Affiliate marketing is one of the most profitable industries of 2024, which is often discussed in the business news. While there are many opportunities in the affiliate market, it is also extremely competitive. So, it is important to understand what is going on in the industry and which trends are likely to influence the near future.
In the post-COVID era, gambling remains one of the key niches for affiliates marketing. In the STM Forum’s research “What’s working in affiliate marketing,” gambling is listed as the third biggest vertical for affiliates. The other key offers named by the affiliate professionals in the study include:
- eCommerce;
- Sweepstakes;
- Gambling & sports betting;
- Finance;
- Beauty (nutra) & health;
- Cryptocurrencies;
- Adult – dating, male enhancement, adult gaming, camming;
- Mainstream dating;
- Gaming;
- App install.
Let us take a look at other key developments in affiliate marketing for the gambling vertical in 2022-2024.
COVID impact: iGaming will be a profitable niche even after pandemic
Like many other industries, affiliate marketing has been heavily influenced by the global pandemic. The problems, caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and lockdowns, had a profound impact on every sector of the economy.
At the beginning of this crisis, every single company had to overcome some challenges. Now, two years into the pandemic, businesses return to normal or create a new normal, for that matter. With forced lockdowns, it is no surprise that many spheres have shifted online. In 2020, global internet traffic grew significantly. For the gambling niche, it meant a surge in the iGaming activity and the growing popularity of online casinos and remote betting.
Assad Rosenblum, TeamLead at Neto Partners, noted:
“Over the last year, we saw growth in the number of users that are looking for online gambling, whether the reason is the economic crisis following COVID-19 or simply the fact that people are staying at home and looking for a new source of entertainment”.
It should be noted, however, that after the lockdown restrictions have begun to ease in 2021, Internet usage also slightly decreased (by 24% between May 2020 and 2021, Statista), but the overall trend persists.
The user behavior has also changed during the past two years. Forced to stay at home, consumers got used to buying products and services on the Internet. Even older demographics have developed a habit of purchasing things online. For affiliate marketers and the whole online marketing industry, this meant a much bigger target audience compared to the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. STM Forum experts believe that the situation is not likely to change even after the end of the pandemic.
The other major effect of the lockdown is the fact that people started looking for ways of entertainment online. That is why such niches as gambling, gaming, streaming, and chatting began to thrive. The STM Forum’s study suggests that iGaming is one of the evergreen offers that, along with sweepstakes, eCommerce, and dating, will remain one of the most profitable affiliate niches. At the same time, experts warn:
“Gambling is not a good option for newbie affiliates, since offers typically require larger testing budgets.”
But if you have an experience in digital marketing, this is a niche for you.
Affiliate networks tend to work with legal offers
The major trend confirmed by many affiliate experts is a focus on “clean” offers and products. The STM Forum study shows the main reasons for this are:
- strict regulations on the major traffic networks, such as Google and Facebook;
- growing demand for legal products among the consumers.
This is especially evident in the iGaming industry and concerns gambling affiliates. In addition to frequent bans of gambling ads on major platforms, many countries have begun to tighten their advertising laws regarding online casinos and sportsbooks.
Click2sms and Click2call offers are hot
According to the STM Forum’s research, Click2sms and Click2call offers will become very important segments for affiliates in the coming years. These offers are easily convertible and can work even in the regions where standard CC billing does not.
Tyrone Dsouza, the managing head of the direct mobile advertiser Haka Mobi, states:
“We see steady growth in this segment and expect it to continue growing. There will be more regulation in the space, which will help sustain better and more stable access.”
Quick testing of new products is a key to success
The most important thing an affiliate needs to succeed in 2024 is the swift testing of offers and products. As the competition grows every day, it is crucial to identify what works the best and focus on these products instead of wasting valuable time on subpar offers.
Big networks are focusing on long-term monetization
The “What’s Working in Affiliate marketing” research confirms that almost all big-league affiliates now run long-term marketing campaigns. This, however, does not mean that direct monetization campaigns are no longer relevant. List-building and the other long-term campaigns will give you an advantage over competitors.
The US remains the biggest market, but other GEOs are worth attention
The USA has been the best performing affiliate market for a long time, and this year, it is not going to change. Many affiliate marketers, however, advise testing the products in other GEOs as well, as many regions have shown major growth in 2020 and 2021.
The affiliate pro Maor “The Wolf” Benaim notes:
“People are way too obsessed with the US. I think and know that a lot of places in Europe have amazing potential if you can deal with the logistics.”
Numerous affiliate networks are now localizing their most successful US campaigns and launching them in new markets. Besides, the competition and traffic costs are significantly lower in less popular GEOs, like:
- Latin America – the best region for the newbies, as the traffic is cheap, the population is massive, and most of the countries speak one language – Spanish;
- Arabic countries – the region with the highest potential for affiliates. While the demand and population are huge, the competition is not that high. Just remember to pay attention to cultural aspects;
- Asia;
- Newest EU members (e.g., Croatia).
According to Ross Alan, advertising manager at Traffic Force, many gambling and casino offers are in tier-two and tier-three GEOs.
Trends for affiliate traffic sources in 2024
In the past year, each and every of these traffic channels has witnessed an increase in the number of users. Besides, all traffic networks have added new formats and enhanced automatic optimization features, such as spending limits, targeting, CPA, goal setting, etc. All of this confirms the general trend toward automatization of campaign management.
In the affiliate market study, STM Forum provides the following ranking of top traffic sources:
- Facebook & Instagram;
- Push notifications;
- Email;
- Google;
- Native ads;
- Pop-ups;
- SMS messages;
- TikTok;
- Banners or displays;
- Influencers;
- SEO;
- Snapchat;
- Pinterest;
- Quora;
- Telegram.
Meta’s social networks, push notifications, and email lists are set to become the top traffic networks for affiliate marketers in 2024. Now, let us take a closer look at some traffic sources listed above.
Facebook’s advertising guidelines will become stricter
While Meta’s social media platform remains the number one traffic source for many niches, including eCommerсe, it is no longer leading the charts for iGaming affiliates. The main reason for this is the tightening of Facebook’s advertising rules. In the past year, many affiliates had reported random bans of Facebook ad cabinets, even when a promo campaign was immaculate. In fact, the ban craze started in the months leading to the US presidential election back in 2020.
In most cases, advertisers were able to retrieve their accounts. This worked, however, only if the ad campaign was fully legal. So, Facebook is still a good platform for affiliate marketing, but only if you’re willing to operate in the “white” territory and have enough time and resources for sourcing your account.
Social media traffic continues to grow, TikTok leads all charts
Social networks, in general, are among the best traffic channels for affiliates. The other Meta app – Instagram – gradually has become an important affiliate tool. Instagram frequently releases new tools for advertisers and influencers. Many gambling companies collaborate with Instagram bloggers to promote their services.
Twitter, Pinterest, and Snapchat have also recently become popular among affiliate marketers. These social media apps are actively expanding their GEO coverage to stay on top of the competition.
The top social media app for affiliates, however, is TikTok. According to the data from SensorTower, at the beginning of 2022, TikTok has become the number one social media application by downloads and in-app purchases. The short-video app has even beaten Meta’s Instagram and Facebook in the rating. The marketers, however, should note that this Chinese video app has strict policies when it comes to advertising. There are many ways to cope with gambling bans on TikTok, though.
Native traffic grows in value
When it comes to affiliate marketing in the iGaming niche, the value of native networks cannot be overstated. The main benefit of native channels is less strict advertising rules compared to Facebook and Google. So, affiliates that are tired of constant bans turn to such networks as Taboola and Outbrain instead.
Push notifications are still important for iGaming affiliates
While in 2020, affiliate marketers saw a slight decrease in push notifications’ conversions and click-through rates, push remains an important traffic source. To cope with dropping metrics, some advertisers take advantage of ad formats similar to native:
- “in-page push notifications,” which have the same form as classic push ads but float on the page. The volumes for this ad type are gradually growing;
- interstitial ads.
The value of push notification is especially high in the iGaming niche. The founder and CEO of marketing platform Anstrex, Hired Shan, believes that push ads “have become everybody’s favorite traffic type the past couple of years.” Shan also lists gambling as a top-performing sector for push advertising campaigns. The most popular push ads include:
- online casinos;
- sportsbooks.
SMS and email traffic hold strong positions
The affiliate experts have also recently reported a growth in traffic from SMS and email lists. The main reason for this is the overall surge in list building.
The adult industry is hot
In the years of the global pandemic, the adult industry has become one of the most stable affiliate verticals and a great source of traffic. Adult offers are especially popular in the LATAM, Asia, and some EU countries. Platforms for live camming, adult gaming, and adult dating are also recommended to newbies in affiliate marketing or for those without large budgets.
Most important takeaways
This covers the most prominent trends in the affiliate industry for 2022-2024. While following this advice doesn’t give you a 100% chance for success, it will certainly give you a leg up over your competitors.
To sum up, we have compiled tips from the affiliate professionals from the “What’s working in Affiliate Marketing” study:
- Do not miss out on your education and networking;
- Follow online communities and participate in online conferences;
- Automate what can be automated;
- Test your products;
- Focus on list building – create an email, push subscription, retargeting, and SMS lists.
Read more: Top CPA networks
