Affiliate Marketing Spending to Top $3 Billion, Says Jupiter

In 2008 online marketers will spend $2.1 billion on affiliate marketing fees, with U.S. online affiliate marketing spending hitting $3.3 billion in 2012 according to JupiterResearch.

The report found affiliate marketing remains popular because it is performance based, has a low risk and requires a small initial investment.

“Marketers tend to work with affiliates that attract the most traffic to their sites, which results in a handful of affiliates bringing the majority of traffic and sales,” said Patti Freeman Evans, online retail analyst and lead author of the report.

In addition, the report found that affiliate marketing is heavily tied to the search engine marketing industry, making Google a major factor in the overall growth of the industry.