TOP 7 AFFILIATE MARKETING TRENDS YOU MUST KNOW IN 2024
According to Rob Davinson – Awin’s global content director, 2024 will be a year that continues the success of 2023 in developing technology and artificial intelligence tools. Through this, the Affiliate marketing field will see an increase in brand alliances with creators, competition between TikTok and Amazon for programming opportunities, and much more.
And also in 2024, Affiliate marketing will reflect the broader digital picture, with macro-level trends affecting the world. We will encounter many more emerging trends and phenomena such as AI, social commerce,… affecting Affiliate marketers.
And here, experts in the field of Affiliate marketing at TheDrum have also analyzed and presented important changes and challenges that Affiliate marketing may encounter in 2024.
1. The connection between content creators and brands will be stronger in the context of social networks slowing down
Given today’s digital ad usage landscape, a global slowdown in 2023 and social media slowing as users peak, brands can fight back. This is by partnering directly with creators, as using a social media influencer marketing campaign builds trust better than regular paid advertising.
We can take examples from two big brands such as The Body Shop and Walmart. They launched large-scale creator affiliate programs in 2023, and have tied social awareness to controlled marketing results. And it follows that this trend will continue to grow in 2024, as it not only combats platform-dependent risks, but also benefits social media influencers and those who are looking for stable income. Awin’s platform saw a spike in influencer registrations (over 10,000) in 2023, signaling continued growth in 2024.
2. Competition between TikTok and Amazon
According to the market over the past year, Amazon has gradually transformed itself from e-commerce to the advertising space. In contrast, TikTok is turning from an entertainment social network into a shopping platform. Invading each other’s fields in the long run will increase competition on both sides. The fact that both platforms apply the linking strategy proves its increasing effectiveness. Brands may pour more advertising budgets into these tech giants, requiring a choice between entering new markets or driving traffic to their e-commerce sites. Choosing the latter option requires enhancing the shopping experience, supported by affiliated technology partners, as exemplified by Nike’s direct shopping collaboration with Contested, enhancing the Cyber phase. With engaging content on their website.
3. Programmatic challenges will drive up affiliate marketing spending
In 2023, a report and analysis from ANA’s Programmatic Media Supply Chain Transparency Study showed that the Programmatic industry has encountered major challenges. More specifically, one of the key findings was that up to $22 billion was wasted in the $88 billion programmatic supply chain. In such circumstances, advertisers often struggle with a difficult situation, having to prioritize cost over value, leading to a severe decline in advertising quality. In contrast, the effectiveness model of affiliate marketing, which suggests that advertising spend with tangible results such as sales, is more valuable. It’s worth mentioning that global spending on affiliate marketing last year was estimated at $14 billion, less than a third of the amount wasted on programmatic. Therefore, this will be a good opportunity for affiliate marketing to be used more in 2024.
4. Media publishers and newspapers will leverage affiliate commerce content
It is expected that in 2024, with an estimated number of global elections reaching a record number, including the US presidential election and 40 national elections to take place, interest in politics will increase. Helps drive more traffic to news media websites. Additionally, major sporting events such as the European Football Championship and the Olympic Games in Paris promise to increase traffic, creating opportunities for affiliate efforts to offset business challenges. Collect advertising and enhance the value of journalism in the context of increasing demand
5. The AI revolution in search will threaten long-term advertising strategies
When it comes to online, the importance of first page Google search rankings has become extremely important. Google search, which has shaped our online information-seeking behavior for the past two decades, is facing challenges from commercial incentives and the search capabilities of artificial intelligence. Emerging creation, such as ChatGPT. Searching for answers on these artificial intelligence tools will provide answers immediately, reducing dependence on Google’s search engine. From there, long-term advertising strategies such as SEO or related to Google will be limited and face great challenges.
6. The resurgence of tourism will push people to seek inspiration from popular culture and link growth
Although a recession was predicted after the social distancing period from 2019 to 2021, at the beginning of 2024, the tourism industry is on the rise again. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts that this year will surpass 2019’s travel record, with 4.7 billion people expected to book flights. Awin sees a strong increase in travel bookings, a trend that will continue as consumer confidence increases, and major events also boost demand. Travel brands are being oriented quite well. From there, we can take advantage of this growth with many potential collaborations from other brands wishing to exploit consumers’ travel needs.
7. Fast fashion will create challenges for long-term fashion
Although the landmark Cop 28 Agreement on the transition away from fossil energy has been signed, delays continue around the issue of climate change. 2024 is also seen as a boom year for fast fashion platforms such as Shein and Temu, fueled by trends from shopping TikTok. However, cheap copies of designs that do not last long are thrown away, greatly increasing the amount of waste in the environment. Even Amazon was affected, with Teemu users spending almost twice as much time on it, forcing the e-commerce giant to reduce its clothing fees to less than $20 per item. However, most also encourage the creation of products that are more environmentally conscious. Reforest, for example, plants a tree for every website visit. And a promising new solution for 2024 is invested in by Birl, the brand that infuses the circular economy into e-commerce through their smart recycling system.
