Cut-up #14 // Affiliate Census

Who are the affiliates?


* The vast majority of full-time affiliates classify themselves either as owning an affiliate company (39%) or as self-employed (45%).
– Only 17% work for an affiliate company which shows that affiliate marketing is still predominantly about individuals running their own business.


* The affiliate population is ageing slightly and certainly not getting any younger.
– The proportion of affiliates aged 30 or under is now at 26% compared to 31% two years ago.
– Less than 3% of affiliates are aged 20 or under compared to 5% in 2007. At the other end of the scale, 18% of affiliates are now aged 50 or over compared to 14% two years ago.


* The overwhelming majority of affiliates are male (82% of respondents).


* The vast majority of respondents (81%) do their affiliate marketing from home.


Affiliate Business


* There is a huge spread in terms of the level of income earned by affiliate marketers.
– Just under a third of affiliates (31%) are generating less than £50 per month in sales for their merchants, and a further 9% are generating between £50 and £100.
– At the other end of the scale, a quarter of affiliates (25%) are generating at least £10,000 a month in revenue for their merchants. This translates to at least £120,000 a year.


* 13% of respondents say their affiliates are generating at least £50,000 per month (or £600,000 per year). This percentage increases to 34% when full-time affiliates are viewed in isolation


* Around a third of affiliates are driving in excess of 5,000 customers for merchants on a monthly basis.


* Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the most common method of promoting merchants & getting traffic. (72%)


* The next most effective method – but a distant second - is Paid Search (34%).