Affiliate Marketing Statistics 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Mia Scarlett | Last updated: September 30, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
According to Axis Intelligence Research, People Inc. grew performance marketing revenue 12.6% in Q2 2026 while its total site sessions fell 22.6%, an Affiliate Traffic Decoupling Spread (ATDS) of +35.2 points. Future plc, over its half-year to March 2026, posted an ATDS of -12.2 points. Same channel, same search disruption, a 47.4-point gap.
Quick Answer: What Do the 2026 Affiliate Marketing Statistics Actually Show?
Affiliate marketing in 2026 is splitting in two. Axis Intelligence Research finds that publishers able to earn commissions without relying on search clicks are growing affiliate revenue even as traffic falls: People Inc.’s commission yield per 1,000 sessions rose 45.5% year over year. Search-dependent affiliate lines are shrinking: Future plc’s eCommerce affiliate revenue fell 24% organically, while U.S. retail e-commerce grew 12.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, Q2 2026).
Key Findings
- According to Axis Intelligence Research, People Inc. recorded an Affiliate Traffic Decoupling Spread of +35.2 percentage points in Q2 2026, based on its SEC-filed results.
- Future plc’s eCommerce affiliate revenue fell to £32.3 million in the six months to March 31, 2026, from £44.5 million a year earlier, per its half-year results.
- Axis Intelligence Research calculates that People Inc. earned $36.38 in performance marketing revenue per 1,000 site sessions in Q2 2026, up from $25.00 a year earlier.
- U.S. retail e-commerce sales reached $340.2 billion in Q2 2026, up 12.2% year over year and 17.1% of total retail, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Amazon’s U.S. Associates schedule pays 10% on Luxury Beauty but 1% on Grocery, a 10x spread that, by Axis Intelligence Research’s reading, shapes which categories commerce publishers can afford to cover.
Why This Page Uses Filings Instead of “Industry Size” Estimates
Most affiliate marketing statistics in circulation start with a global market size. Trace those figures back and they land on vendor forecasts, survey extrapolations, or the same estimate recycled through a dozen pages with the year changed. No statistical agency measures affiliate commissions as a line item, and no audited, industry-wide total exists.
So this page does something different. It builds from the places where affiliate revenue is actually reported under penalty of misstatement: SEC filings and London Stock Exchange regulatory announcements from listed publishers, the U.S. Census Bureau’s e-commerce series, and the commission schedules that networks and merchants publish themselves. Every figure below appears in the downloadable CSV with its source URL and retrieval date.
Mia Scarlett’s read: A market-size number tells you nothing about whether your commission line will grow next quarter. A segment disclosure does. When two publishers report the same revenue type moving in opposite directions against the same traffic shock, that divergence is the story, and it is sitting in the filings for anyone willing to read past the headline revenue figure.
How Much Revenue Do Publishers Earn From Affiliate Marketing in 2026?
Among the listed publishers Axis Intelligence Research reviewed, two disclose both an affiliate revenue line and site traffic in 2026: People Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith, owned by People Incorporated, NASDAQ: PPLI) and Future plc (LSE: FUTR). A third, Ziff Davis, reports a Technology & Shopping segment that includes commerce content but does not break out affiliate revenue.
Publisher Affiliate Revenue Statistics, 2026
| Publisher | Affiliate line (as reported) | Current period | Prior period | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People Inc. | Performance marketing revenue | $68.8M (Q2 2026) | $61.1M (Q2 2025) | +13% | SEC Form 8-K, Aug 3, 2026 |
| People Inc. | Affiliate commerce (subset) | Not disclosed in dollars | Not disclosed | +11% | SEC Form 8-K, Aug 3, 2026 |
| Future plc | eCommerce affiliates | £32.3M (HY 2026) | £44.5M (HY 2025) | -27% reported, -24% organic | Future plc 2026 Half Year Results |
| Future plc | Vouchers (within affiliates) | Not disclosed in pounds | Not disclosed | -6% organic | Future plc 2026 Half Year Results |
| Ziff Davis | Technology & Shopping segment (not an affiliate line) | $76.7M (Q2 2026) | $80.8M (Q2 2025) | -5.0% | SEC Form 8-K, Aug 6, 2026 |
People Inc. defines performance marketing revenue as commissions from affiliate commerce, performance marketing services and affinity marketing. The company attributes its 11% affiliate commerce growth primarily to higher transaction volumes, per the Q2 2026 filing. Performance marketing now accounts for 23.7% of People Inc.’s digital revenue, up from 22.3% a year earlier, according to Axis Intelligence Research’s calculation from the same filing ($68.8M of $289.9M, against $61.1M of $274.0M).
Future plc tells the opposite story. Its 2026 half-year results attribute the 24% organic decline in eCommerce affiliates to lower website audiences caused by disruption in the search ecosystem. Vouchers held up far better, falling only 6% organically.
Mia Scarlett’s read: Future’s voucher line is the tell. Coupon traffic arrives with purchase intent already formed; the shopper has chosen the retailer and wants a code. Product-review traffic arrives earlier in the decision, which is precisely the stage AI answers now absorb. The voucher line losing 6% while the wider affiliate line loses 24% is a clean natural experiment in which kind of commerce content search disruption hits first.
What Is the Affiliate Traffic Decoupling Spread (ATDS)?
The Affiliate Traffic Decoupling Spread (ATDS) is a metric created by Axis Intelligence Research to measure whether a publisher’s affiliate revenue is moving independently of its website traffic.
Definition: ATDS = (affiliate revenue year-over-year change, %) minus (site sessions year-over-year change, %), expressed in percentage points.
A positive ATDS means affiliate revenue is outperforming traffic: the publisher earns more per visit, or earns commissions outside the website session entirely. A negative ATDS means affiliate revenue is falling faster than traffic, which usually signals that the highest-converting visits, often search visits with purchase intent, are the ones disappearing.
Why it matters: Traffic decline alone does not tell an affiliate manager, investor or publisher whether the commission business is broken. ATDS isolates that question with two inputs any listed publisher already reports.
ATDS Readings, as of September 29, 2026
| Publisher | Period | Affiliate revenue change | Sessions change | ATDS | Inputs source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People Inc. | Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025 | +12.6% | -22.6% (total sessions) | +35.2 pts | SEC Form 8-K, Aug 3, 2026 |
| Future plc | HY 2026 vs HY 2025 | -27.4% (reported) | -15.2% (website sessions) | -12.2 pts | Future plc 2026 Half Year Results |
| Future plc (organic sensitivity) | HY 2026 vs HY 2025 | -24% (organic) | -15.2% | -8.8 pts | Future plc 2026 Half Year Results |
| Ziff Davis | Q2 2026 | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | Not computed | SEC Form 8-K, Aug 6, 2026 |
Axis Intelligence Research calculated each reading from the filed figures: People Inc.’s performance marketing revenue rose from $61.1 million to $68.8 million while total sessions fell from 2,444 million to 1,891 million. Future plc’s eCommerce affiliate revenue fell from £44.5 million to £32.3 million while website sessions fell from 328 million to 278 million.
Ziff Davis is shown but not scored. Its Technology & Shopping segment mixes advertising, commerce and other revenue, and the Q2 2026 release discloses no session count, so any ATDS reading would be invented. The declined calculation is published in the CSV as a retracted row.
Mia Scarlett’s read: A 47.4-point gap between two publishers facing the same Google is not a market trend. It is a management outcome. People Inc. told investors that roughly a quarter of its performance marketing revenue is earned outside the website session (Q1 2026 earnings presentation, SEC filing). Future, by its own classification, has 15% of group revenue in “non-diversified” brands whose audiences are mostly linked to Google, and that group shrank 18% in the half. The spread measures distribution strategy, not content quality.
How Much Do Affiliates Earn Per Visitor in 2026?
The second Axis Intelligence Research component metric is commission yield per 1,000 sessions: affiliate revenue divided by site sessions, multiplied by 1,000. It is the affiliate equivalent of an ad RPM, and it answers the question publishers ask most often in 2026: is each remaining visitor worth more or less than last year?
Commission Yield per 1,000 Sessions
| Publisher | Current yield | Prior-year yield | Change | Calculation basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People Inc. (USD) | $36.38 | $25.00 | +45.5% | Performance marketing revenue / total sessions |
| Future plc (GBP) | £116.19 | £135.67 | -14.4% | eCommerce affiliate revenue / website sessions |
Source: Axis Intelligence Research calculation from People Inc. SEC Form 8-K (Aug 3, 2026) and Future plc 2026 Half Year Results. Currencies differ; compare the direction and percentage change, not the absolute yields.
Two scope notes keep these numbers honest. People Inc.’s performance marketing line includes revenue earned outside site sessions, so its yield overstates what a single web visit produces. Future’s figure includes the voucher business, which has a different conversion profile from product reviews.
Even with those adjustments, the direction is unambiguous. At People Inc., the visitors who remain are converting into more commission revenue per session. At Future, the visitors who left were disproportionately the ones who bought.
Mia Scarlett’s read: Future runs buying-guide brands such as Tom’s Guide, where commerce is the product rather than a side line. That concentration is also exposure: when the search visit that converts goes away, a commerce-heavy portfolio loses its best customers first. Yield levels describe the business model; yield direction describes the risk.
Is Affiliate Revenue Keeping Pace With E-Commerce Growth?
U.S. retail e-commerce is still expanding faster than total retail, which sets the benchmark any affiliate program has to beat.
U.S. Retail E-Commerce, Q2 2026
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Retail e-commerce sales, seasonally adjusted | $340.2 billion | U.S. Census Bureau, CB26-133 |
| Same quarter a year earlier | $303.3 billion | U.S. Census Bureau |
| Year-over-year growth | 12.2% (±0.9 points) | U.S. Census Bureau |
| E-commerce share of total retail | 17.1% | U.S. Census Bureau |
According to the Census Bureau’s Q2 2026 release, e-commerce grew 12.2% year over year. Axis Intelligence Research compares that growth rate with each publisher’s affiliate performance to estimate whether commerce publishers are gaining or losing share of the online sales they influence.
Affiliate Growth vs. U.S. E-Commerce Growth
| Publisher | Affiliate growth | U.S. e-commerce growth | Gap | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People Inc. (affiliate commerce) | +11% | +12.2% | -1.2 pts | Same quarter, same country |
| Future plc (eCommerce affiliates, organic) | -24% | +12.2% | -36.2 pts | Different period and partly UK; directional only |
People Inc.’s affiliate commerce is roughly tracking the market. Future’s affiliate line is losing ground against a growing market by a wide margin. The Census series covers U.S. retail only and excludes online travel and financial services, both of which are large affiliate verticals, so the comparison works best for retail commerce content.
Mia Scarlett’s read: A publisher’s affiliate line falling 24% while online retail grows double digits is not a demand problem. Consumers are still buying online in growing volume. What changed is which surface stands between intent and checkout, and how much of that surface a given publisher still controls.
What Commission Rates Does Amazon Associates Pay in 2026?
Amazon’s Associates program remains the reference rate card for product-review publishers, because its category rates set the floor that other merchants and networks are compared against. The current U.S. fixed rates, per Amazon’s Associates Program Standard Commission Income Statement, are:
| Product category (U.S.) | Fixed commission rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Luxury Beauty, Luxury Stores Beauty, Amazon Explore | 10.0% | Amazon Associates |
| Physical Books, Kitchen, Automotive | 4.5% | Amazon Associates |
| All Other Categories | 4.0% | Amazon Associates |
| Toys, Furniture, Home, Home Improvement, Pets, Beauty, Sports, Baby and others | 3.0% | Amazon Associates |
| Televisions, Digital Video Games | 2.0% | Amazon Associates |
| Amazon Fresh, Physical Video Games and Consoles, Grocery, Health & Personal Care | 1.0% | Amazon Associates |
| Gift Cards, Wireless Service Plans, Alcoholic Beverages and others | 0.0% | Amazon Associates |
Rates retrieved September 29, 2026. Amazon changes the schedule periodically; confirm against the live page before modeling revenue.
The spread between the top paying category and Grocery is 10x, according to Axis Intelligence Research’s comparison of the two rates. That spread matters more than any average commission rate, because it decides which content a commerce publisher can afford to produce. A television review that drives a $1,000 sale earns the same 2.0% as any other TV sale; a luxury beauty guide earns five times that rate on every dollar.
Mia Scarlett’s read: Category rates are a pricing decision by the merchant, and they express where the merchant values referred traffic, not where the publisher’s costs sit. Publishers that built large electronics and gaming review operations on 2% and 1% rates carry a structurally thinner margin than the rate card headline suggests, which is part of why so many of them diversified into vouchers, finance comparison and direct-sold commerce partnerships.
How Are Google and AI Search Changing Affiliate Marketing?
The filings above name the cause directly. People Inc.’s Q2 2026 release attributes its 22% decline in core sessions primarily to the growing prominence of Google AI Overviews in search results. Future plc’s half-year report attributes lower website audiences to disruption in the search ecosystem and says programmatic advertising and eCommerce affiliates together make up 16% of group revenue, the portion it describes as directly affected.
A second pressure predates AI Overviews: Google’s spam policy. On November 19, 2024, Google clarified its site reputation abuse policy to state that third-party content published to exploit a host site’s ranking signals violates the policy regardless of first-party involvement or oversight. For affiliate marketing, that narrowed the route by which coupon and product-review sections operated by outside partners ranked under established publisher domains.
Search Exposure Indicators From 2026 Filings
| Indicator | Value | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| People Inc. core sessions change | -22% | Q2 2026 | SEC Form 8-K |
| People Inc. share of performance marketing that is session-based | About 75% | Q1 2026 | SEC Form 8-K (Q1 presentation) |
| Future plc website sessions change | -15% | HY 2026 | Future plc Half Year Results |
| Future plc revenue share in programmatic plus eCommerce affiliates | 16% | HY 2026 | Future plc Half Year Results |
| Future plc revenue share in Google-dependent “non-diversified” brands | 15% | HY 2026 | Future plc Half Year Results |
| Future plc non-diversified brands revenue change | -18% | HY 2026 | Future plc Half Year Results |
Axis Intelligence Research also calculates that eCommerce affiliates fell from 11.8% of Future plc’s group revenue in the first half of fiscal 2025 to 9.3% in the first half of fiscal 2026 (£44.5M of £378.4M, against £32.3M of £349.1M).
Mia Scarlett’s read: The companies are unusually candid here, and that candor is itself data. When management teams put AI Overviews and search disruption into the explanation of a revenue line in a regulated filing, they are describing a condition they expect to persist, not a bad quarter. Watch the guidance language, not the adjectives: Future is guiding to a mid to low single-digit organic revenue decline for fiscal 2026, while People Inc. expects digital revenue to grow mid-to-high single digits.
What Are the FTC Rules for Affiliate Link Disclosure in 2026?
In the United States, affiliate disclosure is governed by the Federal Trade Commission’s Endorsement Guides. The FTC’s own Endorsement Guides FAQ explains the legal structure: the Guides themselves do not have the force of law, but the FTC brings endorsement cases under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits deceptive advertising, and practices inconsistent with the Guides can result in enforcement.
For affiliates and the brands that pay them, three practical points follow from the FTC’s guidance:
The disclosure has to reach the reader before the click, close to the recommendation, not buried in a footer policy. A reader who does not know the reviewer earns a commission cannot weigh the review properly, which is the FTC’s stated rationale.
Liability runs to advertisers as well as publishers. Brands running affiliate programs are expected to monitor what their affiliates say.
The obligation applies across formats: blog posts, social posts, video, newsletters and AI-assisted comparison pages.
Where Does Affiliate Marketing Fit in the Creator Economy?
Creator-led commerce is the part of affiliate marketing that grows outside the search results page. TikTok Shop affiliate commissions, Instagram shopping links and YouTube product tags all pay on the same logic as a publisher’s buying guide, but the traffic arrives from a feed instead of a query. Our breakdown of creator economy earnings by platform tracks how those commission programs compare with ad-revenue payouts, and our social media statistics and Instagram statistics cover the audience side.
The publisher filings show the same pattern at corporate scale. Future plc acquired SheerLuxe in January 2026 for an initial consideration of £39.9 million, describing it as a digital publisher that combines media-brand authority with creator-economy engagement. People Inc. grew non-session-based digital revenue 16% in Q2 2026. Both moves point the same way: commission revenue is migrating toward audiences a publisher reaches directly.
Mia Scarlett’s read: The strategic question for any affiliate business in 2026 is simple to state. What share of your commission revenue would survive if organic search sent you nothing next quarter? The ATDS readings above are the closest public proxy anyone has for that answer.
Methodology
Scope. This dataset covers publicly filed affiliate revenue, site traffic and segment disclosures from listed publishers; official U.S. e-commerce statistics; published merchant commission schedules; and primary policy documents from Google and the FTC. It does not include private networks, private publishers or vendor-published market-size forecasts.
Collection. Every figure was retrieved on September 29, 2026 from the primary document listed in the CSV: SEC EDGAR filings (People Incorporated, Ziff Davis), a London Stock Exchange regulatory announcement (Future plc), the U.S. Census Bureau Quarterly Retail E-Commerce report, Amazon’s Associates commission statement, Google Search Central and the FTC.
Axis Intelligence Research formulas.
- ATDS (Affiliate Traffic Decoupling Spread) = affiliate revenue YoY % minus site sessions YoY %, in percentage points. Revenue and sessions are taken from the same filing and period.
- Commission yield per 1,000 sessions = affiliate revenue / sessions x 1,000, in the reporting currency.
- Affiliate share of revenue = affiliate revenue / total (or digital) revenue.
- Affiliate growth vs. e-commerce gap = affiliate revenue YoY % minus U.S. retail e-commerce YoY %.
Choices and scope notes. People Inc. is measured with performance marketing revenue (its disclosed affiliate-bearing line) against total sessions; a core-sessions variant produces an ATDS of +35.1 points, a negligible difference. Future plc is measured on the reported basis because sessions are reported, with the organic basis shown as a sensitivity row. Periods differ between companies (calendar Q2 for People Inc., fiscal first half for Future plc), so readings are compared as spreads, never as combined totals. Ziff Davis was excluded from scoring because it discloses neither an affiliate revenue line nor sessions; the decision is logged as a retracted CSV row. Currency values are never converted or merged.
About This Dataset
The dataset behind this page, affiliate-marketing-statistics-2026.csv, contains 83 rows covering publisher affiliate revenue, site sessions, segment revenue, U.S. e-commerce, Amazon Associates commission rates, policy dates, and all Axis Intelligence Research calculations (ATDS, commission yield, revenue share and e-commerce gap). Each row carries its source organization, document, URL, retrieval date, primary-source flag and, for calculated rows, the formula used.
License: CC BY 4.0. Reuse, republish and chart it freely with attribution to Axis Intelligence Research and a link to this page.
How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research. (2026). Affiliate marketing statistics 2026: What publisher filings reveal about commissions, traffic and AI search. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/affiliate-marketing-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research. “Affiliate Marketing Statistics 2026: What Publisher Filings Reveal About Commissions, Traffic and AI Search.” Axis Intelligence, 30 Sept. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/affiliate-marketing-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research. “Affiliate Marketing Statistics 2026: What Publisher Filings Reveal About Commissions, Traffic and AI Search.” Axis Intelligence, September 30, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/affiliate-marketing-statistics/.
Frequently Asked Questions About Affiliate Marketing in 2026
Is affiliate marketing still profitable for publishers in 2026?
It depends on traffic mix. People Inc. grew performance marketing revenue 13% in Q2 2026 despite a 22% drop in core sessions, while Future plc’s eCommerce affiliate revenue fell 24% organically. Axis Intelligence Research’s ATDS metric shows the difference: publishers earning commissions outside search clicks are growing.
Has AI search reduced affiliate commissions?
For search-dependent publishers, yes. Future plc attributes its 24% organic affiliate decline to lower website audiences from search disruption, and People Inc. attributes its 22% core-session decline mainly to Google AI Overviews. Coupon traffic has been more resilient: Future’s voucher revenue fell only 6%.
What is a good affiliate revenue per 1,000 sessions?
There is no universal benchmark, because yield depends on category and currency. Axis Intelligence Research calculates $36.38 per 1,000 sessions for People Inc. in Q2 2026 and £116.19 for commerce-focused Future plc in its fiscal first half. Track your own yield’s direction year over year.
Why is Amazon’s commission rate on electronics so low?
Amazon’s U.S. schedule pays 2.0% on televisions, 1.0% on physical video games and consoles, and 1.0% on grocery, against 10.0% on Luxury Beauty. Rates reflect where Amazon values referred traffic, which is why high-volume electronics review sites run on thin commission margins.
How fast is U.S. e-commerce growing compared with affiliate revenue?
U.S. retail e-commerce grew 12.2% year over year in Q2 2026 to $340.2 billion, per the Census Bureau. People Inc.’s affiliate commerce grew 11%, roughly in line; Future plc’s affiliate revenue fell 24% organically over its half-year, a gap of 36.2 points by Axis Intelligence Research’s calculation.
Do affiliate links need a disclosure under FTC rules?
Yes, when the audience would not expect the financial connection. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides are guidance rather than law, but the FTC enforces deceptive endorsements under Section 5 of the FTC Act, and brands are expected to monitor the affiliates they pay.
Can publishers still host partner coupon sections on their domains?
Only with real editorial ownership. Google’s November 19, 2024 clarification of its site reputation abuse policy says third-party content placed to exploit a host site’s ranking signals violates policy regardless of first-party oversight. Outsourced coupon sections were the most exposed format.
Why doesn’t this page give a global affiliate marketing market size?
Because no primary, audited figure exists. Statistical agencies do not measure affiliate commissions, and circulating global totals trace back to vendor forecasts. Axis Intelligence Research publishes filed revenue, official e-commerce data and disclosed formulas instead, so every number can be checked.