A combination of content overload and identical templates with over saturation and a high churn rate of affiliate programmes could be leading to the industry ‘diluting its own impact’.
Since its inception, affiliate marketing has worked on the principles of performance and measurement with affiliates earning commission through sharing unique, trackable links. It is a cost-effective strategy that enables brands to measure their return on investment (ROI), which is partly why affiliate marketing exploded in the igaming and betting industries.
The global affiliate marketing market size reached $13.58 billion in 2025, and it is projected to hit $27.86 billion by 2033, according to Proficient Market Insights. This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4% over the next eight years.
North America contributed to nearly 46% of affiliate traffic in 2024, while Asia-Pacific had the highest growth in new sign-ups at 19% year-on-year (YoY). One of the most lucrative industries for affiliates is igaming. The global online gambling market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.57% over the next f ive years to reach $161.32 billion by 2030, according to Cellxpert.
But the market is perhaps over saturated with affiliates, all looking to get a slice of the pie. The sheer number of affiliate programmes, coupled with the lack of standardisation and the constant need to click-through, could be giving rise to what is being dubbed as affiliate fatigue.
“When every brand starts using the same shortcut, it stops being one. With over 80% of brands now running affiliate programmes, the space has started to dilute its own impact,” says Alistair Reid, partnerships and marketing director at social media agency, Cubaka.
“Marketers are seeing flat CPMs, falling CTRs, and creative that’s been recycled too many times to count. It’s not that affiliate doesn’t work, there is just too much of it running on rinse and repeat.”
So what’s driving the fatigue? Volume over value; broad, unfocused programmes; message fatigue; identical offers with templated assets; shorttermism; and misaligned metrics are some of the reasons Reid lists.
He says last-click rewards are often the “easiest tactics, not the smartest ones”, which paired with things like templated assets, can leave audiences feeling “numb”.
The ‘constant churn’ of affiliate programmes
Elaine Gardiner, managing director at Tag Media describes the state of affiliate marketing as a “very disposable industry”. She says: “There are around 50 affiliate programmes launching each month and around 30 closing. There’s this constant churn.
“If you take a step back and think about what that also means… it means there are like 50 casinos or operators opening up and 30 are closing down. I always like to say that I think someone once started a rumour that launching a casino is a quick rich scheme, which is why there is a constant flood of the market and 80% of it is just constantly getting recycled.”
Opening a casino is no easy feat, Gardiner explains, you’d need to have experience across many disciplines including CRM, payments and affiliation. But what could be adding to the fatigue is the fact that “everybody’s launching with the same minimum viable product”.
“There’s definitely an overdose in the industry and the affiliates themselves are getting tired of it. They spend all this time doing the reviews, listing up, sending them [operators] traffic and then they just close up. This is partly why affiliates started adding in listing fees, to ensure operators give them some payment for the work done,” she adds.
Affiliate fatigue is a dual-axis problem. On the demand side, content overload and similar messaging is creating consumer apathy. On the supply side, high churn rate and over saturation is leading to a “dilution of everything”, adds Gardiner.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. “Saturation is often a sign of success,” beams Dominc Coleridge, co-founder and commercial director of Scale Digital. “The next step is to focus on quality differentiation. Affiliates that lead with expertise, original insight and compliance excellence can rise above the noise.”
Coleridge believes that consumers are now “more selective about what captures their attention”, which is not necessarily fatigue. He says: “People want reliable, high-quality content that helps them make confident decisions. The affiliate model, when done well, delivers exactly that by connecting users to verified offers and transparent information.”
AI making click path more complex
But the challenge for marketers currently is ensuring their affiliate activity continues to evolve, not only alongside consumer expectations, but also technological advancements. Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way consumers search. The traditional affiliate model built on measure and performance accountability, that “clarity is eroding”, explains Coleridge.
“We are entering an environment where discovery often happens before a user ever clicks. AI-driven platforms are summarising and mediating how people find and interact with brands,” he says.
“For affiliates, that means the value chain is shifting and the click is no longer the defining moment.”
That doesn’t mean clicks are dying, Coleride argues, if the content remains relevant, is consistent across multiple touchpoints and users trust the source, they will still click through. “The key difference is that the path to that click is now more complex and contextual,” he adds.
Reid, Gardiner and Coleridge all agree that multiple touchpoints is the way forward. Combining affiliate marketing with other performance-driven channels – such as e-commerce (like Amazon), in-app, connected TV (CTV), social commerce, voice commerce – which capture attention at different moments of the customer journey, could help strengthen a brand or operator’s engagement.
Reid also suggests treating “affiliates like genuine partners” and not just media space and building quality incentives around engagement. For Gardiner, AI is exasperating another challenge for affiliates – the lack of standardised measurement. “There’s no standardised way for measuring success or transparency in the data, and affiliates now are looking at data more and more.
“Things are changing rapidly and affiliates need to react quicker… if they are buying media programmatically, they need to optimise their spend almost in real-time. But (and I don’t want to generalise) affiliate programmes are so far behind trying to accommodate these systems,” she notes.
Coleridge agrees, adding that affiliates still relying on “legacy traffic sources” such as Google rankings or paid search visibility are “most exposed to algorithmic changes”. He says: “The landscape is far more fragmented, and brands need partners who can reach audiences across video, social and in-app environments.”
And standardisation of measurement and attribution can “help the industry mature”. “Shared frameworks for tracking and reporting allow marketers to identify and reward true value, which encourages investment and innovation,” explains Coleridge.
“By building partnerships based on transparency and performance rather than volume alone, brands can strengthen trust and ensure that affiliate [marketing] remains a sustainable and scalable growth channel.”
So is affiliate fatigue a real concept? In today’s world, those still relying on traditional practices, may be experiencing fatigue. While those embracing how AI is reshaping the industry and evolving with it, may be not so much. As Reid put in: “Affiliate isn’t a dead channel, it’s just an overtired one. The volume is there, but the value needs to catch up.”
