Affiliate Marketing Trends for 2024

Traffic sources trends

When it comes to social media traffic share, the leaders are: Facebook (65%), Instagram (13%), and X (9%). Note that only Instagram’s share is on the rise, while the other media platforms are on the decline.

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Facebook enjoys good publicity and stability by improving user engagement, launching new products, and generating high revenues. The platform addresses the new EU privacy regulations by offering ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram… for $20 for each. Alternatively, the users will have to opt for their data sharing and processing. Funnily enough, when the management team says ad-free version, they mean it — you can’t run ad campaigns as well due to the paid subscription restrictions.

Speaking about Instagram, it aspires for being even more user-friendly by adding a heap of handy features to Reels, e.g., undo and redo for clips, shared lists, and post sharing with close friends only. Not to mention some other upcoming features that are currently being tested, e.g., enhancing the recent Notes addition with audio, clips, GIFs, and stickers. Both Facebook and Instagram de jure promote user privacy (even if de facto it’s not true), whitehat content, and overall transparency.

YouTube and privacy issues. A privacy expert sues YouTube for its ad detection mechanisms, claiming that they facilitate unlawful spying on EU citizens. YouTube, in its turn, deliberately slows down its page speed loading for the users with ad blockers, thus nudging them into turning it off.

Snapchat signed an agreement with Amazon, allowing the eCommerce giant to sell goods directly on Snapchat, without leaving the app, so as not to fall behind Meta, which made a similar deal. Additionally, the subscribers of Snapchat+ can see when a friend half-swipes into chat with the recent feature called “peek a peek”. 

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Last but not least, TikTok launched an in-app mobile effects editor. This means the creators don’t have to download a separate tool any longer, so the users are more likely to stay, which is good for retention rate. Moreover, ByteDance, the owner of the platform, tests content paywall on Douyin, TikTok’s sister app. Specifically, popular content creators on Douyin are able to put a part of their videos behind a paywall. To some degree, this is similar to X, testing out a new feature in places like New Zealand and the Philippines, where users are required to pay $1 for annual subscription.

As you can see, this year has been rather eventful for most traffic sources. The most noticeable trends being an even bigger step towards user experience, data security, and new tools that achieve higher engagement levels across different platforms.

Offer verticals

iGaming slowly but surely steps onto the light side. Take for example the USA, where online betting & gambling has been legalized in 30+ states. This is one of the largest markets in the world, and promoting iGaming offers there can rake in a quick profit. Brazil, the largest market of LATAM, is also on its way to legalize iGaming.

Fantasy sports and eSports grow in popularity. The former is a simulation of real-life games, where “managers” assemble a team of digital impersonations, whose performance is assessed based on how well the real-life counterparts perform. Yes, this is real, and yes there is a lot of money to tap into. In the USA alone, the share of players grew to 50 millions by 2020. As for the latter, there are almost 500 million fans worldwide, which is a huge leap since 2016. Besides watching the teams, players also participate in betting, so… this vertical becomes more bountiful day by day, coupled with overall legalization worldwide.

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Utilities and software, especially aimed at user privacy and personal data protection, are ones again on the rise. For example, the overwhelming tendency of regulatory bodies worldwide to step up control over the digital realm leads to an even higher demand for VPN software. At the same time, the desire to be at ease while surfing the net makes antivirus and ad blocking solutions peak in demand.

The Finance niche, micro-loans included, is another evergreen option for you. People always need more money and security in their lives — they want to purchase expensive items, travel, live like there is no tomorrow, etc. Think about it, more than half of Americans have borrowed money at least once. No need to think Finances are suitable for only Tier 1 countries: India, Brazil, Taiwan are all good picks.

In short, the biggest tendencies regarding offer verticals encompass an overpowering lean towards whitehat approaches, which we have been observing for the past few years. This trend makes promoting the majority of offers easier, since the products gain more credibility in the eyes of the target audience. This is especially relevant for the iGaming and eSports market. And when it comes to digital goods, we are seeing a second wave of utilities and software offers. The demand for these products is spurred by users’ desire for the safety of their online experiences.

Via: Shutterstock

Noteworthy updates 

It will not be an overstatement to say that artificial intelligence, machine learning, and various AI-powered tools are the most prominent trend of this year. While, for a common internet user, AI may be a source of entertainment or a bedtime story of robots taking over the world, affiliate marketers were quick to adopt the new technology into their business routines. The capabilities of different chatbots and generative neural networks that produce images and other content in a matter of minutes have changed the way we see affiliate marketing. From landing page descriptions to unique creatives, and as far as mobile app to website source code development — AI is the next step of ad campaign automation. If you would like to explore this topic further, we have delved into the uses which one can apply ChatGPT to in one of our previous articles. Make sure you follow the AI-related news to stay ahead of the curve in this niche and make the most out of this new digital superpower.

Via: Shutterstock

Mobile traffic and app stores. Google now requires app developers to test their apps more and more rigorously. Basically, this moderation update is aimed at improving the quality of apps to compete better with its main contender — iOS. At the same time, indie developers and those with humble budgets are worse off from here on out, because of the obligatory 14-day testing by a team of 20 dedicated testers. This will surely be beneficial for the quality of applications, but hinder diversity. Many developers have already pledged to migrate to other app stores, such as Apple’s App Store, which will lead to higher competition in the iOS app market and the growing costs of application development at large.

Finally, from the now omnipresence of chatbots to the emerging VR and AR technologies, a strain is put on the users’ attention span. That’s why short and brief content, like on TikTok, X posts, and Reels, is more likely to please the users, who are always on the run. Thanks to increasing digitalization, we are positive that big data advancements can facilitate hyper-personalization. Users give their info voluntarily, and marketers have to just collect it and process into something more readable.

Conclusion

These were some of the major trends of 2023 and the foreseen trends of 2024. Of course, the list is far from being exhaustive. We can expect that Meta will stick to its transparent and user-centric approach. There are other big GEOs with ads enabled, e.g., Brazil, India, the USA. Contrary to conservative Meta, there is X and its new leadership with never-ending experiments: for instance, the platform is currently testing a paywalling system, aimed at eradicating malignant bots.

Maybe the biggest agents of change there have been in 2023 are chatbots and other tools powered by artificial intelligence. Faster data processing at affiliate networks, more precise and complete analytics within traffic sources, new user engagement options such as AI replicas of celebrities on Instagram — the innovations run galore when it comes to the advancement in tech. This year has become ground zero for all things AI in marketing, and we are sure that we will see more breakthroughs in 2024.

That’s all the news. Contact us for any assistance and have a good day. At Yep Ads, we work for you 24/7!