Econsultancy and MediaTrust Publish First US Affiliate Census

MediaTrust and Consultancy have today published the first US Affiliate Census, containing in-depth research about the performance marketing industry.

The report examines the make-up of the affiliate marketing community and looks at how much revenue affiliates are generating for merchants, how they are getting their traffic and which linking methods they are using.

Key findings include:

• One in six affiliates surveyed (17%) is generating at least $600,000 a year in revenue for merchants.

• Paid search or pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is the most significant category for US affiliates (48%), marginally ahead of true content (search engine optimization) on 46%. Just under half of affiliates surveyed say each of these methods is important to them.

• Health, Sport and Fitness is the sector most widely promoted by affiliates, promoted by 41% of survey respondents. The next biggest sectors are Gifts / Gadgets (28%) and Books (27%).

• Affiliates are very positive about the increased use of the mobile Internet. The wider use of cell phones for accessing the Web is seen as an opportunity by 58% of respondents.

• The entrepreneurial spirit of affiliates also means they are also more likely to see the economic crisis as an opportunity than as a threat.

Econsultancy’s Research Director Linus Gregoriadis said: "The report looks in detail at the nature and quality of the relationships affiliates have with networks and merchants, revealing that many of these publishers have issues with the level of transparency in the industry and the quality of communication from merchants."

MediaTrust’s Chief Marketing Officer, Trip Foster said: "Performance marketing is evolving rapidly and the input and feedback of the publisher-base is critical to the success of the ecosystem that exists among marketers, publishers and end users.

"As the performance marketing model implies, we all benefit only when all members of our ecosystem are satisfied. This means that an ongoing dialogue is necessary among all parties in this ecosystem and important to our collective evolution as an industry."

The survey was promoted to affiliate members by networks including MediaTrust’s Advaliant, Commission Junction, Google Affiliate Network and Pepperjam.

The research comes a month after Econsultancy published its UK Affiliate Census, produced in association with Affiliate Window.
 
Journalists and bloggers can email Linus Gregoriadis for a complimentary copy of the report and / or further information. Linus Gregoriadis, Research Director, Econsultancy (e: linus AT econsultancy.com )

About Econsultancy
Econsultancy is an independent community-based publisher, focused on best practice digital marketing and e-commerce. Our hub has 80,000+ members worldwide from clients, agencies and suppliers alike with over 90% member retention rate. An award-winning online publisher, our reports cover best practice, user experience benchmarking, market data, trends and innovation, and supplier selection aimed at Internet professionals that want practical advice on all aspects of e-business.
http://econsultancy.com

About MediaTrust
MediaTrust is a digital performance marketing company that offers the Advaliant performance marketing platform. MediaTrust’s Advaliant enables affiliate publishers and marketers to create and deploy diverse pay-for-performance digital marketing campaigns that increase traffic, leads, and sales. Headquartered in New York City, the company also has offices in Toronto and Santa Barbara.
http://mediatrust.com
http://blog.mediatrust.com