Revealing Affiliate Marketing Statistics for 2024

Affiliate marketing spend in the US has shown remarkable growth, with consistent increases in investment in affiliate marketing. This growth reflects a broader trend of increased reliance by affiliate marketing companies globally.

Overall global affiliate marketing industry spending is projected to reach almost $39 billion by 2031, with a 7.9% CAGR during 2023-2031. Key segments include cost per sale, virtual products, and the retail and e-commerce industry. The Asia Pacific region is expected to dominate the market due to high internet and e-commerce penetration.

Most of the affiliate marketing profits come from this payment model.

This payment model generates commissions when the user interacts with the product, ad, or by clicking on a link or filling out a form. The action is specified by the affiliate network and set by the merchant. Affiliates can choose the payment model that works for their strategy.

Pay-per-lead is the other popular payment model, which only provides a commission when a conversion is achieved. This is a risk-free payment model for merchants since they only pay out when they receive money from a sale.

Regardless of the area of interest, over 80% of website owners prefer combining their affiliate marketing efforts with display ads.

Affiliate marketers with at least three years of experience (or more) earn almost 10x more than novices who just joined the industry. If you’re deliberating whether it is still a viable side hustle idea, don’t lose all hope – it just takes time.

In fact, surveys reveal that almost one-third of affiliate marketers with six-figure incomes almost gave up some time in the past.

The figures indicate enduring and growing interest in this income source, with ongoing growth in the affiliate marketing industry and opportunities for both new and established marketers.

The majority of the searches originate from Bangladesh, followed by Nigeria, Japan, Pakistan, and Kenya to round up the top five.

It’s not just the affiliate marketers and consumers who depend on affiliate networks for their online interactions. Businesses who wish to grow their customer base continue viewing affiliate marketing as their top option among many alternatives.

Studies show that about 79% of online companies will resort to affiliate networks whenever they launch a new product, wish to bump sales for an old product, or simply create more attention around one of their goods, underscoring its significance as a primary strategy for product promotion and sales enhancement.

The direct sale channel, accounting for 53.5% of the affiliate marketing platform market, is projected to grow the fastest during the forecast period, favored for its direct link between manufacturers and buyers.

This method offers a personal connection and informed purchasing decisions due to direct communication with manufacturers.

The rise in direct sales is propelled by the increased convenience of online shopping and internet usage, allowing customers to easily connect with manufacturers online. Distribution channels make up 46.7% of the market.

With the continual improvement of technology, the number of voice searches has become an up-and-coming trend this decade. Therefore, affiliate marketers can get ahead of the trend by taking advantage of this new search preference.

Also, artificial intelligence-based technologies can provide affiliate marketers with extra tools to capture more sales and achieve higher conversion rates.

Affiliate marketers who have a few years of experience under their belt can net over $10,000 every month, while veteran affiliate marketers with over a decade’s presence in the industry can hit over $44,000 per month.

This high upper ceiling means that the average affiliate marketer may earn more than $8000 every month. That’s way more than the average median salary observed in the US (about $6,228 according to the Bureau of Labor & Statistics).

Even beginners in their first year may net about $600-700 depending on their effort and marketing skills. Data further suggests that affiliate marketers with 10 years of experience enjoy four times higher monthly earnings compared to those in their early years.

A comparison of all the tested affiliate marketing websites revealed that these players earn $149.7 for every one thousand visitors their website encounters.

In terms of RPM, the most profitable niches include education, entertainment, and travel.

So, if over 77% of active affiliate marketers work alone, what’s up with the remaining 23%? Data shows that this section of affiliate marketers continues mining gold with their efforts.

Building and managing an affiliate marketing team is tough and meticulous work. However, the rewards remain even more profitable because studies reveal that affiliate marketers with in-house teams are among the top earners in the industry.

Most affiliate marketers earning four-figure earnings remain confined to teams of two or three (or solo marketers). However, the average team size for marketers earning $10,000 to $100,000 per month is about 6.8. So, most of these teams operate with six or seven members sharing responsibilities and tasks. But they find it worthwhile because that six-figure monthly payout is just around the corner.

Affiliate marketing teams earning $250,000 or more have an average team size of 20 members. Most teams netting over $500,000 in monthly earnings average a team size of 22-23 members.

The service industry may continue catching up with other sectors when it comes to affiliate marketing revenue. However, the retail sector remains the top-performing industry hogging up about 43% of the total revenue.

Another big advantage of the retail sector is that the nature and volume of goods and products remain almost endless. You can choose from high-end beauty products and budget cosmetics or practical travel gear and top-of-the-line sports equipment.

The options offer enough variety for anyone to get into the business. And the volume of revenue generated by retail reveals that there’s enough income to go around for all high-performing affiliate marketers.

Major search engines like Google now approve the responsible use of high-quality content even if it comes from AI.

Creating AI-created content for affiliate marketing is the hottest trend in affiliate marketing today with 79.3% of marketers admitting to its utility. Other trends like email marketing and social media marketing continue growing but remain considerably behind at 49% and 39% respectively.

Surveys reveal a clear rift in the use of Email marketing and other sources like social media marketing for attracting traffic among affiliate marketers.

Almost 42% of affiliate marketers with over 10 years of experience report using email marketing as a primary source of traffic. About 28% of this same group agree that social media is a viable source of traffic too.

Affiliate marketers in their first year reveal more reliance on social media with about 43% of beginners preferring this mode. About 28.7% of beginners also use email marketing in their outreach.

A significant 78.3% of affiliate marketers prioritize SEO for driving traffic, appreciating its cost-effectiveness and higher ROI.

Organic social media follows at 35.5%, while paid advertising is less favored, and used by only 20.2%.

Email marketing, employed by 22.8%, is prized for its ROI efficiency. High earners diversify their traffic sources more, notably through paid ads and email, aiming for greater revenue and risk management.

The strategy advised for beginners is to master one traffic source before expanding to others for enhanced growth.

Research conducted by Similar Web shows that mobile shopping and browsing constitute over 50% of all affiliate marketing interactions and movement.

This figure isn't really surprising considering how all of us prefer shopping, browsing, and purchasing through our mobile devices.

Most customers don't lie hunkered down over a PC at home going through online coupons and YouTube shorts. They're all at work or on the move and accessing information via their devices.

Data reveals that almost two-thirds of consumers enjoy visual and video content when going through product reviews and inspections.

More and more content online continues joining the visual medium and affiliate marketing is no different. Clever marketers leverage the engaging mediums of YouTube videos or TikTok shorts to offer quick reviews of items their followers love.

There’s a growing number of brands, companies, websites, and online services that offer affiliate marketing as a distributional measure for reaching out to bigger and wider audiences.

However, no network or platform comes close to Amazon, the e-commerce titan that continues to dominate the affiliate marketing landscape.

Research reveals that over 58% of affiliate marketers interviewed agree that Amazon remains their top choice for affiliate marketing.

This dominance does not mean that these teams and individuals do not use other platforms. But it implies that Amazon is where most of its efforts, resources, and attention remain.

The majority of affiliate marketers with monthly earnings of $3,000 to $10,000 prefer Amazon, with 67.9% responding in the affirmative. About 65% of the teams earning $500 to $2500 also prefer Amazon as their primary source of affiliate income.

Studies show that males make up the slight majority of people working as affiliate marketers, while women make up approximately 43% of the workforce.

This gender distribution suggests a potential for an even split in the future, but currently, men are more prominently engaged in this field.

A large majority of successful affiliate marketers work independently, suggesting benefits such as easier management and higher profits, albeit with more responsibilities.

This solo approach is notably successful, with a significant portion of affiliate marketers thriving under this model. Research indicates the effectiveness of having a team, though solo work remains a viable and lucrative option.

Influencer impact is substantial, with almost 90% of consumers acknowledging purchases influenced by affiliates, highlighting the effectiveness of both overt influencers and more subtle, trusted sources like blogs and authority websites.

An additional 73% of US customers research multiple affiliate websites before purchasing, emphasizing the importance of affiliate marketing in consumer decision-making and the opportunity for new marketers to attract a substantial audience and income: the ratings, reviews, caveats, and descriptions provided by affiliate marketing platforms remain crucial for consumers while shopping online.

There are many factors that go into choosing an affiliate program, but the top one is ensuring the product is relevant. This means it must fit into their existing digital assets so that it’s applicable to their audience.

Other factors that go into choosing an affiliate program include merchant reputation, tracking platform, and the reputation of the affiliate program. If there is positive word of mouth, the affiliate marketing revenue tends to be good as well.

A large segment of companies relies on affiliate programs to gain new customers. As a result, some companies don’t mind providing 100% commission to affiliates to increase their effort to attract new buyers.

The company will then use the acquired customers to upsell more expensive products to profit from the affiliate commission model. This means they can concentrate on selling big-ticket items instead of focusing on marketing.