Affiliate marketing is a simple, cost-effective method to scale marketing efforts. It requires businesses to partner with influencers or other brands to promote their products and services. The marketers post the company’s products on their websites, blogs, or social media channels, adding a link to the company’s website. When one of the marketer’s followers clicks on this affiliate link and purchases the brand’s product or service, the marketer gets a commission.

An increasing number of US businesses are turning to affiliate marketing campaigns as they offer a high return on investment (ROI) and are relatively low risk. Instead of having to pay for a marketing campaign upfront, as with traditional marketing, they only pay for successful conversions. It also exposes the company to new, niche audiences.

Many online industries across the US have employed this marketing strategy. One industry where it is commonly seen is the health and wellness sector, where social media personalities promote supplements, detox drinks, workout plans, and cookbooks, creating authentic content for their audiences. Online casinos in the states where this practice is legalized also use a gambling affiliate network to access new audiences and make their platforms more appealing than those of their competitors.

Global affiliate marketing spending reached an estimated $15.7 billion at the end of 2024. US advertisers made up the bulk of that, spending around 60% of the global spend (around $10 billion). States that are most popular for affiliate marketers to reside in include Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nevada, as these rank high for affiliate marketing jobs and salaries. In Hawaii, the industries that most commonly use affiliates are travel and tourism, and food and drink.

It is anticipated that this industry is going to continue to grow by just under 19% each year, reaching a total of $40 billion by the end of 2032.

The reason many US businesses are willing to spend this much on affiliate marketing is because of the benefits that it offers.

Affiliate marketing programs allow brands to track online sales in real time. Other metrics can also be analyzed, like click-through rate, visitors to the site, and impressions. Businesses can se up their affiliate marketing to track certain key performance indicators to see how their campaign is performing.

It also provides social proof. Customers are always looking for feedback from other users to ensure they’re making the right choice. A relationship with an affiliate marketer makes the brand seem more trustworthy and credible, and customers are more likely to spend their money on a brand they associate with good reviews.

Affiliate marketing is great for scalability. The markets act as a kind of sales team, promoting products, services, or content to their audiences whom the brand may not have been able to target organically. By partnering with several different affiliates, a company can get its products seen by more eyes, resulting in business growth.