Gen Zers’ and millennials’ encounters with affiliate marketing are the inverse of what Gen Xers and baby boomers encounter

Younger generations are social first; older generations begin in a web browser. There was a nearly 30-point gap between the share of baby boomers who had seen affiliate ads on YouTube (28.5%) and the share of Gen Zers who had seen such ads (58.0%), per our proprietary survey of 1,378 US consumers.

• Website affiliate content is more niche among younger consumers. Though younger consumers are more likely to visit web properties if they are doing in-depth product research or information searches, fewer than half of them had noticed affiliate content on websites, compared with more than 60% of older generations.
• Building an affiliate program meant to reach large swaths of consumers may require multiple channels. A certain amount of nuance and strategy is required in selecting affiliate partners, and the generational divide in consumers’ internet use and experience adds complexity to that process.

Read the full report, Affiliate Marketing Consumer Attitudes 2024.