50+ Most Important Affiliate Marketing Statistics in 2025 You Should Know

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most effective online business strategies in recent years. The growth of affiliate marketing is closely tied to the rise of AI-powered solutions, increasing mobile usage, the popularity of platforms like TikTok, and advancements in fraud detection technologies.

For businesses, understanding the latest affiliate marketing statistics and trends can lead to better strategies, increased revenue, and smarter choices when it comes to managing affiliate programs.

In this article, we’ve compiled 50+ key affiliate marketing statistics for 2025 to give you a clear picture of the industry and how to apply these insights to your business strategy.

Looking to run a successful affiliate program in this fast-changing landscape? Choosing a modern affiliate marketing software with powerful, up-to-date features is a smart move. Check out UpPromote, the top trusted Shopify affiliate solution for growth, with a 4.9/5 rating and over 4,000 reviews, to launch, grow, and manage your program effectively.

Top 50+ Affiliate Marketing Statistics for 2025

Affiliate marketing is a dynamic and fast-growing industry offering valuable opportunities for both brands and affiliates to generate revenue. Here are some recent affiliate marketing stats. They will help you grasp the current scene and start a successful affiliate program.

Overall Affiliate Marketing Market Size and Growth

• The affiliate marketing industry was valued at over $20 billion in 2024. (Astute Analytica)
• The affiliate marketing industry is expected to double, reaching nearly $40 billion by 2031. (Astute Analytica)
• Affiliate marketing is growing at a rate of 10% year-over-year. (Authority Hacker)
• 81% of advertisers and 84% of publishers use affiliate marketing.(Rakuten Advertising)
• The United States remains a dominant force within the global affiliate marketing arena.  U.S. affiliate marketing spending is projected to reach $11.2 billion in 2025 and nearly $16 billion by 2028. (eMarketer)
• For many U.S. businesses, affiliate marketing is their top customer acquisition method. 40% of U.S. merchants consider it their most effective way to gain new customers. (SliceWP).

Affiliate Program Performance Statistics

• Across many industries, affiliate marketing programs usually have conversion rates of 1% to 3%. (Impact)
• Affiliate marketing has a conversion rate of 2.0% for B2C models and 1.2% for B2B models. (FirstPageSage)
• In 2025, a healthy CTR for affiliate marketing typically ranges between 0.5% and 1%
  (Awin).
• On average, affiliate marketing generates a return of $12 for every $1 spent on advertising (Rakuten).
• Affiliate marketing typically accounts for 5% to 25% of the overall online sales generated by major brands. (Affiliate WP)
• Affiliate marketing drives 16% of all online orders in the U.S. (Demasage)

Affiliate Earnings and Demographics

• Affiliate publishers earn an average of $8,038 per month. (Authority Hacker)
• 35% of affiliates generate at least $20,000 in annual revenue. (AffStat)
• 15% of affiliate marketers report yearly earnings between $80,000 and $1 million. (We Can Track).
• The top niches are education and e-learning, earning $15,551 monthly. Next is travel, making $13,847 a month. Beauty and skincare follow, with $12,475 each month. Finance and technology also rank high, with average monthly incomes of $9,296 and $7,418, respectively. Conversely, the lowest earning niches tend to be arts & crafts ($1,041 per month) and pets & animals ($920 per month). (Demasage)
• Most affiliate marketers are aged 35–44 (32%), followed by those aged 25–34 (28%). (Statista).
• Regarding gender, the field is slightly male-dominated, with 54% of affiliate marketers being male and 43% female. However, women make up more than 75% of affiliate marketing managers. This shows a strong female presence in leadership roles in the industry. (Authority Hacker).
• 57% of affiliate marketers are based in the U.S., followed by Canada (10%) and India (2%). (Demasage)
• The average affiliate marketer has around 2.8 years of experience (Authority Hacker).

Consumer Behavior and Affiliate Marketing

• Almost 60% of brands include influencers in their affiliate marketing campaigns. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• 88% of consumers say they’ve been motivated to buy a product after seeing an influencer’s endorsement. (Nielsen)
• 74% of online shoppers visit multiple affiliate sites before making a final purchase. (Demansage)
• In the U.S., 61% of customers report buying a product after reading a blog post. (Reboot)
• Affiliate programs that actively partner with influencers see a 46% increase in total sales. (Impact)
• 90% of users find in-app recommendations helpful when discovering new products and services. (Statista)

Mobile and Social Media in Affiliate Marketing

• Over 50% of affiliate-driven visits come from mobile devices. (Awin)
• More than 70% of affiliate transactions are completed on smartphones and tablets.
  (Hostinger)
• Mobile-optimized affiliate websites enjoy a 64% higher conversion rate compared to non-optimized ones. (Ahrefs)
• In-app affiliate marketing represents 20% of the overall affiliate industry. (Business Of Apps)
• Mobile in-app purchases have a 40% higher conversion rate than web-based affiliate links. (Salesforce)
• In-app affiliate links have a 45% higher click-through rate than traditional web links.  (Salesforce)
• In-app affiliate campaigns have a 50% higher user engagement rate than traditional campaigns. (Business Of Apps)
• Advertisers allocate 40% of their affiliate ad spend to in-app campaigns. (Salesforce)
• Over 65% of affiliate marketers actively use social media to promote products and earn commissions. (Customer Think)
• Facebook leads with 75.8% of affiliate marketers using it. Next is Instagram at 61.4%. Pinterest follows with 42.2%. YouTube has 36.9%, Twitter sits at 31.1%, TikTok is at 29.6%, and LinkedIn rounds it out with 19%. (Authority Hacker)
• 65% of businesses collaborate with TikTok influencers for brand promotions. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• Instagram and TikTok lead in affiliate marketing performance on social media, accounting for 62% of revenue from social media channels. (Influencer Marketing Hub)

Affiliate Marketing Challenges and Risks

• Affiliate marketing is becoming highly competitive and saturated, with over 80% of brands and 84% of marketers adopting it as a core strategy. (Rakuten Advertising)
• 73% of marketers are concerned that privacy regulations hinder their analytics efforts. (Sas)
• As of the second quarter of 2023, 912 million people globally use ad blockers. This figure comprises 416 million desktop users and 496 million mobile users. (Analyzify)
• In the U.S., 31.8% of internet users reported using ad blockers as of the third quarter of 2023. (Exploring Topics)
• As of early 2025, 19 countries have enacted at least sector-wide TikTok bans, with eight implementing nationwide prohibitions. (Statista)
• In 2022, fraudulent clicks made up 17% of all affiliate traffic, causing businesses to lose an estimated $3.4 billion. (CHEQ)
• Ad fraud cost is forecast to grow from $114 billion in 2025 to $172 billion by 2028. (Statista)

Affiliate Marketing Trends and Projections

• 79.3% of affiliate marketers have adopted AI-driven tools like ChatGPT and Jasper AI to automate content creation, SEO optimization, and data analysis. (Authority Hacker)
• 65% of marketers report improved campaign performance as a result of using AI. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• 51.9% of businesses now use TikTok Shop to promote and sell their products. (Influencer Marketing Hub)
• 20.5% of people worldwide utilize voice search, and 27% of those searches happen on mobile devices, with affiliates needing to optimize their content for conversational queries and voice-activated searches. (Demansage)
• Short-form videos (under 10 minutes) with affiliate links are expected to generate 40% higher engagement by 2026. (Global Media Insight)
• Short-form videos greatly impact buying choices. About 57% of Gen Z and 73% of all shoppers use them to research products. (Lifewire)

How to Leverage Affiliate Marketing Statistics for Your Business

Understand Benchmarks to Set Realistic Goals

Understanding industry average metrics is the first step to setting realistic goals for your affiliate marketing program. Comparing your performance with industry averages, such as the conversion rate or the return on ad spend, will help you identify opportunities for improvement.

Set KPIs (Key performance indicators) based on these affiliate marketing statistics, such as:

• Target conversion rate
• Desired ROAS and ROI
• Number of active affiliates
• Average revenue per affiliate

You should set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) based on real data.

For example:

• Achieve a conversion rate of X% within the next Y months by optimizing your landing pages and providing affiliates with better promotional content.
• Reach a ROAS of X% in the upcoming Y quarter(s) by focusing on top-performing affiliates and offering performance-based incentives.
• Have at least X active affiliates generating sales within Y days by running engagement campaigns and sending nurturing email sequences.
• Increase average revenue per affiliate to X amount per month over the next Y months by sharing effective marketing materials and rewarding your top Z affiliates.

Set clear and realistic targets. This way, you can track progress better. You can also adjust your strategies to improve performance.

Read more: Affiliate Marketing for Merchants: Definitions & 5 Tips to Success

Identify High-Performing Channels and Focus Your Efforts

Instead of spreading your resources across all channels, focus on those most likely to deliver the best results.

To do that effectively, the first step is identifying the right affiliate partners in your niche. For instance, if you’re in one of the industries below, here are the partners you should consider working with:

• E-commerce and retail: Coupon websites, loyalty and cashback affiliates, social media influencers, or review sites.
• Technology and software: Comparison sites, bloggers (tech bloggers), or video affiliates (such as Youtubers).
• Travel and hospitality: Travel bloggers and vloggers, comparison and booking sites, or social media influencers.
• Health and wellness: Health and fitness bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, or mobile affiliates (health apps)
• Finance and insurance: Comparison sites, bloggers (financial experts), or email affiliates.

But it doesn’t stop there.

What matters even more is tracking performance across those channels to understand what truly works for your products. That’s where reliable affiliate tracking software comes into play.

If you’re using UpPromote, you can track affiliate performance through multiple methods. The platform helps you monitor key metrics like the number of affiliates, orders, commissions, and referral sources. You’ll also gain real-time insights through visual dashboards with charts, graphs, and tables.

Besides that, with UpPromote, you can track the entire customer journey through the Referral Detail page. The app automatically generates a timeline view that displays key actions taken after an affiliate link is clicked. You’ll find detailed insights such as:

• Landing page: The URL the shopper visited to reach your store.
• Referring page: The page from which the customer came.
• Source: Tracked based on the referring page, showing where the traffic originated.
• Affiliate information: The affiliate partner who referred the visitor.
• UTM parameters: Any attached UTM tags are used for campaign tracking.

With such information, you can trace each customer’s path to conversion and evaluate the performance of individual affiliates. This helps you identify which partners and channels drive the most successful sales. You can improve your affiliate strategy by shifting resources to top channels. Also, consider offering higher commission rates or bonuses to your best affiliates.

Leverage Influencer and Review-Based Promotions

Many customers trust influencers and look for product reviews before buying. So, you should find and partner with influencers in your niche who share your brand values.

Based on follower count, influencers are commonly divided into four levels:

• Mega-influencers: Have over 1 million followers and are often considered celebrities.
• Macro-influencers: Typically have between 100,000 and 1 million followers.
• Micro-influencers: Usually range from 10,000 to 100,000 followers.
• Nano-influencers: Have between 1,000 and 10,000 followers.

Depending on your affiliate marketing budget and target audience, choose the right influencers to collaborate with. In addition to follower count, consider the quality of their content and engagement rate to ensure they maintain a strong and active online presence.

You can encourage influencers to create authentic, review-based content such as video testimonials and honest product reviews, to build trust with potential customers and drive sales. Also, consider providing exclusive discount codes to help them engage their followers better.

With UpPromote, creating a discount code for a specific affiliate is quick and simple. Just select the influencer, then enter the details, such as the coupon name, discount type, value, and usage limits.

To make things even easier, UpPromote also offers an Auto-Generate Coupon feature to simplify the process. Just choose the program, select a naming format for the coupon, and your setup is complete.

You can also enable Tracking by Coupon to attribute referrals based on coupon usage instead of affiliate links. When a customer applies the assigned code at checkout, the system automatically tracks the referral and calculates the influencer’s commission.

Improve Mobile Optimization for Higher Conversion

Mobile optimization is no longer optional, as most shoppers now browse websites and complete purchases directly from their mobile devices.

To improve your mobile performance, here’s what to think about:

• Design your website to be fully responsive across all screen sizes.
• Simplify the checkout process to reduce friction for mobile users.
• Ensure affiliate links function smoothly on smartphones and tablets.
• Optimize page load speed, as even a one-second delay can reduce conversions.
• Test your landing pages on multiple devices and browsers to ensure consistent performance.
• Use touch-friendly buttons and clear calls to action suitable for touchscreen users.
• Consider developing a mobile app if it aligns with your business goals.

For example, if you are running a food service business, you can take a look at Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal kit delivery service, to see how they design and optimize their website for mobile. In addition to using eye-catching images and a clean layout, they also improve loading speed to ensure a smooth browsing experience for customers placing orders on their site.

Choose the Right Affiliate Marketing Software to Prevent Fraud

Affiliate fraud is still one of the biggest worries when running an affiliate program. It can hurt your business by driving up costs and damaging the program’s credibility.

Some common types of affiliate fraud you might come across include:

• Click fraud
• Fake leads
• Cookie stuffing
• Affiliate hijacking
• Purchase fraud

The good news? Automated fraud detection tools act like your digital security guard. They catch suspicious activity early and help stop serious damage before it happens.

If you’re looking for an affiliate marketing app with built-in fraud protection, UpPromote is a great choice.

Our system helps you keep your program safe by automatically:

• Spotting and blocking fake signups or referrals from suspicious IP addresses
• Restricting access to your program, allowing only approved affiliates to join
• Rejecting referrals flagged as risky or unusual
• Hiding your affiliate sign-up form from search engine results
• Limiting registrations to selected countries or regions

Wrapping Up

Affiliate marketing is set to keep growing in the years ahead. These statistics above show that affiliate marketing is not only an effective marketing channel but is becoming increasingly important in overall digital marketing strategy.

To succeed, businesses should focus on mobile optimization, leverage the power of video content and product reviews, embrace AI-driven tools, and stay ahead of fraud. Applying these insights to your strategy can help you stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape.

While trends and data may shift over time, the core principles of affiliate marketing remain the same: build real relationships with your affiliates, offer quality products, and deliver value to your customers. When you combine these timeless foundations with up-to-date insights, your affiliate program is much more likely to thrive.

Jodie Nguyen

Jodie is an SEO content writer and part of the UpPromote team. For her, writing is not just a hobby but also a way to express her creativity and imagination. She enjoys the process of turning her thoughts into words and is always eager to learn more about SEO and content marketing to make her writing even more effective. Besides creating content, she loves cats and traveling.