Crucial Affiliate Marketing Statistics for 2025

Do you know how many affiliate marketers consider giving up at some stage of their career? According to Authority Hacker’s survey, almost a third of high-earning affiliate marketers have considered quitting at some point. This number shows the importance of understanding how affiliate marketing works and how to make the right decisions. Therefore, we’ve gathered key affiliate marketing statistics to guide you through 2025. Let’s get started!

What is Affiliate Marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that is based on performance. Businesses reward individuals or companies that drive traffic to the businesses' websites and improve sales via their promotional efforts with commissions. These individuals or companies are called affiliates.

Bloggers, content creators, influencers, and website owners can be affiliates. After joining an affiliate program, they are sent a special link through which they will earn commissions.

Why Affiliate Marketing is Growing

Affiliate marketing has boomed recently mostly because businesses prefer to pay for actual results rather than possibilities. Changing shopping habits of customers have led businesses to find digital marketing solutions for their customers’ needs.

As a cost-effective marketing strategy, affiliate marketing provides an easy way to promote services or products with the rise of digital content creation.

81% of brands resort to affiliate programs to drive sales. 

49% of online buyers listen to influencers they trust.

Customers coming from affiliate marketing sources are 10% more likely to spend money on shopping.

Sources: Coolest Gadgets, Authority Hacker

Technological advancements, the increasing influence of social media, the possibility of reaching a global audience, and the growth in the e-commerce market are among the primary reasons behind affiliate marketing’s popularity.

Affiliate Marketing Statistics: Top Picks

Here are more must-know affiliate marketing statistics to help you understand affiliate marketing trends, optimize campaign strategies, and increase profitability.

By 2027, the global market size of affiliate marketing is expected to reach 27.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Affiliate marketing is the most successful channel for 20% of brand marketers.

According to a survey made in January 2024, affiliate marketing is the 3rd most effective marketing channel among marketers worldwide. It follows blogs (96%) and pay-per-click (93%) with 92%.

45.3% of affiliate marketers think that getting traffic is the biggest challenge for them.

The fashion industry is the biggest affiliate marketing niche accounting for 23.7% of all affiliate marketing niches.

Affiliate marketing links are clicked over 5 billion times per year.

Around 130 million posts on Instagram contain affiliate links.

It is estimated that more than 50% of affiliate marketing sales will be made using mobile phones.

Amazon Associates is the number one largest affiliate program.

Sources: Authority Hacker, Emarketer, Coolest Gadgets, Shopify

2023 - 2028 Affiliate Marketing Spending in the U.S.

According to a 2023 study, affiliate marketing spending in the United States in 2023 was 9.56 billion U.S. dollars. It was expected to reach 10.72 billion in 2024, almost 12 billion in 2025, and 15.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2028.

Source: Statist a

According to the bar chart, we can infer that affiliate marketing spending is expected to increase steadily each year in the United States.

With around 10% growth each year, overall growth will be 65%from 2023 to 2028. So we can say that businesses will be continuing their partnerships with affiliates to reach wider audiences.

Affiliate Marketing Trends

The statistics about trend adoption rates in affiliate marketing showcase the prominence of AI in today's digital landscape. AI-powered content drives efficiency and scalability. AI tools that generate text, images, or videos optimize the creation of content.

Source: Authority Hacker

Almost 80% of affiliate marketers have adopted AI-driven content creation.

With almost 50%, email marketing proves to be a reliable affiliate marketing method.

The 39.4% adopting social media marketing, demonstrates the place of social media platforms in our lives.

Even though videos are considered among the most engaging content types, video marketing's adoption rate is relatively low. This might be due to the costs of production along with the time and skills required to create video content.

However, the number of people leveraging video content can increase with the adoption of AI-driven content. AI tools such as Maestra offer various video localization solutions from captions to voiceoverswith voice cloning technology, not only boosting efficiency but also allowing you to reach a global audience.

Affiliate Marketing Statistics: Strengths of Affiliate Marketing

According to a survey among affiliate marketers from France, Germany, United Kindom, and the United States, new partners entering the channel and clear incremental value are the top two strengths of affiliate marketing with the votes of 28% of the participants.

Source: Statista

These statistics demonstrate that affiliate marketing is a dynamic industry with growth opportunities, and that's why it is preferred by businesses.

Other highly rated strengths of affiliate marketing suggest that it is accessible to all sizes of businesses and is adaptable to different industries.

Affiliates and merchants value transparency since data-driven strategies are key to success in affiliate marketing. This transparency also makes way for having high control over marketing outcomes. Campaigns tailored for specific purposes are great for precise targeting.

Top Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are various reasons why affiliates choose certain affiliate programs. Commission rates, high-quality products, brand reputation, platform requirements, and ease of use are among the most important factors affecting affiliates’ decisions. Here are the affiliate programs preferred by the top one million websites on the internet:

Image Sources: Sta tista

1.37% of the most traffic-receiving websites on the internet use Amazon Associates. This makes Amazon Associates the number-one affiliate platform.

Other platforms the top one million websites use are Awin Affiliate Window, Adingo, Commission Junction, Impact, GoAffPro, LinkShare, ShareASale, and A8.net.

Authority Hacker's survey results reinforce Amazon Associate's place as the number-one affiliate program.

58.5% of the respondents use Amazon Associates.

Clickbank follows Amazon with 24.6%.

ShareASale (21.80%) and CJ (20.50%) are also popular options.

While Amazon dominates the market, Clickbank, ShareASale, and CJ offer higher commission rates for specific industries.

Impact and Awin are networks that focus on premium partnerships with more experienced affiliates.

Rakuten Marketing, LinkShare, and FlexOffers have smaller user bases because they cater to affiliates wanting to work with specific product types and brands.

How to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

To succeed in affiliate marketing you need a strategic approach that is data-driven. After deciding on your niche, do market research and analyze your competitors.

Make sure that you partner with trusted brands and choose an affiliate marketing program with competitive commissions.

Focus on improving your online presence and make use of social media platforms to engage your audience. Be transparent and build trust by recommending products that you believe in.

Create content in different formats and track their performance metrics. Then optimize your content strategy according to those metrics.

Follow the trends, stay consistent, and collaborate with other affiliates to reach a wider audience.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is affiliate marketing in high demand?

Yes. The popularity of affiliate marketing continues to grow because it is adaptable to every industry, and it enables you to reach a global audience. The technological landscape, cost-effective nature of affiliate marketing, social media use, the possibility of reaching a global audience, and the growing e-commerce market are also other reasons why affiliate marketing is in high demand.

How much do Amazon affiliates make a month?

The earnings of any affiliate vary depending on various factors such as fixed commission rates, your niche, and conversion rates. 

There are fixed commission rates for different product categories. For example, while the fixed commission income rate for furniture is 4%, it is 1.5% for toys.

Can you make $10,000 a month with affiliate marketing?

According to the Survey of 2,270 Affiliate Marketers, the average monthly income of affiliate marketers ranges from $636 to $44,918 depending on the experience level. So, yes. You can earn $10,000 monthly or even more with affiliate marketing if you have enough experience and a good strategy.