming through. Millennials should be smart enough to avoid all those types of “get rich quick” messages that sadly plague all over the internet.

The industry needs to make affiliate marketing simpler with lower costs of entry. Don’t waste thousands of pounds to set-up a new affiliate website that contains every type of bargain product or service, as you need to spend that budget promoting the website. Affiliates earn commission by sending the relevant buyers to ecommerce stores and not just setting up affiliate websites.

The key strategy for millennials should be analysing your niche, bringing in relevant users and converting them to get the highest return on investment for the least effort.

What support do you offer to new affiliates?

AF – RevGlue is a customer-centric business and we spend countless hours each day making it easier for affiliates. Having great products is just the start and we also provide great service as well. That means RevGlue customers or prospects can talk to me directly on Skype or our webinar that we run three times a week. We also have live chat, tech support and also development support available to help overcome all the issues encountered during affiliate projects setup.

RevGlue also offers bespoke solutions to those sophisticated affiliates who want to hire an experienced design and development team for their customised projects.

What are your plans for this year?

AF – We have successfully completed beta testing and all of our products are now fully available. Our focus this year is to support UK affiliates and showcase our user-friendly and innovative tools to the affiliate marketing industry.

RevGlue is backed by four international investors that will allow us to expand into new markets such as the US from next year. Whilst each affiliate market has its differences, the fundamental purpose of our business – to make it simpler for affiliates to succeed – is common to all.

We are also working on new data sets and tools to offer the broadest set of data segments to affiliates and publishers. The RevGlue data management team works closely with each affiliate network to make sure we build strong connections with the ecommerce stores to provide the best inventory and offers.

Finally, how can affiliates learn more about RevGlue?

AF – The RevGlue.com website is the place to go. As well as detailed information on each affiliate and publisher module, we are building an active community for our customers. You may read our blog for the latest news, join our webinar, or contact our support team for assistance with all of our products.

The post Q&A: How RevGlue is Making Affiliate Marketing Simpler for UK Publishers appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Affiliate Huddle returned for 2018 yesterday, once again welcoming a sell-out crowd of hundreds of performance marketers to the Congress Centre in London, in what the event’s co-founder James Little called its “biggest conference so far”.

From an exclusive reveal of the IAB UK’s Affiliate Marketing spend report, to quickfire sessions around publisher tech and a string of insightful panel sessions, the day’s agenda offered more than a little to chew on. Here are just a few of the highlights of the day for PerformanceIN.

Positive figures from “conservative” report

Certainly a key draw for many at this year’s Huddle was the announcement of the IAB UK and PwC annual industry benchmark study.

The headline stats here were a 15% year-on-year increase in spend on affiliate marketing, amounting £554 million. The result of this activity drove £8.9 billion in sales – a 9.2% uptick – or from another perspective, £16 for every £1 spent.

Focusing on “pure-play” affiliate activity, PwC director Dan Bunyan admitted numbers were “smaller” than previous iterations of the report, but were focused on pure CPA activity, were less reliant on modelling, and provided a more accurate picture with the available data. The result, he added, is a solid springboard for comparative reports in the years to come.   

On the “encouraging results”, chair of the IAB UK’s Performance Marketing Advisory Group and Acceleration Partners’ UK MD, Helen Southgate, thanked the networks and SaaS platforms for involvement, urging the many others to club together in years to come on what should be considered a valuable asset to the industry; “embrace it – it’s one of the few things we come together and do”.

Catch up on a full rundown of results here or watch the live presentation again above. 

Awin revisits industry predictions

The beginning of 2018 saw Awin’s strategy team lay out nine predictions for the affiliate industry, and packed with intelligent forecasts, the white paper swiftly picked up speed in wider performance marketing as an authoritative commentary on the year ahead.

Close to six months on from the release of those nine forecasts, the network’s content analyst, Rob Davinson, revisited the report to see just how these key areas have developed.

On the impact of GDPR on the industry, Davinson remained steadfast on the belief that large publishers – who can communicate directly to their users in regard to gaining consent – will gain the benefit of a power shift from ad tech partners without the same privilege of open discourse with the end user. Meanwhile, these third-party platforms could face increased competition as publishers cut back on the number of tracking integrations on their sites.  

On the opportunity of ‘open banking’ for affiliate marketers – where consumers give providers secure access to financial information in order to secure personalised deals and services - Davinson conceded that progress has been somewhat of a casualty of the current “zeitgeist” around open data sharing following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, while big banks, meanwhile, have been slow to release data and integrate APIs.

Davinson also took time to address affiliate’s recent tarnishing in the mainstream press, reassuring that the industry has been proactive in self-regulation and collaboration between peers remains key to sustained success.

An afternoon of discussion

Making up the afternoon was a series of panel sessions, the first of which featured observations from “new faces” of the affiliate world – Jade Bassett (Direct Line Group), Elliot Myers (GymShark), Graham Murray (AO.com), Lisa Cameron (Leisure Pass Group) & Eleri Jones (The Rodial Group). All armed with just six years experience or less in the industry, the panel revealed their tips for early success, with mutual education between partners and “people working together” continuing as key premises.

An in-depth and lively discussion on influencer marketing featuring a number of agencies in a panel hosted by PerformanceIN and the Influencer Marketing Show’s Chris Henley – and joined by fashion blogger Ana Luisa De Jesus – followed, while it was over to the ‘Ask the Networks & Tech Providers’ panel to round off the day’s proceedings.

Featuring Kevin Edwards (Awin), Rob Berrisford (Button), Sean Sewell (Performance Horizon), Owen Hancock (CJ Affiliate by Conversant), Anthony Capano (Rakuten Marketing), and chaired by James Little (TopCashback), the panel dutifully tackled GDPR from the outset with the overall impacts of the update played down and the long-term opportunities played up; the subject was shelved early on, however, with attention swiftly turning to the year’s string of large-scale affiliate acquisitions, deemed as “nothing new” and a continued consolidation that has potential to resonate with large businesses outside of it.

With further points covering mobile attribution and the role and perception of networks in the industry, few curveballs were delivered to this customary panel for Affiliate Huddle, while as in theme with the opening report and day overall, outlooks and attitudes across the board remained optimistic for affiliate’s progress in the years ahead.

PerformanceIN was the official Media Partner of Affiliate Huddle; head to our Facebook page for interviews with the speakers themselves, and rewatch the action from the panels on our live stream recordings.

The post Affiliate Huddle Delivers Industry Positivity for 2018 appeared first on PerformanceIN.

Affiliate marketing spend in the UK grew 15.1% in 2017 from £482 million to £554 million, according to the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) & PwC’s Affiliate Marketing Study, revealed today (May 10) at Affiliate Huddle.  

This growth generated £8.9 billion in sales, a 9.2% year-on-year hike from £8.1 billion, demonstrating an estimated return of £16 per £1 spent.

The industry’s annual benchmark report takes a different tack from its previous iterations, taking into account total spend as contributed to by sales generated, technology spend, consultancy fees and data cleansing.

The IAB UK’s Performance Marketing Advisory Group’s chair and Acceleration Partners’ MD, Helen Southgate, commented that the Affiliate Marketing Study shows the industry is “in great health” and seeing the benefits increased transparency and a “pure performance” model which can be applied to a range of marketing activity.

“As the market matures, we are seeing more innovation, transparency, broader reach and brands increasing their spend in the sector whilst maintaining ROI,” said Southgate.  

“Affiliate Marketing is still the one true performance model and I expect this growth to continue into 2018 and beyond.”

Providing another perspective on the overall 15.1% growth, the figure represents a 0.8% edge on that of wider digital marketing itself (14.3%) as according to the IAB UK’s Digital Ad Spend 2017 released earlier in the year.

Driven by e-commerce

Amid the results, which are based solely on data provided by affiliate networks, software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and major in-house affiliate programmes, it was found that affiliate spend on smartphone grew 49% year-on-year, while sector-wise, retail held the largest share of revenue at 43%.

“The affiliate channel is a key driver of growth for e-commerce retailers and aligns well with some of the largest retail-focused publishers,” said Kevin Edwards, global client strategy director at Awin Global.

Much of this is a result of a rapid uplift in entry by “fast-fashion” brands, Edwards added, attracted by new opportunities to tap into blog and social media content that “aligns perfectly” with target audiences.

Behind retail, other sectors seeing sizeable chunks of revenue share included Telecoms & Media (24%), Travel & Leisure (16%) and Finance (9%), while B2B (2%), Auto (1%) and Other (5%) accounted for the remainder.

Industry benchmarking

PwC Strategy’s director, Dan Bunyan, commented that this year’s study has been “re-scoped” to focus on areas of the marketing where there is “greater visibility and availability of accurate data.”

Last year, the IAB UK and PwC grouped UK affiliate marketing and lead generation together in the Online Performance Marketing (OPM) Study for 2016. Under the previous methodology, spend on OPM was put at £1.578 billion, 88% of which was attributed to affiliate marketing (£1.39 billion).  

This year’s study, however, narrows the focus onto areas of the market where there is greater visibility and availability of accurate data, away from areas of performance marketing that are “more heavily reliant upon modelling and qualitative estimations”, according to Bunyan. The focus has been on “pure CPA” activity, which has seen a large portion of the wider industry – such as the gaming sector – omitted from the research. Meanwhile, total spend has been captured, rather than just media space ‘ad spend’, including commission on sales generated, technology spend, consultancy fees and data cleansing.

Data was gathered exclusively via survey submissions and interviews from 12 companies representing affiliate networks, SaaS platforms and major in-house affiliate programmes, which included Awin, Rakuten Marketing, Performance Horizon, MyOffers, CAKE, Impact and Quidco, among others.  

“The new study gives us better insight into the affiliate marketing sector and we can see much more clearly how the core affiliate marketing model is growing year-on-year across a broad range of sectors and participants,” Bunyan added.  

The official Media Partner of Affiliate Huddle, PerformanceIN streamed the Affiliate Marketing Study reveal and discussion via Facebook Live, available to watch here.

The post Affiliate Marketing Spend in UK Grows 15% to Top £550 Million in 2017 appeared first on PerformanceIN.

PerformanceIN and the Affiliate Cockpit are excited to announce a summer networking cruise along the River Thames onboard the fabulous paddle steamer, the Dixie Queen.

Taking place on no other than July 4th, this promises to be a networking event with a difference, celebrating affiliate marketing’s ongoing success and growing community, aided by the Affiliate Cockpit Facebook group.

The new-for-2018 cruise follows the hugely popular Connect: Bristol events, which saw performance marketers flock to the Southwest for a similarly waterborne tour of the city’s harbour in the summer sun. With a larger capacity and just a stone’s throw from the majority of the UK industry’s main offices, however, the Dixie Queen Cruise promises to be even bigger and better.

When the day rolls around in July, the Dixie Queen will depart from Tower Pier at 14:15 for an afternoon cruise of networking, drinks and entertainment, before making its return back upstream to Butler’s Wharf, where the fun and networking can continue in our exclusive corner at All Bar One.

The Dixie Queen Cruise is proud to already be announcing backing from Optimus Performance Marketing, TopCashback, Visualsoft and Smarter Click while the PerformanceIN sales team can provide more information on getting your brand involved.

If you’d like to join the crew, book your ticket now on the Dixie Queen Cruise via our Eventbrite page and let us know you’re going on Facebook. You’ll have to be quick though, as spaces are limited onboard!

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