Ad Revenue Is Dwindling—Here’s the Way Out

Ads just aren't cutting it anymore. 

The digital advertising landscape has become a minefield for publishers. 

54% of publishers are concerned about declining ad revenue, which is the top earner for 67% of those surveyed, according to the Media Makers Meet (Mx3) specialist media report released in May. They surveyed 24 CEOs, exploring their revenue mix, investment priorities, and the challenges they face to get insights into the industry as it evolves.

Ad revenue is becoming increasingly unreliable. Ad blockers, lower SERP click-through rates, and changes in digital ad strategies impact ad revenues. Google’s constant updates also introduce even more volatility to organic search traffic.

Diversifying your revenue isn’t an option; it’s a must. 

And the best diversification strategy is affiliate marketing. 

Why affiliate marketing? 

Affiliate marketing not only creates better user experiences, is less susceptible to ad blockers, and is less reliant on varying eCPMS, but it’s also a massive market with plenty of room for growth. 

According to Influencer Hub, the affiliate marketing industry hit $15.7 Billion this year. 

Despite this large addressable market, only 54% of publishers have affiliate marketing in their revenue mix, and it’s only a top earner for 8%. 

Of the half of publishers who use affiliate marketing, only a fraction are seeing significant returns from this strategy. 

So why is it underperforming? 

Well, traditional affiliate links are static.

Ads consider users' past behaviors, interests, and personas to serve them the most relevant content. Every user who visits your site will see a different ad, but every user will get the exact same affiliate link. 

With the emergence of AI, this is changing. 

The real power of affiliate marketing for publishers is its ability to be optimized and personalized. This is where AI comes in, making affiliate strategies highly profitable.

Here are two different ways businesses introduced AI-affiliate links and the results they produced: 

Here’s a Stay22 partner who used static affiliate links on their pages. When they introduced dynamic affiliate links, their bookings tripled. The AI is customizing affiliate links for each reader, improving relevance and, therefore, increasing the conversion rate. 

Traditional affiliate link: User clicks A, goes to B

LMA affiliate link: User clicks A, AI analyzes the best possible redirect, and goes to B, C, or D, depending.

Here’s another use case: 

AI identifies users with high travel intent but who aren’t taking any action via the links. It will then provide them with a personalized booking recommendation. 

When Generation Voyage, a French travel media publisher, implemented this strategy, their affiliate conversion rate increased by 20x.

The volatility of digital ad industries is pushing publishers to adapt, and affiliate marketing is a strong alternative.

It’s time to embrace a new era where personalized, dynamic links are the key to unlocking real profit.