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Voice of the Nation 2026: Publisher Survey
Welcome to the Affiliate & Partner Marketing Association's 2026 publisher survey.
Your anonymised feedback is used to shape our annual 'Voice of the Affiliate Nation' report, the industry's only qualitative survey that explores the state of the affiliate industry in the UK. We also consider it when deciding our future project roadmap.
There are 23 questions, and you can skip any you don't want to answer. You can also fill in the survey anonymously, but we'll send you a full digest of the results if you provide your contact details.
We will not share the data with any third parties, and no comments or answers will be attributed to you or your business.
Finally, every completed survey will be entered into a prize draw where we have your contact details.
Last year's report is available here
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A. About your business
Name
Company Name
Q1. What best describes the size of your business (by total number of employees)?
A
1-10 employees
B
11-50 employees
C
51-200 employees
D
201+ employees
Q2. During the past 12 months, has the number of people working in your UK affiliate and partner marketing business…?
A
Increased significantly
B
Increased slightly
C
Stayed approximately the same
D
Decreased slightly
E
Decreased significantly
Q3. If you had to classify your affiliate business by a primary method of promotion, which one would you choose (Please select only the primary method)?
A
Content, editorial or reviews
B
Cashback or loyalty
C
Voucher, discount or promotional codes
D
Comparison or CSS
E
Influencer or creator activity
F
Technology partner or SaaS
G
Email or newsletter
H
Paid search
I
Display or retargeting
J
Brand-to-brand partnerships
K
Card-linked offers
L
Employee benefits or closed-user groups
M
Lead generation
N
Subnetwork
O
Other
Q4. Which of the following methods and activities, if any, does your affiliate business use to promote advertisers (Select ALL that apply)?
SEO
Emails/Newsletters
PPC
TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
WhatsApp
Other social media
CSS
Vouchers/Coupons
Price Comparison
Card-linked Offers
Editorial
Technology (e.g. onsite ab...)
AI
Toolbars
Display
Mobile App
Lead Generation
Blogs
YouTube
Promotions/Community
remarketing
Dedicated referral platform
reviews
Bing advertisement
Associated institutions like...
Q5. Does classifying publishers by one primary promotional method accurately reflect how your business operates?
A
Yes, accurately
B
Partially, but it oversimplifies our activity
C
No, our activity spans several models
D
No, the current classifications are outdated
E
Not sure
B. Business performance and confidence
Q6. In an average month, approximately how much does your business earn from UK affiliate and partner marketing? Include commissions, fees and any other payments.
A
Less than £1,000
B
£1,000–£4,999
C
£5,000–£9,999
D
£10,000–£24,999
E
£25,000–£49,999
F
£50,000–£99,999
G
£100,000–£249,999
H
£250,000 or more
I
Prefer not to say
Q7. During the past 12 months, how has your average monthly UK affiliate revenue changed?
A
Increased significantly
B
Increased slightly
C
Stayed approximately the same
D
Decreased slightly
E
Decreased significantly
F
Don’t know
Q8. To what extent do you agree with this statement: “There is a great deal of opportunity to grow our affiliate and partnership business during the next 12 months.”
A
Strongly agree
B
Tend to agree
C
Neither agree nor disagree
D
Tend to disagree
E
Strongly disagree
F
Don’t know
Q9. What are the greatest challenges currently facing your business? (Select a maximum of THREE)
Advertiser budget pressure
Commission reductions
Difficulty securing fixed-fee or upper-funnel investment
Late or unpredictable payments
Tracking loss or inaccurate attribution
Difficulty demonstrating incremental value
AI reducing search traffic or click-throughs
Changes to search-engine algorithms
Increased competition
Regulatory or compliance requirements
Limited access to advertiser data
Recruiting or retaining skilled people
Rising operating costs
Other
C. Commercial models and sustainability
Q10. Approximately what percentage of your UK affiliate revenue comes from payments that are not last-click CPA commission? Examples include tenancy fees, CPC, CPV, assist-based commission, hybrid arrangements and fixed fees.
A
None
B
1–10%
C
11–25%
D
26–50%
E
51–75%
F
More than 75%
G
Don’t know
Q11. Which payment models has your organisation received payment through during the past 12 months? (Select ALL that apply)
Last-click CPA
Adjusted or dynamic CPA
CPC
CPM, CPV or other exposure-based payment
Tenancy or placement fee
Fixed content or campaign fee
Assist or participation-based commission
Commission based on incrementality
Payment based on AI citations, recommendations or attributable AI visibility
Hybrid arrangement
Revenue share
Other
Q12. Why does your organisation seek payment models other than last-click CPA? (Select a maximum of THREE)
To recognise influence earlier in the customer journey
To cover the cost of producing content
To cover campaign or technology costs
Because last-click attribution undervalues our contribution
To provide greater certainty of income
To support testing or innovation
To reflect the value of audience access or exposure
To align payment with advertiser objectives
Other
Q13. To what extent do you agree that publishers are generally paid fairly for the value they create?
A
Strongly agree
B
Tend to agree
C
Neither agree nor disagree
D
Tend to disagree
E
Strongly disagree
F
Don’t know
Q14. How significantly do delayed affiliate payments affect your cash flow or ability to operate?
A
Not at all
B
Slightly
C
Moderately
D
Significantly
E
Very significantly
F
Not applicable
Q15. If affiliate payments were consistently received within 30 days, where would your organisation be most likely to invest the improved cash flow? (Select a maximum of THREE)
Recruitment
Technology or tools
Content production
Marketing and audience growth
Product or service development
New advertiser relationships
Cash reserves or working capital
Paying suppliers more quickly
Other
It would not materially change our investment
D. Proving publisher value
Q16. Which types of evidence have advertisers asked you to provide during the past 12 months? (Select ALL that apply)
New versus existing customer data
Exposure or view-through data
Engagement data
Audience characteristics or customer insights
Product, category or basket-level insights
Assisted conversions
Incrementality or holdout-test results
Customer lifetime value
Evidence of influence before the final click
Brand-lift measures
We have not been asked to provide additional evidence
Other
Q17. Which data or evidence could your organisation realistically share with advertisers to help demonstrate the incremental value of affiliate activity? (Select ALL that apply)
New versus existing customer data
Exposure, engagement or view-through data
Audience characteristics or customer insights
Product, category or basket-level insights
Results from incrementality tests, holdouts or control groups
Evidence of influence beyond the final click
We would like to share more but face privacy limitations
We would like to share more but face technical limitations
We are unlikely to share additional data
Other
E. Tracking and attribution
Q18. Which statement best reflects your confidence in affiliate tracking?
A
It captures our contribution accurately
B
It is broadly reliable but misses some activity
C
It materially undervalues our contribution
D
Tracking quality varies considerably by advertiser or platform
E
We have little confidence in current tracking
F
We do not have enough visibility to judge
Q19. Where do you believe the greatest tracking or attribution losses currently occur? (Select a maximum of THREE)
Cross-device journeys
App-to-web or web-to-app journeys
Cookie consent and browser restrictions
In-app browsers
Voucher-code attribution
Influencer or creator activity
Offline conversions
AI-mediated discovery
Advertiser implementation problems
Network or platform discrepancies
Other
F. AI and changing discovery
Q20. How would you ideally be compensated when your content contributes to a brand being cited, surfaced or recommended by an AI platform? (Select a maximum of THREE)
Fixed fee for producing or licensing content
Payment based on attributable AI-driven traffic
Commission on attributable sales or leads
Payment based on measurable exposure or citations
Hybrid of fixed fees and performance payments
Existing affiliate commission is sufficient
I do not believe this can yet be measured reliably
Other
Q21. Overall, do you see AI as a threat or an opportunity to your affiliate business over the next 12–24 months?
A
A significant opportunity
B
More of an opportunity than a threat
C
An equal opportunity and threat
D
More of a threat than an opportunity
E
A significant threat
F
Unsure
G. The industry’s future
Q22. Which statement best reflects the current perception of affiliate and partner marketing within your organisation?
A
A core and strategically important part of our business
B
An established and valuable revenue stream
C
An important activity, but not central to our strategy
D
A tactical or supplementary revenue stream
E
An activity whose future value is uncertain
F
Other
Q23. What is the one change that would most improve the impact or perception of affiliate and partner marketing?
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