Affiliate marketing faces distinct challenges globally, and 68% of respondents said relationship management was their organization’s foremost hurdle. This channel is also unusual in that it relies on one-on-one relationships rather than the automated bidding commonly seen with many of the big tech platforms. Though this direct partnership model offers increased transparency, it is clear decision-makers find this more manual approach difficult and a major hurdle, especially with multiple partners.

This ties into another key challenge: ensuring that affiliate partners are aligned from a brand consistency perspective. Finally, affiliate partners aren’t immune to the accusations of ad fraud that have recently dogged the wider digital ad space. An earlier era of black hat tactics has tarnished its reputation and, despite its professionalization over the last decade, there is clearly still work to be done.

Affiliate marketing’s pronounced digital strengths are diverse and multifaceted, and they encompass innovation, incremental value, high ROIs, and a wide tactical choice. These aspects, including the ease of management and reliability, are highly valued, with innovation particularly emphasized by respondents in the EU (31%). Despite the challenge of relationship management, many responding US marketers (31%) said they view the personal connections in affiliate marketing as its unique strength, underlining its simplicity and direct impact. This variety of strengths — from transparent operations to the ability to control marketing outcomes and partner variety — illustrates the channel’s adaptability and wide appeal. The varied responses from senior marketers reflect affiliate marketing’s spectrum of benefits, offering a blend of interpersonal engagement, performance-driven results, and strategic flexibility.