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Channel
Affiliate & partnerships benchmarks
Performance-based marketing — pay only for outcomes. Coupon, content, cashback, loyalty, and creator-affiliate sub-channels each have different incrementality profiles.
Share of digital ad spend: ~2% of US digital ad spend (2026, affiliate)
Channel snapshot
Avg commission rate 5–18% of sale. Coupon affiliates often non-incremental (60%+). Content affiliates often highly incremental (80%+).
How to operate this channel
Operator playbook
- Coupon/cashback affiliates often cannibalize — measure incrementality before scaling.
- Content affiliates (editorial sites) are most incremental.
- Use last-touch attribution sparingly — many affiliates win the last click without contributing.
- Cap commission rates by sub-channel based on incrementality data.
- Direct-publisher relationships beat affiliate networks for premium content.
Platforms in this channel
How to read these benchmarks
Read Affiliate & partnerships against your own account, not as a target to copy. a result inside the range usually means the constraint is elsewhere - offer, landing experience, or measurement - while a result well outside it points straight at targeting, creative, or bid strategy. Compare like with like - same funnel stage, same objective, same season - because a top-of-funnel number judged against a bottom-of-funnel benchmark will always mislead.
How to use this page. Find the funnel stage you are buying, read the range, and calculate the gap to your live numbers. Model the revenue impact of closing that gap with the break-even ROAS and CAC payback calculators, then pressure-test the plan against the full 2026 benchmarks compendium.
Sourcing. Ranges are RGM's 2026 synthesis of platform-reported figures and aggregated account data, expressed as medians and typical spreads rather than single points. They move with season, auction pressure, and creative quality, so re-check them each quarter.