Yonit Shvinkelstain speaks to Affiliate Leaders on the way AI is reshaping the marketing ecosystem and how the industry can mitigate the collapse in traffic and click-through rates.
The affiliate landscape is changing at a rapid pace, and marketers are working hard to keep up. This transformational shift has largely been driven by AI.
The new technology is disruptive, and has forced the marketing industry to rethink its strategies when it comes to SEO, especially in the igaming sector.
Ahead of the Affiliate Leaders Summit in Lisbon, Yonit Shvinkelstain, co-founder of Leverage speaks to Affiliate Leaders on how marketers in the industry can future-proof their businesses.
What are the most significant ways in which AI is reshaping the affiliate industry?
AI is reshaping affiliate marketing from both sides of the business.
Operationally, it is lowering costs dramatically for affiliates that know how to use it wisely. Content production, creative testing, video editing, development, research, data analysis, localisation and even parts of account management can now be done faster and with much leaner teams.
But strategically, the bigger shift is on the traffic side. Affiliates have historically created value by being trusted discovery-layer sources: comparisons, reviews, calculators, predictions, guides and rankings that help users decide where to go next. AI search is moving directly into that discovery phase.
So the real challenge is not ‘AI helps us produce more content’; it is AI may absorb the very part of the buyer journey that affiliates were built around. Over the next two years, I believe affiliate business models and acquisition channels will change significantly. The strongest affiliates will not be the ones producing more pages; they will be the ones becoming trusted data, authority and decision infrastructures inside the new AI-led discovery journey.
As SEO evolves into zero-click AI-forward environments, how can affiliates adapt? How should they diversify?
In the short-term, AI search still needs reliable sources. It pulls from authoritative third-party data, structured information, comparisons, reviews, product feeds and expert content. That creates an opportunity for affiliates to become the trusted aggregator layer for AI: clean data, strong topical authority, original insights, transparent methodology and structured content that machines can understand.
In the next phase, brands will try to speak directly to AI systems and reduce dependency on third-party comparison sites. AI will not only retrieve information; it will compare, recommend and eventually act on behalf of the user.
Long-term, I think the buyer journey becomes more personalised and less search-triggered. Recommendations will become ad hoc, contextual and tailored. Eventually, agents may complete large parts of the purchase cycle themselves — from research to comparison to transaction.
So diversification should not only mean add paid media or build social channels. It should mean building assets that survive beyond classic SEO: first-party audiences, proprietary data, CRM, communities, tools, marketplaces, brand collectives and partnerships that bring several operators together to create more value and more scale for the customer.
Affiliates should not see AI only as a threat. In the short-term, they can become the authoritative sources AI relies on. In the long-term, they need to evolve from traffic brokers into decision platforms.
iGaming content is currently only affected by AI Overviews in just over 1% of cases. Why is this, and how likely is it to continue?
My professional view is that this is not accidental – igaming is a highly regulated, high-risk category. Search engines are naturally more cautious around industries where age restrictions, licensing, responsible gambling, local regulation and user protection are involved.
So while AI Overview is expanding in many informational categories, gambling-related queries sit in a much more sensitive environment. Google already treats gambling promotion differently in its advertising ecosystem, and I believe a similar caution applies to AI-generated answers.
I do not expect igaming AI Overviews to expand at the same pace as safer consumer categories. There may be growth around neutral informational queries, but I would expect Google to remain conservative around commercial, bonus-led or operator-comparison searches.
Prediction markets are suffering from a polarised reputation, especially in the US and Europe. How do affiliates participate in the booming industry while protecting their brand?
The first step is to understand that prediction markets sit in a complicated reputational space. Some people see them as financial innovation and information markets; others see them as gambling in a different wrapper. That tension is exactly why affiliates need to be careful.
For affiliates, brand protection starts with compliance, transparency and positioning. They should avoid hype, avoid presenting prediction markets as easy money, and avoid treating them like just another casino or sportsbook vertical.
The safer approach is education-first: explain the category, the risks, the regulatory uncertainty, the differences from traditional betting, and the importance of licensed or properly regulated environments. Affiliates that want to participate should act more like responsible financial/gaming publishers than aggressive bonus funnels.
In this vertical, trust will matter more than speed. The affiliate that protects its brand now will have more long-term value than the one that chases short-term volume.
What challenges do new regulations pose for affiliates?
The biggest challenge is that affiliates are increasingly being treated as part of the regulated marketing chain, not as external traffic suppliers.
That means more responsibility around licensing, claims, targeting, age-gating, responsible gambling messaging, bonus transparency, content accuracy and where traffic is coming from. It also means operators will demand cleaner compliance from partners.
This will raise the barrier to entry. Smaller affiliates that rely on aggressive SEO, thin content, misleading bonus language or unclear traffic sources will struggle. But serious affiliates may benefit, because regulation usually pushes the market toward quality, transparency and trust.
Should affiliates resist these changes, go with the flow, or push them forward?
Resisting is not realistic. The industry is changing whether affiliates like it or not.
But ‘going with the flow’ is also too passive. The affiliates that win should push the change forward responsibly. That means adopting AI, improving transparency, building better data infrastructure, and helping operators create safer, more useful customer journeys.
The role of the affiliate should evolve from traffic seller to trusted acquisition partner.
Are prediction markets shifting with increased industry regulation?
Yes. The category is shifting from a grey, experimental space into a more formal regulatory conversation.
That shift will probably create short-term uncertainty, but long-term legitimacy. More regulation means more rules, more compliance costs and more limitations on marketing. But it may also help serious players build trust with users, regulators and partners.
For affiliates, the opportunity is not just to promote the category. It is to explain it responsibly.
Regulation is looking to protect some traffic sources such as publishers, but how much can this really bolster affiliates?
It can help, but only to a point.
Regulation may protect compliant publishers from being undercut by illegal or irresponsible traffic sources. It may also push operators to work with affiliates that can prove quality, compliance and brand safety.
But regulation alone will not save the old affiliate model. If AI reduces clicks, if discovery becomes zero-click, and if operators build more direct relationships with AI platforms, publishers still need to evolve.
Regulation can create a fairer playing field.
Does this spell trouble for more than just affiliates?
Absolutely. This is not only an affiliate problem.
If AI changes discovery, it affects operators, media companies, SEO agencies, odds comparison sites, content publishers and even regulators. Anyone relying on users searching, clicking and comparing manually will feel the shift.
The bigger question is who owns the customer relationship when AI becomes the interface. That is much bigger than affiliates.
What makes the Affiliate Leaders Summit the most important fixture of the year? What do you hope to get out of the event?
For me, the value of the event is the mix of insight, people and timing.
This industry moves quickly, but the best conversations often do not happen in reports or LinkedIn posts. They happen when operators, affiliates, media, tech providers and regulators are in the same room, challenging each other’s assumptions.
I come for inspiration, strong conversations, new connections and a better understanding of where the market is really moving. And, of course, good times.
The Affiliate Leaders Summit is the global home of performance and affiliate marketing. Across three days, affiliates, operators, media companies and technology providers come together to discuss traffic generation, conversion optimisation, SEO, paid media and the commercial strategies shaping the future of affiliate marketing.
Co-located with SBC Summit at Feira Internacional de Lisboa and MEO Arena on 29 September-1 October. Get your tickets here.
