According to BloggingX, Affiliate Marketing is a $12-billion industry. Forrester – via DocPlayer – says that the Affiliate Marketing industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10% per year. Affiliate Marketing is a top choice of 81% of brands.
The above statistics pretty much sum up the power of Affiliate Marketing. In this blog post, I will share 43 eye-popping Affiliate Marketing statistics to give you a clear picture of how it performs in the modern day and age. The statistics can help you decide whether you should adopt Affiliate Marketing for your business or make it your full-time business.
What Is Affiliate Marketing?
Before I share the statistics, allow me to explain the Affiliate Marketing business model. In simple words, Affiliate Marketing is the process of promoting someone else’s products and if you generate sales, you will earn commissions.
I have published a video on this topic on my YouTube channel with a simple example. You may watch it here:
RECOMMENDED: What Are The 9 Pros And Cons of Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate Disclosure
I, Shubhamjeet Kumar, participate in various affiliate programs, and I will earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through the links on this page at no extra cost to you. I have worked hard to put together items that are high-end and helpful.
Affiliate Marketing Stats
Now, let’s take a look at the 43 stats about Affiliate Marketing. These stats will make your decision of becoming an Affiliate Marketer easier.
- 94% of publishers use more than 2 Affiliate Marketing networks. – Affise
- About 23% of affiliate programs are in the fashion industry. Sports and outdoor are 2nd with 18% of affiliate programs, and health and beauty are third at 14%. – AM Navigator
- 2 out of every 5 online marketers believe that Affiliate Marketing is a crucial skill to build a career online. – BloggingX
- 81% of brands utilise Affiliate Marketing to increase sales and revenue. – Influencer Marketing Hub
- Trends show that 67.32% of Affiliate Marketers use social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. – to connect with their audience. – Enterprise Apps Today
- 39% of the Affiliate Marketing market is dominated by the United States of America, making it the biggest player. The United Kingdom follows with 15%, while Germany is placed 3rd with 11%. – First Site Guide
- The average income for an affiliate marketer is around $51,700 per year. Low-tier marketers earn about $38k on average, while the top affiliates make roughly $71k a year. – PayScale
- 55.7% of the global Affiliate Marketing market is held by Share-A-Sale. Rakuten is the second most popular affiliate network with 40.64% of the market share and Avangate is the third most popular network with 31.02%. eBay is fourth on the list with a 30.32% market share. – Webinar Care
- 16% of the global e-commerce sales are driven by Affiliate Marketing, making it the second most profitable channel for driving sales. Paid searches contribute to 20% of global e-commerce sales. – Uniquodo & Fetch Profits
- 64.48% of affiliate marketers generate traffic by publishing content on their websites or blogging. Successful Affiliate Marketers report a 240% increase in revenue due to content marketing. – Awin & BlogginX
- 40% of the US merchants say that Affiliate Marketing is their top customer acquisition channel. – Backlinko
- Affiliate marketing reached a turnover of $6.4 billion in 2019. – Statista
- 83% of marketers use Affiliate Marketing to increase brand awareness. – Get Cake
- The conversion rate of Affiliate Marketing is between 0.5% and 1%. – Business 2 Community
- Product and service relevance is the leading factor Affiliate Marketers consider before choosing an affiliate program standing at 18.15%. The second most popular factor considered by Affiliate Marketers is the reputation of the affiliate program. The third most crucial factor is the tracking platform with 11.58%, while 10.14% of Affiliate Marketers feel the merchant reputation is crucial. – Social Media Today
- 65% of merchants reported that their Affiliate Marketing revenue is between 5% and 20%. – BloggingX & Kickstart Your Own Affiliate Marketing Business
- 74% of online buyers in the United States of America research products on many affiliate websites before purchasing. – CyberCash Worldwide
- More than 50% of the traffic to affiliate websites is generated by mobile devices. – Call Hippo
- The term “Affiliate Marketing” saw a surge in Google search after 2016, reaching up to 100% in June 2021 in Google Trends.
- The expenditure on Affiliate Marketing could reach $8.2 billion in the United States of America in 2022. – Statista
- At $6.8 billion, The United States of America is the largest Affiliate Marketing nation. Japan is ranked second at $3.3 billion. The third spot is taken by Germany at $1.34 billion. Australia bags the fourth spot at $930 million, and The United Kingdom stands fifth at $634 million. – Cheq
- Affiliate Marketing is the second most profitable revenue generator. Google AdSense tops the list and the other sources of revenue generation are display ads, sponsorships, product reviews, and so on. – Viglink
- 12.82% of Affiliate Marketers make between $121,000 and $200,000 every year, whereas 13.68% said that they make between $81,000 and $120,000. 18.8% of Affiliate Marketers make about $20,000 annually. – Affise
- It usually takes between six and twelve months for Affiliate Marketers to make money. – Affise
- Software affiliate programs pay as much as 30% commission for each affiliate sale.
- eBay offers a commission rate from 50% (electronics) to 70% (fashion). – One More Cup of Coffee
- 56% of affiliate programs reported a rise in revenue during COVID-19.
- 9% of Affiliate Marketers earn more than $50,000 per year through Affiliate Marketing. – Investopedia
- More than 73% of merchants globally feel Affiliate Marketing helps meet their revenue goals. – Fetch Profits
- A few Affiliate Marketers make millions, for example, Pat Flynn who made $315,000 in 24 months promoting ConvertKit, and Adam Enfroy, who makes $200,000 per month.
- 99% of affiliate programs offer a Cost-Per-Action (CPA) payment mode. In simple words, you will make money when customers take a specified action, such as app installs, form submissions, product purchases, etc.
- 64% of customers prefer videos, 61% say they prefer images, and 38% of them prefer blog posts. So you should start publishing more videos on YouTube.
- 88% of customers say they purchased a product after watching an influencer.
- 59% of companies worldwide collaborate with influencers for their Affiliate Marketing campaigns.
- 43% of Affiliate Marketing revenue is generated by the retail sector. Telecom and travel industries drive 24% and 16% of Affiliate Marketing revenue, respectively.
- “How To Create Content for Affiliate Marketing?” is one of the top 20 questions asked on Google.
- 34% of publishers said that Affiliate marketing is their primary income source. They also reported getting up to 5,000 unique visitors every month to their website.
- 32% of Affiliate Marketers are between 35 and 44 years old. 28% of them are between 25 and 34 years old. The other affiliate age groups include:
- 18 to 24: 5%
- 45 to 54: 22%
- 55 to 64: 9%
- 65+: 3%
- 54% of Affiliate Marketers are male and 43% are females.
- The most common types of payment modes are Cost per Action and Pay Per Lead.
- 30% of the global affiliate links are from Awin. CJ (or Commission Junction) follows with 15.8% and Rakuten with 7.4%.
- Web Hosting is one of the most popular and lucrative affiliate programs. BlueHost, a popular hosting program paid over $5 million in commissions in a year.
- The top affiliate networks have more than 100,00 Affiliate Marketers. Here is the list of the affiliate networks with the most Affiliate Marketers:
- Awin: 15,000+ advertisers and 100,000+ affiliates
- Share-A-Sale: 4,000+ advertisers
- CJ (Commission Junction): 4,000+ merchants and 70,000+ affiliates
- Amazon Associates: 900,000+ affiliates
Conclusion
In simple words, Affiliate Marketing is the process of promoting someone else’s products and if you generate sales, you will earn commissions. It is a $12-billion industry and is projected to grow at 10% per year.
The best part about Affiliate Marketing is that you do not need a big corporate office to run your business. You can relax in your living room and run a profitable business promoting the products you love.
Based on the statistics I shared in this post, it is clear that Affiliate Marketing is a great career opportunity and it will only go upward in the time to come.
Affiliate Marketing offers a lot to both companies (or vendors) and Affiliate Marketers (or publishers). So if you feel Affiliate Marketing can be the right business model for you, please sign up for my live training session where I will share the 6 simple steps you can follow to master Affiliate Marketing.
