2023 witnessed an escalation in the value of the affiliate marketing industry. Interest in affiliate marketing rose more than 264% between 2020 and 2022. Most recently, it has reached $14.3 billion globally in 2023 and is looking forward to growing to $15.7 billion by 2024.
With the explosion of the number of influencers and the actual sales effectiveness, more brands are showing interest in boosting their Influencer Marketing strategies, with the rise of companies offering affiliate marketing services.
Let’s take a closer look at the picture below to see how potential affiliate marketing can be in 2024.
Highlights
The Affiliate Marketing Industry is set to grow to approximately $14.3 billion globally in 2023 and $15.7 billion by 2024. This growth is supported by the fact that affiliate marketing companies have raised over $1.5 billion in all-time funding across 232 rounds by 2023, marking a 15.38% increase compared to the previous year. Furthermore, the global number of affiliate marketing service offerings grew by 26% in 2021 alone, reaching a staggering 10,000 firms specializing in these services. In terms of budget allocation, affiliate marketing averaged 9% in 2021. Interest in affiliate marketing rose more than 264% between 2020 and 2022, demonstrating its increasing popularity. Additionally, more than 25% of brands now utilize bloggers in their affiliate marketing campaigns, highlighting the industry’s evolving strategies and growing influence.
Clear Preference for Using Influencers for Affiliate Campaigns
59% of respondents admitted to collaborating with Influencers to boost sales, showing the leverage of influencers in brands’ affiliate campaigns.
Affiliate Marketing Averaged 9% of Marketing Budget Allocation in 2021
The survey in 2021 showed that businesses allocated 9% of their marketing budget on average to affiliate marketing. This is comparable to the amount spent on email marketing and similar to what businesses intended to spend on offline marketing and events. Additionally, affiliate marketing is a specialist type of performance marketing, and the highest percentage of their marketing spend (21%) is dedicated to this type of marketing.
Influencer Marketing and Affiliate Marketing Synergize Well
In the past, many people who became affiliates were traditional bloggers or media publishers who used their websites to promote and review affiliate products. Unlike these traditional affiliates, today’s affiliates come in many shapes and sizes, with influencers being the rising stars of the internet. Influencers with established names and fan bases have a much greater chance of making good money compared to those starting from scratch. Data suggests that more than 90% of consumers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement. Additionally, more than 75% of brand marketers intend to dedicate a budget to influencer marketing in 2022. Genuine influencers, in turn, only promote products they like, trust, or show genuine interest in.
Potential For 2024
In 2024, affiliate marketing will continue to surge, solidifying its reputation as a billion-dollar industry and becoming a top potential investment for businesses and content creators. The effectiveness of affiliate marketing and influencer marketing will make these strategies top favorites and indisputable choices for businesses. Additionally, the influencer industry will expand and humanize with various new approaches and a growing number of experts.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub, Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report 2023.
