AFFILIATE MARKETING TRENDS FORECAST - 2022! What's in it for YOU?
Experts in the domain make their forecasts about the most important trends and threats that will impact the Affiliate Marketing, Advertising and Media Buying, and MarTech sectors. See what’s in it for you!
Insights about affiliate marketing verticals: Nutra, iGaming, Finance, Dating, Utilities and Software, and Info Products were stressed by the experts from various sub-verticals in the Affiliate Marketing domain.
The detailed report can be accessed if interested at the end of this blog post. In addition, these insights might also help bloggers focus on relevant topics to educate their audience and build followers by providing them with helpful information.
"Do you know this? - Affiliate marketing as an industry is now worth $12 Billion a year and is expected to grow by 10% in the next few years, contributing to about 15% of the total revenue made through ALL digital marketing" - JVZOO [Global Affiliate Network Platform]
Affiliate Marketing Trends:
Useful and relevant extract (38 insights) had been done from the said Affiliate Marketing Trends Report and are presented below as stated by the experts for your easy reading and understanding:
1. The 2 main niches still hit the TOP – they are men’s health (potency, prostatitis, enlargement) and weight loss/diets. They are followed by popular health niches – hypertension, joints. Then, cosmetics products follow hair and face skincare (Kirill Zelenkov, Сhief Commercial Officer at dr.cash).
2. Namely: reduced conversions, multiple bans, launch problems, an increase in the cost of consumables, and, consequently, a decrease in the advertiser's marginal profit and ROI decrease of the affiliates. Therefore, problems with Facebook this year were very significant indicators (Alexander Yasukovich, CEO at Everad).
3. But we are optimistic about the future. I believe that the demand for Nutra vertical in 2022 will still increase because people are more and more concerned about Beauty & Health every year (Alexander Yasukovich, CEO at Everad).
4. The overall tendency of a healthy lifestyle that we have experienced throughout this pandemic has also brought us an additional benefit of an increasing number of people that want to take care of themselves. This is why in 2022, we can expect Nutra products that solve such serious problem as weight loss to bring fewer sales than such offers that help improve one’s vision (Ksenia Kostina, Founder at Webvõrk).
5. Nutra's traditionally popular goods are "men's" products, hypertension, and weight loss. Products for health and immunity have become one of the trends in 2021. The pandemic is still far from the end for several years: these products will remain in demand (Alexandr Sobko, CBDO at Leadbit).
[Want to know about thousands of affiliate programs and niches to make your efforts easier and start confidently? - Access Affilisting]
6. The most popular cliche about Nutra is still true: the Nutra is evergreen vertical. The affiliate world adapted to new realities over these especially years. And perhaps this means opening up new opportunities for affiliate marketing in the Nutra vertical (Alexandr Sobko, CBDO at Leadbit).
7. This year for iGaming niche came out extremely strange and controversial. On one hand, due to the blocking of payment instruments, the CIS market practically "died", but on the other hand, on the global scale, we saw an explosive growth of the iGaming industry. Despite the lack of positive dynamics in terms of the Covid pandemic, we still saw sporting events. And together with sporting events, the betting market came back to life. Summing up the results of 2021, we see huge growth in gambling in general, and especially in Tier 1 countries, as well as in Asian countries, which until recently were not really the focus of attention for affiliates (Roman Manuylov, CEO at Alfaleads).
8. iGaming will not lose its leadership position in 2022. According to a report from Gambling: Global Market Opportunities & Strategies, the online marketplace will reach $ 73 billion in 2022. This vertical will remain just as attractive to affiliates and publishers despite innovations and restrictions from traffic sources (Alexandr Sobko, CBDO at Leadbit).
9. As crypto like Bitcoin becomes more and more popular, we are seeing a huge surge in demand for financial lead gen offers. It's a great idea to focus and master the financial lead gen vertical because it's evergreen. It's here to stay. People will always want to generate passive income from investments, and financial lead gen companies will always need affiliates that can bring them new leads and keep their funnels full (iAmAttila, Affiliate Marketer).
10. The financial industry, with which the insurance industry ties a bit, is popular all the time, especially with some geos like the US. Classically operating banks that were previously not interested in affiliate marketing are also looking more and more willingly at it, especially from 2020 and since COVID happened. To sum everything up - all industries will grow - online services will increase, loans will not slow down. It applies to investments too (Bartosz Magielski, Head of marketing at MyLead)
11. The main trend of 2022 is the transfer of banking traffic into stablecoins. In the high-risk spheres like iGaming the transition to legally regulated payments will continue, including the tightening of p2p transfers. In 2022, the regulations for opening bank accounts will become even more strict, so the development of payment systems will be the most trendy in the field of finance (Daria Byvaltseva, Business Development Director at Capitalist Inc).
12. In 2022, CPA marketing in Russia may transform significantly from a financial standpoint. This could be caused by legislation changes and payment services actions, who adjust their products to market demands. After a number of financial services closed unexpectedly, media buyers have started to pay more attention to the quality of the companies they entrust their money to. We can assume that in 2022, CPA professionals will be more responsible in choosing a financial partner and working with those who can provide guarantees and reliability (Maria Lomovtseva, Head of CPA Marketing Department at QIWI).
[Want to know about thousands of affiliate programs and niches to make your efforts easier and start confidently? - Access Affilisting]
13. In 2022, the downward trend in adult dating will continue along with the transition to the mainstream, where LTV is higher. There will be CPA offers for adult dating, but their payout rates will not grow. At the same time, mainstream dating payout rates may be revised upwards (Michael Mikhailov, Head of Storyloves.net project at AdCombo).
14. It’s no secret: with the pandemic still sending shockwaves through people’s routines, there’s no doubt 2022 will bring ever-evolving habits to the world of dating. But one thing remains certain: online dating, through various apps and websites, is here to stay and even grow to a yet higher level of popularity. With online dating on the rise, it’ll be hard to go wrong. Truly, the dating vertical will take the spotlight in 2022 (Maxime Bergeron, Network Director at CrakRevenue).
15. The online dating niche (at least in the part where it comes into contact with affiliate marketing), in my humble opinion, is quite stable and conservative. I do not expect radical changes (Mikhail Svinarev, Founder at ENTROPY LLC).
16. The Online Dating market is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 5.6%-7.13% according to grandviewresearch.com and statista.com with US market share taking more than 30% of it. The expanding market means new advertisers, new products, new niches and new affiliates exploring the limitless opportunities so seems like we will have a lot of work to do (Julie Goranova, Dating Sales Team TL at ClickDealer).
17. For the last few years, SaaS has been concentrated on a desktop-first approach, which has often meant that mobile devices have been left behind. This has been changing significantly recently, as mobile devices have become increasingly sophisticated (Fernando Angulo, Influencer Lead at Semrush).
18. The most relevant is the finance industry. The primary driver for this is that businesses can make online transactions easier and more transparent. Though much of this has been seen in the cryptocurrency industry, the technology has slowly been making an impact on quite a large number of other niches in recent years. Though this has only started in the SaaS industry, it’s something that could pick up a significant amount of speed in 2022 ((Fernando Angulo, Influencer Lead at Semrush).
19. With tech giants steering us into a future without third-party cookies, marketing strategists and CMOs will need to find a way to cope with upcoming challenges. The growing demand from consumers to be able to control their private data better is also a factor (Toma Sabaliauskiene, CMO at NordVPN).
20. Marketers may need to use process automation platforms when dealing with a high number of micro-influencers. The transition to a new kind of digital marketing is happening already. Brands and marketing agencies that are able to pivot at the right time will be those that can expect to maintain sustainable growth even without a surplus of private user data at their disposal ((Toma Sabaliauskiene, CMO at NordVPN).
[Want to know about thousands of affiliate programs and niches to make your efforts easier and start confidently? - Access Affilisting]
21. First, let's look at what verticals seem to have the most potential to do well in 2022. 1. Crypto/NFT/DeFi, 2. Other financial info products and 3. Weightloss. Now, for part 2, some traffic sources that I think will work well in general, but especially great for those verticals mentioned above: TikTok, SMS and Influencer Marketing (Emanuel Cinca, Founder of Stacked Marketer).
22. With so many sources of info out there all competing for people's attention (and wallets!), consumers have become more selective about what to spend their time on. The average attention span is shrinking. People don't have the patience for a lot of general theory - they want to learn practical information they can apply and execute - the same day if possible (Amy Cheung (aka "vortex" on STM)- Senior Forum Moderator at STMForum).
23. In 2022, I expect info products to continue their surge that we have seen over the past few years. The trend towards making money selling information is a good one. It’s been around for a long time now (remember WSOs?), but now we have influencers with actual authority and knowledge and better platforms to sell on (Luke Kling, Founder at affLIFT).
24. The market is getting rid of weaker players, we can see this on all fronts: traffic sources introduce tougher moderation rules (this is especially prominent in FB and Google), while advertisers offer worse terms for affiliates (lower frequency capping, stricter KPIs, etc.). This is why it’s high time you decide whether you want to be perceived as adventurous and fight all the time or you would rather be more business-like and be acknowledged by the big players, get exclusive terms and the respect your team deserves. It’s up to you (Nick Titan, Teamlead (Facebook traffic) at ZM TEAM).
25. New affiliates are always looking for platforms with CPA or some "smart CPA" bidding to test their campaigns. The faster a network offers this, the more users it will get, assuming the algorithm does a fair job. Other than that, I don't think we'll see any considerable changes in 2022, but I'd be glad to be proven wrong, as the implication about it means there will be newer opportunities to make money and ride new waves (Servando Silva, Affiliate, Media Buyer and Blogger).
26. The media buying market is moving towards diversification. Teams will try to master new verticals and sources. iGaming will continue to keep its top positions due to the expansion of the target audience and the popularization of this vertical in the market. Teams with their own apps will look towards “whitehat” apps and social casinos (Vera Soboleva, Co-owner of TraffBraza).
27. We have seen great success with Finance and Sweeps Surveys - a brand new kind of CPL offers with the easiest conversion ever: few clicks. Another hot exclusive were the two apps: android cleaner and a VPN, still a very in-demand type of apps among affiliates to work with Pop&Push traffic (Irina Razvodova, CEO at Zeydoo).
28. Market trends are shifting towards services and utilities. In our experience, we are dealing with affiliates who want to make money with the simple flow. These could be social apps, along the lines of Tik Tok. If you are a beginner and want to get into this business - we advise you to start with these types of flow and don't spend money on more complicated verticals. It is very easy to lose your initial capital, and the cost of a mistake is too high. Do tests, talk to managers and get experience from foreign colleagues (Nikita Zemin, Head of BDM at Adsterra).
29. Influencer partnerships will become ever more valuable. Voice search optimization and mobile-friendly content will continue to rise. Companies will dedicate more advertising dollars to affiliate programs. Tik-Tok. There is no way to place affiliate links directly on TikTok content (yet), affiliates are able to use landing pages and links in their bios (Nilu Yusupova, Head of BD & PR at AdsEmpire).
[Want to know about thousands of affiliate programs and niches to make your efforts easier and start confidently? - Access Affilisting]
30. Cookie-less Trends. This year, many search engines, including Safari and Firefox, have already removed cookies from their browsers – Chrome is not far behind. Apple has also made Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) changes to their app, which means tracking is limited. When online publishers place affiliate links into their website content, those links redirect to an affiliate network’s ad servers, dropping a third-party cookie in the process. Now that some browsers block third-party tracking cookies, the network loses the ability to attribute the sale to the publisher (Nilu Yusupova, Head of BD & PR at AdsEmpire).
31. Utilize Influencer Marketing. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the influencer marketing industry has grown to $9.7B in 2021 and is expected to continue in 2022. Smaller influencers often have the advantage over macro and large organizations when it comes to establishing trust (Nilu Yusupova, Head of BD & PR at AdsEmpire).
32. The Importance of App Tracking and Cross-Device TrackingCross-device tracking is when the same user can track across two or more devices – i.e. mobile and desktop. When picking an affiliate program in 2022, put app tracking and cross-device tracking high in your priorities. Not doing this could lead to losing out on a commission that should be assigned to you (Nilu Yusupova, Head of BD & PR at AdsEmpire).
33. TikTok and Instagram Reels have taken the world by storm over the past year. These new forms of social media have completely transformed the market. The idea behind both TikTok and Instagram Reels is, you’re not just exposed to your friends’ posts, but you’re exposed to a global platform outside of your friends and “followings” (Nilu Yusupova, Head of BD & PR at AdsEmpire).
34. Ad fraud methods are evolving daily. A constantly updated technology by your side is the key to wise investments in digital marketing (Anna Efimova, Sales director at ADEX).
35. In 2022, you will hardly find someone who hasn’t heard of Push Notifications yet. Speaking of web push notifications, there are 2 major drivers that are closely connected: browser changes & requirements and webmasters feedback. even though browsers updates may seem dangerous for future of push notifications from the first sight, and they’ve been scaring some webmasters and affiliates for several years already, in reality, there are still lots and lots of ways for Push Notifications to keep not only working, but developing in favor of strategies that webmasters and affiliates chose (Karina Arkhangelskaya, Head of Project at Notix).
36. The introduction of the restrictions from Google will only motivate and encourage us to find more advanced methods for tracking. In other words, the 3-rd party cookies are simply a part of technology to support the tracking processes. And the incoming changes will not choke the industry, but will make significant adjustments (Lena Starosta, Head of Business Development at BeMob).
37. We are living in the digital era. All technologies are progressing fast. The ad tracking sphere also follows trends and provides users with new and actual decisions. Automatization is the next level in the battle for users and their positive experience in ad tracking (Igor Kovalevskiy, Head of Project at AdsBridge).
38. Online Marketing is an ever-changing industry in terms of regulations, technologies, and players. All 3 factors affect each other in one way or another, causing the changes or driving them. Agencies and marketers started looking for new traffic sources and approaches to allocate the resources better and calculate the ROI of the user acquisition (Matvey Schmidt, Head of Advertisers Department at PropellerAds).
CONCLUSION:
The report concludes as below:
In the new year, the focus is on AI and automatization. There will be new regulations and tracking policies. New threats for Push Notifications will come, and fraud will target mobile devices mainly.
Choose between: Finance, Sweepstakes, the evergreen Nutra, NFT/DeFi, Dating, iGaming, Software & Utilities, or Info Products. Our specialists anticipate these will grow.
Success also depends on what you work with. Big minds of the industry expect Popunders and Push Notifications to deliver big time. If one format is not enough, combine several or experiment with new ones.
Adjust your campaign settings. Target narrow, quality traffic, and automate your campaign optimization. Find that one reliable partner that can provide for all your needs and help you overcome new challenges.
If you are interested to read the full report, access it here.
Affiliate Marketing 2023
"The most successful affiliate marketers in 2023 will be content creators and relationship builders first and foremost" - JVZOO [Global Affiliate Network Platform
Here's related information that you may find helpful - 81 Affiliate Marketing Related FAQs and Answers to see if they may help you move forward as an Affiliate Marketer with confidence.
P.S: Visit Digital Marketing Forum that answers [most un-answered] questions.
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