New Affiliate Marketing Statistics – September 2024

Read across the guide further to know more about these insights on affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing Industry Statistics 2024

1. The global affiliate marketing industry is valued at over $17 billion. Comparatively, its value was recorded at $12 billion in 2016, and it has grown by $5 million since then. 

2. The affiliate marketing spending in the United States alone was estimated to be $8.2 billion in 2022. Comparatively, in 2021, affiliate marketing spending in the United States was expected to be $7.4 billion. 

Besides, the market spending in the USA grew by $4 billion between 2015 and 2022. 

The following table provides further insights into the spending on affiliate marketing recorded in the United States.

*- Estimated values

3. The annual growth rate of affiliate market revenue is recorded to be 10%.
4. On average, the affiliate managers receive a commission between  20% and 70% from the SaaS-based products. 
5. The affiliate marketing software market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 17.7% from 2023 to 2033, resulting in a market size of $7.72 billion in 2033.
6. The affiliate marketing software market in the United States is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% between 2023 and 2033, resulting in a market value of  $1.1 billion by 2033.
7. 15% of the digital media industry’s revenue comes from affiliate marketing.

Source: Statista, Influencer marketing hub, Optin Monster, Future Market Insights, Business Insider.  

Adoption of Affiliate Marketing by Businesses

8. 81% of the brands use affiliate marketing programs. 
9. 31% of web publishers stated that affiliate marketing is their top revenue source. 
10. Over 8 in 10 websites generate 6 figures by monetizing their affiliate products and with the help of display ads. 
11. 3 in 4 marketing directors stated that their affiliate marketing programs were successful or highly successful. 

Conversely, 5% of marketers said that their affiliate marketing programs were unsuccessful or not at all successful. 

The following table displays the share of marketers with different experiences with their affiliate marketing programs. 

12. 81% of the brands said they use affiliate programs to boost sales and increase brand awareness. 
13. 94% of the publications utilize a number of affiliate programs. 
14. Over 5 billion clicks are recorded on affiliate marketing links annually. 
15. 5% to 25% of the overall sales of major brands comes from affiliate marketing.
16. Brands using affiliate marketing record an average ROI of $15 for every $1 spent. This equals a return of 1400% on affiliate marketing. 
17. 81% of the advertisers and 84% of the publishers use affiliate marketing.
18. 90% of the businesses that use affiliate marketing reported an improvement in user engagement. 
19. According to 28% of affiliate marketers worldwide, new, innovative marketing partners entering the channel are affiliate marketing’s unique strength. 

At the same time, 27% of marketers stated that affiliate marketing is simple to manage and that it is one of the industry’s strengths. 

The following table displays the strengths of affiliate marketing according to the affiliate marketers worldwide. 

20.  50% of the marketers stated that affiliate marketing is an effective method for achieving business goals. 
21. On average, the affiliate marketing commission rate is between 5% and 30%.
22. Excluding social media, blogging is the most used channel for affiliate marketing. 27.8% of the brands prefer blogs as a channel for affiliate marketing. 

Meanwhile, 18.7% of brands prefer review sites as a channel for marketing their affiliate products, and just 6.5% prefer editorial sites.   

23. 16% of the US ecommerce sales in the US and Canada come from affiliate marketing. 

Source: Pepperjam, Statista, Forrester, Optin Monster, Authority Hacker. 

Affiliate Marketing Stats by Niche 

24. Education and eLearning, traveling, beauty, and skincare are the most profitable niches for affiliate marketing. 

The average monthly income for affiliate marketers in the education and e-learning niche is $15,551, while that of the affiliate marketers in the travel niche is $13,847. 

Conversely, parenting & family and personal development niches are less profitable niches for affiliate marketing. The marketers in these niches earn an average monthly income of $1,145 and 

$1,566, respectively. 

The following table displays the average monthly income of affiliate marketers recorded in different niches.

25. On average, the potential earnings for the affiliate marketers in the education and Learning niche are expected to be $15,551.

At the same time, the potential earnings for Gaming and eSports and the technology niche is $12,475. Meanwhile, the Health and Wellness niche has an average monthly income of $8,038. 

Source: Authority Hacker, Affiliate WP. 

Affiliate Marketer Statistics

26. Over three-fourths of affiliate marketers prefer Facebook for affiliate marketing. 

Facebook is the most popular social media platform affiliate marketers use to promote their products. The second-most preferred social media platform is Instagram, with over 3 in 5 affiliate marketers using it. 

On the other hand, just 19% of affiliate marketers prefer LinkedIn. 

The following table displays the percentage of marketers preferring different social media platforms for affiliate marketing.

27. Nearly 4 in 5 affiliate marketers are utilizing AI-driven content creation. 
28. 19.3% of affiliate marketers prefer to create video content for affiliate product promotions.
29. 79.1% of affiliate marketers use blogging as the primary way to promote their affiliate products. 
30. 55% of affiliate marketers prefer to work from home, while 26% work from both offices and home. Conversely, less than 20% of the affiliate marketers commute to the office daily. 
31. 35.1% of affiliate marketers select products based on their personal preferences, whereas  25.1% select products based on commission rates.  

Source: Luisa Zhou, Authority hacker.

Demographics of Affiliate Marketers

32. 81.82% of the affiliate marketers are aged between 25 to 54 years. 

The majority of affiliate marketers are between 35 and 44 years old. At the same time, just 11.42% are above 55. 

The following table displays the share of affiliate marketers that belong to different age groups as of 2016.

33. 54% of the affiliate marketers are male, while 43% are female. 
34. 57% of affiliate marketers are from the United States, 10% are from Canada, and just 2% are from India. 
35. On average, affiliate marketers have about 2.8 years of experience. 

Source: Statista, Authority hacker, . 

Affiliate Marketing Traffic Sources

36. Over 50% of the affiliate traffic comes from mobile devices.
37. Nearly 7 in 10 affiliate marketers stated that SEO is the top source of traffic. 

Similarly, according to 67% of marketers, social media is the top channel to direct traffic to their affiliate links. 

The following table displays the top sources of traffic for affiliate links according to the affiliate marketers. 

38. On average, the monthly traffic recorded on the website of an affiliate marketer is 56,673 visitors.
39. 35.5% of the affiliate marketers stated that they prefer to use organic social media traffic as the primary traffic source for their affiliate links. 
40. 22.8% of affiliate marketers use email marketing as a primary source of traffic for their affiliate marketing program.
41. Marketers that have over 6 years of experience rely 26.7% less on organic social media traffic than beginners. 
42. Over 17 in 20 affiliate marketers that use social media to drive traffic have less than  10,000 followers.
43. On average, an affiliate marketer uses 3.02 social media platforms.

Source: Luisazhou, AWIN, 

Consumer Behaviour on Affiliate Marketing

44. Influencers have inspired 88% of consumers to purchase an item through affiliate marketing campaigns.
45. 90% of consumers make a purchase decision according to the reviews of the product they have come across. 
46. 74% of internet users visit a number of affiliate websites before making a purchase. 
47. 81% of the customers research a product online before going to the store and making a purchase.
48. 38% of the customers stated that they trust influencer’s affiliate links more than that of a non-influencer.
49. 83% of the consumers stated that their shopping behavior may change according to the coupons.  
50. 56% of the affiliate content is product reviews, while 22% of the affiliate content is how-to guides. 

Source: Nielsen, Authority hacker, Saleslion, WeCan Track, Inmar Intelligence, 

Challenges of Affiliate Marketing

51. According to 9 in 20 affiliate marketers, the biggest challenge is to get traffic. 

Meanwhile, over three in five affiliate marketers state that affiliate marketing fraud is the biggest challenge for them and the affiliate industry. 

31.3% of the affiliate marketers stated that they have even considered giving up affiliate marketing. 

Here is a table displaying further details about the challenges affiliate marketers face.

52. 25.1% of the affiliate marketers were negatively affected by the search algorithm updates. Of these, 47.4% of the negatively impacted affiliate marketers stated that they changed their content strategy. 
53. 26.9% of marketers reported that their major challenge is inadequate support from the affiliate managers.
54. 31.3% of the affiliate marketers who earn 6-plus figures annually reported that they have considered giving up affiliate marketing at some point. 
55. 40% of the media buyers in affiliate marketing stated that ad fraud is one of the biggest challenges they face. 

Source: Authority hacker, Saas Scout, Finances Online,  AWIN,  WeCanTrack.

Miscellaneous Affiliate Marketing Statistics

56. Amazon associates hold a 48.09% share of the affiliate program market worldwide. 

It is the largest affiliate program worldwide, while the Rakuten affiliate Network is the second largest affiliate program worldwide, with a 7.11% share of the affiliate program market. 

Conversely, the AWIN affiliate program holds just a 5.91% share of the affiliate program market. 

The following table displays the distribution of market share between different affiliate programs. 

Source: Datanyze.

How Much Do Affiliate Marketers Make?

57. Nearly 1 in 4 marketers earn between below $50K.

According to the influencer marketing hub, 57.55% of the affiliate marketers earn below $10K, whereas over 11.18% earn over $100K. 

Just 3.78% of the affiliate marketers earn over $150K. 

Here is a table that displays the average annual revenue of affiliate marketers.

58. Affiliate marketers who have over three years of experience earn 9.45 times more than beginners. 
59. Nearly 7 in 10 affiliate marketing websites use advertisements as an additional monetizing channel. 
60. According to 42.9% of marketers, affiliate marketing generates more revenue than ad monetization. 
61. 31.8% of content creators made below $500 through affiliate programs as of October 2023.

At the same time, 3.7% of affiliate marketers earn between $5,000 and $10,000. 

The following table displays the social commerce earnings of creators through affiliate marketing as of August 2024. 

62. The top coupon affiliate websites generate over $1 billion in revenue. 
63. Groupon, a well-known coupon website, generated a revenue of $599.09 million in 2022 through affiliate marketing.

Here is a table displaying the revenue generated by Groupon Over the years.

Source: Influencer Marketing Hub, Authority Hacker, eMarketer, Statista, 

Conclusion: Affiliate Marketing Generates An ROI of 1400%

That equals to $15 in return for every $1 invested in affiliate marketing. 

Affiliate marketing leverages the power of influencers and niche audiences, leading to an increase in traffic that is more likely to convert. Plus, businesses only have to pay when sales are generated, minimizing risks and increasing efficiency. 

Due to an increase in affiliate marketers worldwide, the affiliate market has exceeded $17 billion and is projected to reach a value of $40 billion by 2030. 

These numbers prove that the adoption of affiliate marketing will increase in the upcoming years, and a large number of brands and businesses are likely to invest in it.