5 charts on affiliate marketing: Marketers face mixed priorities

Affiliate marketing is now a $10 billion industry, and marketers recognize its effectiveness. Yet many aren’t prioritizing affiliate marketing spend, due to difficulty with attribution or classifying it as social media spend. Here are five charts demonstrating the state of affiliate marketing.

1. Affiliate spend will exceed $10 billion

US affiliate marketing spend’s double-digit growth will continue through 2026, when it will hit $13.20 billion, per our August 2025 forecast.

Affiliate marketing spend has risen with retail ecommerce sales. Its growth is outpacing US retail ecommerce sales growth, though ecommerce has less room to grow, having reached 16.1% penetration of total retail sales.

2. But advertisers’ affiliate marketing gross revenues are shrinking

Despite increased spend, US advertisers’ affiliate gross revenues have declined, according to Partnerize. Consumers’ deal-seeking behaviors and hesitation to buy have contributed to this decline, as noted in our “Affiliate Marketing 2024” report.

To encourage conversation, affiliate marketing can tap into deal-seeking behaviors by offering exclusive discounts.

3. Affiliate is one of the most effective marketing channels

Affiliate and partner marketing is the third most effective channel after content marketing and pay-per-click, according to marketers worldwide, per a Forrester Consulting survey commissioned by Awin. Affiliate ranked high due to its value in engaging audiences and aligning with performance-based strategies.

4. Yet affiliate was not a top priority for marketing budgets in 2024

Just 7% of marketers worldwide consider affiliate marketing a top budget priority, according to the Forrester Consulting survey. Marketers recognize affiliate’s effectiveness but still are not budgeting for it.

One reason may be how challenging affiliate attribution can be when consumers don’t buy directly from partner links. Affiliate marketing can be clearly attributed when a purchase is made immediately, but consumers often follow less direct paths to purchase.

Affiliate partnerships may also occur through influencers, resulting in marketers allocating it as social media budget, rather than as affiliate and partner marketing budget.

5. Affiliate is increasingly important for creator income

Sponsored content is by far the biggest contributor to creator incomes in the US at $8.14 billion in 2024, per EMARKETER data. But affiliate revenues are on the rise, having nearly doubled between 2021 and 2024.

TikTok Shop has been a major contributor to boosting affiliate revenues for creators, as noted in our “Creator Economy Revenues Forecast 2024” report. TikTok Shop is one way marketers can reach nano-influencers with engaged audiences near the point of purchase.

This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.