Avsnitt
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Can the fragility of relationships become a strategic advantage in affiliate relationship management?
In this episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, Lee-Ann sits down with Tali Chester, Senior Director, Account Management at Semantic Labs, to explore how performance-driven affiliate marketing intersects with human relationships, sensitivity, and trust. Tali shares her journey from fundraising at Greenpeace to leading high-impact digital marketing campaigns, showing how empathy, accountability, and clear communication support stronger affiliate partnerships.
The conversation looks at the balance between analytical precision and authentic relationship-building. Tali explains why, even in a more automated and AI-driven marketing environment, the human side of affiliate program management remains critical for long-term success. From managing performance-only campaigns across hundreds of clients to building trusted affiliate relationships, this episode explores the balance between metrics, strategy, and personal connection.
Affiliate Relationship Management Talking Points:
Tali’s unconventional path into affiliate marketing and how human connection guided her journey.How Semantic Labs approaches performance-only campaigns across multiple verticals without cannibalising clients’ paid search efforts.The role of sensitivity and fragility in maintaining long-term, trusting relationships with affiliates and partners.Key strategies for balancing AI-driven tools and human judgment in decision-making.Lessons from running large-scale campaigns and handling high-stakes client relationships with accountability and transparency.Performance Marketing Accountability at Scale
Semantic Labs operates with a performance-first model, managing hundreds of clients while focusing on paid search to drive leads and revenue. Tali emphasises that accountability is built into the culture: her team reviews client campaigns monthly, monitors spend versus performance, and actively optimises traffic and keywords to ensure results. This rigor allows clients to scale without upfront risk while maintaining low operational costs. The conversation highlights how performance-focused strategies require detailed attention, strategic planning, and a commitment to metrics, proving that strong results come from persistent, hands-on management.
Trust and Human Relationships in Affiliate Partnerships
Tali shares a powerful perspective on the fragility inherent in affiliate relationships: sensitivity and empathy are not weaknesses but forms of intelligence that build trust. Even in an AI-driven landscape, success depends on authentic human connections, vulnerability, and humility. By nurturing these relationships, her team strengthens engagement, fosters collaboration, and ensures that performance campaigns succeed while sustaining long-term partnerships. This approach illustrates that in affiliate marketing, the human element remains a decisive factor, complementing technology and analytics.
What This Affiliate Marketing Podcast Episode Covers:
How performance-only campaigns are executed without cannibalizing client efforts.Balancing AI tools and human judgment in affiliate management.Why fragility and sensitivity are critical for building trust and maintaining relationships.Lessons from managing high-volume campaigns and fostering accountability across teams.Practical advice for new and experienced affiliate managers on combining strategy with humanity.Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[10:00] Performance-only campaigns and operational transparency
[14:48] Sensitivity and fragility as intelligence in partnerships
[20:40] Paid search evolution, AI, and the changing affiliate landscape
[28:28] Rapid-fire insights: relationships, accountability, and humilityGet More Affiliate Marketing Podcast Insights
Discover how to combine performance metrics with authentic human relationships in your affiliate programs. Tali Chester shared practical strategies for running performance-only campaigns, maintaining accountability, and nurturing sensitive, trust-based partnerships that drive results. If you are interested in finding out how Semantic Labs can help your business, check them out HERE.
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Today we go behind the scenes of one of the most high-stakes periods in sports betting marketing: the World Cup. Joining Lee-Ann is Vitaliia Pohrebniak, Team Lead of Influencer Marketing at PIN-UP Partners, who shares her insights on how brands can effectively convert attention into real performance during major sporting events. Vitaliia walks us through the meticulous preparation that goes into planning campaigns months in advance; from pre-testing creatives and defining KPIs to briefing and training influencers across multiple geographies.
Why can’t the World Cup be treated like a regular marketing season? User behaviours shift dramatically, traffic heats up, and attention alone does not guarantee conversions. Vitaliia explains how content creators act as both strategic partners and cultural guides, helping brands connect with local audiences and respond quickly to real-time events, trends, and fan emotions.
Get ready for an episode that offers a lesson into how preparation, localised strategies, and influencer collaboration can ensure campaigns not only reach audiences but deliver measurable results during the most competitive periods of the sports calendar.
Why the World Cup should be treated as a separate marketing season.How influencer and content creator campaigns are structured to maximise performance.Strategic preparation, testing, and localisation for high-intensity marketing periods.Lessons on converting attention into real user actions and FTDs.Common pitfalls brands encounter and how to avoid them during major events.
Talking Points Include
Why the World Cup creates a unique, high-intensity marketing environment.How pre-testing and localised content improve influencer performance.The difference between generating attention and delivering actual performance.Key strategies for contingency planning and managing influencer campaigns in real time.Common mistakes brands make during high-visibility events and how to avoid them.
Listen to Find Out More AboutKey Segments and Where to Tune In
[04:54] Why the World Cup is treated as a separate marketing season
[06:40] Pre-tournament preparation: testing, templates, and KPIs
[14:35] Influencer content strategies for engagement and conversion
[20:38] Common mistakes brands make and how to ensure performance over attention
Never Miss a Conversation Like This OneIf you’re managing campaigns around major sporting events, this episode is a must-listen. Vitaliia Pohrebniak reveals actionable strategies for converting attention into performance and maximising the impact of influencer campaigns.
New episodes of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast drop every week, with guests who are in the trenches of affiliate and performance marketing. Subscribe wherever you listen so the next one lands without you having to go looking for it.
Subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast to stay ahead of the latest event-driven marketing trends.
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Click here to rate and review, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review."
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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Why Most Affiliate Networks Are Built for the Brand, Not the Partner
Dorin Boerescu has been in this industry since 2009. He started as an affiliate, bought a network that was turning over next to nothing, and has since facilitated more than 828 million euros in GMV. But the number that matters most to him is not the revenue figure. It is the question nobody asked when they built every traditional network before his: who actually has the right to decide how the marketing budget gets spent?
What followed that question is Business League, a full-transparency affiliate ecosystem built around one metric, the number of sales. No branded traffic allowed. No hidden rankings. No six-month approval chains. Just a live leaderboard, gamified performance tiers, and a platform that treats affiliates like the traders they actually are.
Lee-Ann sat down with Dorin to find out how a concept born in Romania is now live in Ireland, why complete transparency makes programs stronger rather than more vulnerable, and what happens when you build an affiliate network from the affiliate's point of view rather than the advertiser's.
Why affiliates are traders, not content creators and why the best performers in Business League have never read a Kotler textbookThe leaderboard that embarrassed a client who thought he was number one and why seeing the real ranking changed how he ran his program from that day forwardFull transparency as a fraud deterrent and why making all data visible to everyone keeps bad actors out and drives up quality across the entire ecosystemHow gamification goes beyond commission from speed contests to conversion rate competitions, and why affiliates compete even when the prize money is only 25 eurosThe case against budget caps in performance marketing and why capping spend in a cost-per-sale model is one of the most counterproductive things a brand can do
Talking Points IncludeListen to Find Out More About
How Dorin went from selling his agency shares in 2009 to building a network that outperforms traditional media channels on ROASWhy Business League launched in Ireland first, what he found when he got there, and which market is nextHow a branded traffic ban is enforced technically and what happens to affiliates who try to get around itThe five performance tiers from freelancer to unicorn and what it actually takes to move between themWhy Dorin would have dinner with Jeff Bezos and what Amazon's affiliate program did for this entire industryWhat an ROAS of 11.9 from non-branded traffic looks like in practice across 900 e-shops and 5,700 affiliatesKey Segments and Where to Tune In
[10:25] The Business League model explained: Premier League for marketing, 28-day rounds, five tiers, and why the only metric that matters is the number of sales[19:10] Full transparency as a competitive moat: why showing everyone the data keeps fraud out, makes brands better, and builds genuine respect between partners at different levels[24:30] Gamification in depth: the First 100 speed contest, conversion rate competitions, and why Dorin used the same system on his kids to get them to brush their teeth[33:20] Rapid fire round: affiliate marketing in three words, the one thing e-commerce brands get wrong when they launch a program, and who Dorin would have dinner withSend me a text with your questions
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What happens when a 26-year performance marketing veteran looks at the creator and affiliate divide and says the industry is solving the wrong problem entirely?
If your affiliate program and creator program sit in separate budget lines with separate managers measured against completely different success metrics, this episode will feel uncomfortably familiar. Todd Ulisoe, Chief Revenue Officer of Nomix Group, has spent 26 years watching brands unknowingly build the same problem into their marketing structures over and over again. The solution, he argues, is not better technology. It's better people alignment.
Todd's career reads like a history of digital marketing itself: Amazon in its early days, building one of the world's second-largest ad networks, marketing for Dane Cook before influencer was even a word, building and selling three separate businesses. Now at Nomix Group, overseeing a portfolio that processes three billion monthly queries, he's seeing exactly where the creator and affiliate worlds are colliding and how brands can stop treating that collision like a problem.
Talking Points Include:
Why the creator versus affiliate budget battle has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with how people are compensated, and what actually has to shift at C-suite level before any of it changesHow unified measurement frameworks work in practice, and why brands that reconcile creators and affiliates against the same verified transaction outcomes will outperform those that keep them siloedWhat three billion monthly queries tells you about where consumer intent is moving right now, and which channels are capturing purchase signals before Google even gets involvedWhy Todd believes the label affiliate marketing is holding the channel back, and what calling it performance-based media would actually unlock for brands trying to build market shareThe crawl, walk, run approach to integrating creators into your existing affiliate program without breaking the economics that are already workingListen to Find Out More About:
Why Todd refuses to call it affiliate marketing anymore, and what renaming the channel to performance-based media would do for how brands budget and value itThe distinction between transparency and brand safety that changes how you should be questioning your publisher partners entirelyWhat the Target creator program restructure signals about where the rest of retail is heading with its partner mixClicks without context: the metric Todd says performance marketers are most consistently wrong about right now, and what to focus on insteadThe rapid fire round: one channel to back for the next five years, CPA versus revenue share, and the best conference opener after 26 years in the industryKey Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[06:25] Where the affiliate and creator worlds actually break down: different budget owners, different success metrics, and why forcing both into the same operating logic creates friction before a single campaign launches
[18:31] What three billion monthly queries actually tells you about consumer intent in 2025 and which channels are picking up purchase signals before Google is even in the picture
[24:15] CPC to CPA: why Todd says it is just math, how Shopnomix runs 90 to 95 percent CPA, and the four-step framework for proving out the economics before you scale
[29:41] Rapid fire: creators or traditional affiliates for the next five years, the metric everyone gets wrong, and the line Todd uses at conferences after 26 years in the game
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What happens when the biggest threat to your publishing business is also buried inside the data you're not looking at?
Jorge Barbosa of wecantrack, joins Lee-Ann to talk about what is actually happening to publishers right now, why most of them are flying blind without realising it, and what the ones who are thriving are doing differently. The conversation covers HCU updates, AI overviews cannibalising traffic, the overlooked relationship between affiliate managers and publishers, and why EPC broken down by traffic source might be the most important number in your business that you're not tracking.
The visibility gap most publishers don't know they have and why logging into your affiliate network reports is not the same as understanding your businessHow one publisher shifted from 80 percent organic to 80 percent paid traffic over four years and grew overall revenue in the processWhy AI overviews are changing the user journey in ways that affect affiliate managers just as much as publishers and what you should be doing about it depending on who your audience actually isThe case for affiliate managers paying for their top publishers' tracking tools and the commercial intelligence that comes back in return
Talking Points Include:
Why EPC by traffic source and landing page is the one metric Jorge always leads with in demos, and what it reveals that network reports never willHow big publishers use automated link testing and monetisation scripts to protect revenue at scale without adding headcountThe LLM tracking feature wecantrack is building that measures how often an AI model is crawling your content, not just mentioning itWhy affiliate marketing as a side hustle is the myth that drives Jorge mad, and what the industry actually looks like when you pull back the lensWhat the successful publisher looks like in 2027, in one sentenceWhy publishers building a brand rather than just a website is the single most important strategic shift happening in the industry right now
Listen to Find Out More About:
[02:00] The pain points publishers are dealing with right now: HCU losses, AI overview traffic cannibalisation, and why most are still guessing about where their revenue comes from[06:50] A live demo reality check: the publisher who thought YouTube was irrelevant until the data showed it was their best-converting channel[22:08] Pivot or die: real examples of publishers who lost eighty percent of organic revenue and rebuilt stronger by acting on what the data told them[28:00] The rapid fire round: the one metric everyone should track, the best and worst things to happen to publishers in two years, and what 2027 looks like for the publishers who make it
Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
Call to ActionA big thank you to Jorge for being so generous with what he's seen on the ground. If this episode has made you think differently about the data sitting inside your publishing business or program, that is worth acting on sooner rather than later. Have a look at their Affiliate Dashboard or book a demo if this episode has sparked your interest.
KonverJ works with brands and affiliate managers to build publisher relationships and program strategies that are grounded in what the data actually shows. If you want to stop guessing and start making decisions that compound, get in touch with the team here.
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What happens when your affiliate publisher is a sleep-deprived new mum with 45,000 verified users, a Dragon's Den deal, and strong opinions about how brands treat people? You listen.
Olivia Davson is the co-founder of Cubbi, the UK's first discount platform built specifically for verified new and expecting parents. She launched it eight weeks after having her first child, built the first version of the app with her sister who had zero coding experience, onboarded over 30 brands before launch, and pitched her business live on BBC's Dragon's Den at nine months pregnant. She walked out with a 50,000 pound investment.
In this episode, Lee-Ann talks with Olivia about what it actually feels like to enter the affiliate industry as a new publisher, why most affiliate managers missed the opportunity she represented early on, and what brands who did show up early gained because of it. The conversation covers the mechanics of Cubbi's verification model, why the parent demographic is unlike any other in consumer marketing, and what the affiliate channel still gets wrong about the publisher relationship.
What Cubbi actually is and why the parent lifecycle is a marketer's playbook in a way that student discount platforms are notThe outreach reality nobody talks about: Olivia contacted a thousand brands before launch. Around thirty said yes. What those thirty did differently that made them irreplaceable partnersHow Dragon's Den changed everything overnight, from word-of-mouth pockets across the UK to a nationwide spike in downloads and credibility that no paid campaign could have boughtWhy Olivia screens every inbound brand enquiry personally and the red lines that will get a brand turned away regardless of budget
Talking Points Include:Listen to Find Out More About:
The exact moment Olivia decided Cubbi needed to exist, standing at a coffee shop counter on maternity pay and doing the mental arithmeticWhat brands Olivia singles out as genuinely getting the parent audience right, and what they are doing that others are notHow Matthew from Cashblack supported Olivia at the moment she was closest to walking away, and why that kind of peer support matters more than people admitThe expansion plan for Cubbi, what comes after nailing the UK, and which markets are already asking when they are nextWhy not everyone needs to understand what you are building, and how that mindset shift changes how you show up as a founderWhat the Dragon's Den investment from Susie Ma has meant practically for the business beyond the headline number
Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:[07:25] The scrappy startup reality: a thousand outreach messages, thirty brand partners, and what the ones who said yes understood that the others missed
[13:00] How Cubbi verifies users, why the verification model matters to brands, and the difference between targeted reach and spray-and-pray traffic
[15:37] Dragon's Den: why Olivia went on the show at nine months pregnant, what happened when the episode aired, and what a nationwide audience spike looks like on a growth map
[19:00] What the industry gets wrong about new publishers and why the affiliate channel is more transactional than it needs to be
Call to ActionA big thank you to Olivia for sharing her story so openly. If this episode has made you think differently about how your program handles early-stage publishers, that instinct is worth acting on.
KonverJ works with brands and affiliate managers to audit partner recruitment and relationship strategies from the ground up. If you want to build a program that attracts the next Cubbi before the competition does, get in touch with the team here.
Send me a text with your questions
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The rules of discovery are being rewritten in real time. Here is what affiliate managers need to understand before the market moves on without them.
If you have been half-listening to conversations about AI search and hoping it will settle down before you have to do anything about it, this episode is your wake-up call. Reza Moaiandin, co-founder of SALT.agency, has spent 25 years watching the internet evolve from static HTML to generative AI. He joins Lee-Ann to cut through the noise on SEO, AEO and GEO, explain what the data from his clients is actually showing about shifting user behaviour, and give affiliate managers a clear-headed diagnostic for where to focus right now.
Talking Points Include:
Why SEO, AEO and GEO are not three separate disciplines -- and the crucial distinction between winning the click, being in the answer, and being part of the answer that every affiliate manager needs to understand right noThe 20% tipping point that changes everything -- Reza's research tracks the mass adoption rate of generative AI globally, and his data suggests the hockey stick moment is closer than most people thinkThe collapsing customer funnel -- how discovery, comparison, evaluation and shortlisting are now happening inside a single AI interaction, and what that means for the partner segmentation models affiliate programs still rely on
Why Reza refuses to use keyword difficulty as a meaningful metric, and the specific example of a tiny B2B company that outranked international businesses for a keyword rated 99 out of 100The hidden technical trick using Cloudflare and server logs that lets you see which of your pages AI platforms are actually pulling, and what that tells you about how your affiliates' content is being usedWhy ChatGPT and Claude give different answers when Reza is asked to pick a favourite, and which one he recommends for affiliate managers specificallyHow the user journey is being compressed so that discovery, comparison and purchase intent are collapsing into a single AI interaction before a user even reaches your websiteThe generational behaviour shift Reza is tracking using his father and his teenage nephew as a real-world test of when mass adoption has genuinely arrived
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[05:06] Reza breaks down the difference between SEO, AEO and GEO in plain language, and explains why confusing them leads affiliate managers to make the wrong budget decisions
[11:00] How the traditional customer funnel is collapsing inside a single AI interaction, illustrated with the running shoe example that makes the shift impossible to ignore
[20:40] The diagnostic Reza would run on any affiliate program today: where to start, what to fix first, and why fixing AEO and GEO before your SEO foundations are solid is a waste of time and budget
[24:44] The server log technique that tells you exactly which pages AI platforms are pulling from your site and your affiliates' content, and why most affiliate managers are not looking at this data
Call to Action
A big thank you to Reza for sharing his research and his thinking so generously. If this episode has made you question whether your current partner segmentation still reflects how your customers actually find you, that instinct is worth following up on.
KonverJ works with brands and affiliate managers to audit and rebuild partner strategies that are built for where the market is heading, not where it has been. If that conversation is timely for your program, get in touch with the team here.
Send me a text with your questions
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The diagnostic framework that 20 years of affiliate program management built - and why most programs are not broken, just badly diagnosed.
If your affiliate program is underperforming and you are not sure where to start, this episode will change how you think about the problem. No guest, no interview, just Lee-Ann, her two decades of affiliate marketing experience across e-commerce, SaaS, B2B, retail and iGaming, and the step-by-step framework she uses with clients to diagnose exactly what is wrong and what to fix first. This is one of those episodes you will want to listen to with a document open and a pen in hand.
Why fixing everything at once is the fastest way to fix nothing -- the triage mindset borrowed from medicine that stops affiliate managers from burning through resources on the wrong problems at the wrong timeThe five vital signs of an affiliate program and how to read them -- from active partner rate to communication cadence, the diagnostic checks that give you a clear picture of program health before you touch a single commission rateThe four root causes behind almost every underperforming affiliate program -- and why each one requires a completely different prescription
Talking Points Include:
The efficiency logic behind why one focused priority per month beats a 20-point action plan every timeHow to use conversion rate by partner type to spot traffic that looks good on paper but is costing you moneyThe void and reversal rate threshold that signals something is seriously wrong with either traffic quality or your returns processWhy tracking problems are the silent killer of affiliate programs, and the one test you should run this week if you cannot remember when you last did itThe three honest truths Lee-Ann shares at the end of the episode that rarely get said out loud in affiliate marketing
Listen to Find Out More About:
Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:[01:00] Why most underperforming affiliate programs are not broken, just badly diagnosed, and the triage mindset that changes how you approach a fix
[04:14] The five vital signs of affiliate program health and how to read each one using data you already have access to
[13:25] The four root causes behind underperformance and the specific prescription for each one
[18:08] How to build a triage action plan using the one priority, one metric, four weeks rule
[21:49] The three hard truths about affiliate programs that do not get said often enough, and what acting on them actually looks like
Call to ActionIf this episode gave you a clearer picture of what is holding your program back, the next step is making sure you have the right support around you. The KonverJ Agency works with affiliate program managers and brands who are ready to stop guessing and start building programs that perform. Find out how we can help at Konverj.io and start the conversation.
Send me a text with your questions
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The coaching framework that helps affiliate managers navigate commercial conflict, set boundaries, and lead with confidence even when the conversation gets uncomfortable.
If you have ever walked into a partner meeting already dreading it, or sent a reactive email on a Friday evening and regretted it by Sunday, this episode is for you. Tara Alvarez Garcia, performance and leadership coach with over 15 years in marketing and commercial roles, joins Lee-Ann to break down why difficult conversations go wrong, and what you can do differently before you even open your mouth. From handling underperforming affiliates to managing burnout in a permanently switched-on industry, this is the practical coaching session affiliate managers rarely get.
The one mindset shift that changes every difficult conversation -- why reframing from "you versus the problem" to "we versus the problem" transforms the tone before anyone has said a word, and how proper preparation makes difficult meetings far less dauntingWhy being always on is not a strength, it is a liability -- how the pressure to respond instantly to Slack, WhatsApp, and emails is quietly eroding performance, and the practical techniques Tara uses with senior leaders to reclaim thinking spaceThe difference between managing and leading in affiliate marketing -- using the engine and the driver analogy, Tara and Lee-Ann unpack why technical competency gets you to manager level but an entirely different skill set is required to lead a team or a partner program effectively
Talking Points Include:
Why Tara recommends using AI tools like ChatGPT to role-play difficult conversations before they happen, and exactly how to prompt it to push back on youThe three practical leadership principles Tara leaves listeners with, and why they apply at every level of the industryWhat Tara does when a coaching client comes to her already at rock bottom, and why she gets better results from the ones who arrive before the crisis hitsThe special offer Tara has put together exclusively for listeners of this episode, and the link where you can claim itWhy the affiliate manager skills most at risk from AI are not the ones people think, and which human capabilities are genuinely irreplaceable
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[02:45] The managing versus leading distinction explained: the engine gets the car moving, but who decides where it goes?[06:25] How to enter a difficult commercial conversation prepared, collaborative, and clear on the outcome you actually want
[08:40] What to do when the conversation heats up: the case for controlled silence and slowing down before reacting
[13:00] Why thinking time is not a luxury in a leadership role, it is the job, and how to carve it out in a reactive industry
[18:30] Tara's blueprint for handling any difficult conversation, walked through step by step
Call to Action
Thanks to Tara Alvarez Garcia for such a grounded and genuinely practical episode. Tara has put together an exclusive offer for listeners, including a free downloadable blueprint for handling difficult conversations and a limited number of discounted one-off coaching sessions. You can access both at tyscoaching.com/affiliate-marketing-podcast.If your affiliate program needs more than a listening session, the KonverJ Agency team works directly with brands to build, audit, and scale affiliate programs. Find out how we can support you at Konverj.io
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From Casino Dealer to iGaming Exit: What Hustle Actually Looks Like
You've heard people credit their success to luck. Karolina Pelc doesn't buy it. The founder of BeyondPlay, who built and sold her gaming software startup to FanDuel in 2024, traces every "fortunate" moment back to a decision, a risk, or a leap taken before she felt ready. In this episode, she joins Lee-Ann to talk about building a business in a male-dominated industry, the lessons that only come from failing, and her new book Her Play, which challenges the narrative that success is something that happens to you.
About Karolina PelcKarolina Pelc has spent over 20 years in gaming, starting as a casino dealer in Poland before working at London's most prestigious clubs and spending three years on cruise ships. She moved into online gaming as it was emerging, held roles across marketing, product, and business management, and was part of the LeoVegas team during its most exciting growth phase. She went on to found BeyondPlay, a software-as-a-service company specialising in multiplayer and jackpot products, which was acquired by FanDuel in February 2024. She now mentors early-stage founders and has channelled her journey into her debut book, Her Play, which publishes on 9 June in the UK & Europe and on 8th September in the USA & Canada.
Why luck is a byproduct of motion, not a personality trait — the phrase at the heart of Her Play, and why Karolina developed it in response to a question she kept getting asked after the saleWhat a cruise ship taught her about multiplayer gaming — and why the product idea she eventually built and sold wasn't random at allThe three moments she knew she had outgrown the room — from leaving a cruise ship job without a plan, to founding a startup in a 43-square-metre apartment during COVID lockdownHow failure compounds into advantage — why the jackpot product that got BeyondPlay acquired only existed because the original product wasn't getting traction fast enoughBuilding confidence in a male-dominated industry — Karolina's honest take on gender dynamics in gaming and the startup investment world, and why she sees her experience as a superpower rather than a disadvantage
Talking Points Include:
What Karolina actually took away from her two visits to Necker Island, and how the experience shaped the book and her decision to mentor foundersHow she navigated the identity crisis that came after selling BeyondPlay, and what helped her work out what she wanted to do nextThe specific moment during COVID that convinced her to found the company rather than take a permanent job, despite every rational signal pointing the other wayWhy she believes your past experience is never a liability, and how that thinking connects directly to what affiliate managers do every dayThe five key takeaways Lee-Ann pulls from the conversation — including a fifth one Karolina adds herself, live on mic
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[01:38] Karolina's introduction and the story behind HerPlay — from land-based casino dealer to iGaming exec to founder
[05:37] "Luck is a byproduct of motion" — where the phrase came from and what it actually means in practice
[18:15] The three defining leaps in Karolina's career, and what finally made her take each one
[25:00] Necker Island, Richard Branson, and the full-circle moment that launched the book
[32:00] Lee-Ann's four-point summary — and Karolina's fifth, which might be the best of all
Send me a text with your questions
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Every major insight, turning point, and uncomfortable truth from the season that changed how the industry thinks about performance
If you missed any episode this season, or if you listened to all of them and want to make sense of where they connect, this is the one to come back to. Lee-Ann revisits every guest from Season 24 and draws out the thread that ran through every conversation: affiliate marketing is not evolving slowly anymore. It's shifting in real time, and the programs that are built on old assumptions are already falling behind.
Talking Points Include:
What our guests collectively confirmed -- the season's guests came from different corners of the industry, but they all arrived at the same conclusionWhy last-click attribution was already broken before AI made it worse -- the season built a steady, cumulative case against over-reliance on a single measurement model, and this episode pulls that argument togetherThe themes that surfaced again and again across eleven episodes -- zero-click search, compliance as a growth lever, open attribution, human relationships in an automated world, and what it really means to diversify a program in 2026Listen to Find Out More About:
Why Lee-Ann opens the wrap-up by referencing what the season opener promised, and whether the season actually delivered on itWhat Jon Ostler called "the great affiliate bypass" and why the structural shift he described is only going to accelerate from hereStuart Miles's central lesson about low-friction partnerships and why it applies far beyond the tech and gadget publishing world he comes fromThe moment in Lauryn Day's episode where the conversation about creator content and AI changes in search made clear that this is no longer a future concernWhat Lee-Ann says she's taking into the next season, and the note of genuine optimism underneath a very clear-eyed summary of how much pressure the industry is underKey Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[02:27] Ishtvan Torpoi revisited: the mega lag controversy and why disciplined monitoring beats partner volume every time
[06:20] Jon Ostler's great affiliate bypass: AI citations, publisher investment, and the attribution gap that last click can't explain
[18:47] Adam Ross on invisible revenue: how AWIN's Conversion Protection Initiative recovered $250 million in previously untracked value
[28:56] Alex Springer on open attribution: why collaboration across networks, publishers, and brands is now happening for the first time
[33:49] Lee-Ann's season close: what the industry learned, what still needs to change, and what Season 25 is already being built around
Stay Ahead with AffiverseIf Season 24 raised questions about how your program is structured for what's coming, the Affiverse newsletter is where Lee-Ann continues the conversation between seasons. You'll get the insights, industry commentary, and practical frameworks that don't wait for a new episode to drop.
Subscribe to the Affiverse newsletter and stay connected to the thinking that's shaping the next season of affiliate marketing strategy.
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The E-Commerce Brand's Guide to Unified Performance Marketing in 2026
If your affiliate and influencer teams are still working in separate silos with separate budgets and separate tools, this episode will challenge everything about how you've structured your program. Lauryn Day, Director of Agency Partnerships at Levanta, joins Lee-Ann to explain why the lines between affiliate and creator marketing have blurred beyond the point of separate strategies, what a unified approach actually looks like in practice, and why the brands thriving right now are the ones that have stopped treating these two channels as competitors for budget.
This is a practical, no-nonsense conversation about how modern e-commerce brands are scaling creator and affiliate programs across Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart, and what the data tells us about where discovery and conversion are actually happening in 2026.
About Lauryn DayLauryn Day is Director of Agency Partnerships at Levanta, the leading affiliate marketing software for marketplace sellers. Having started her career on the brand side before moving into tech, she brings a practical, dual-perspective view to creator and affiliate strategy that is rare in this space.
Why most affiliate infrastructure was built more than 20 years ago and no longer reflects how brands actually operate, and what a modern platform built for today's e-commerce reality looks likeHow Levanta's one-click integration with Amazon, Shopify, and Walmart collapses what used to be a multi-tool, multi-spreadsheet operation into a single five-minute setupWhat AI is actually doing to the shopper journey, and why the data shows less than 10% of consumers who use AI for product research convert through itThe product sampling tool that replaced a spreadsheet-and-email nightmare and why brands are calling it one of the most immediately impactful features they've adoptedHow creator content is now serving two parts of the buying funnel at once: driving direct discovery and feeding the LLM recommendations that consumers use to shortlist productsThe real cost of over-indexing on bottom-funnel partners like coupon and loyalty sites, and how to build a program that serves the full funnel
Talking Points Include:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[01:46] What Levanta is, how it was built, and why most affiliate infrastructure was already out of date before the creator economy arrived
[10:24] How consolidating creator and affiliate data into one platform changes the quality of decisions brands can make, with real client context
[22:12] Why treating creator and affiliate as separate strategies is the most common and most costly mistake Lauryn sees, and how to fix it
[26:30] Lauryn's three actionable tips for brands getting their programs ready for 2026:
Consolidate your tech stack. Unify your creator, affiliate, and marketplace channels under one program so your team can focus on strategy rather than administration.Invest in top-of-funnel creator content. UGC builds brand trust, drives direct discovery, and increasingly feeds the AI recommendations consumers use to shortlist products.Stay nimble and test often. Whether it's trialling higher commissions for specific creators, experimenting with a hybrid compensation model, or testing a new content format, run short tests, look at the data, and be willing to pivot quickly.A huge thank you to Lauryn Day for joining us and sharing her insights on where creator and affiliate marketing is heading. If you want to explore what Levanta can do for your program, you can connect with Lauryn directly on LinkedIn or reach out
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Why Every Affiliate Manager Needs to Understand What's Happening to Search Right Now
Search is changing faster than most programs can adapt. AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini are absorbing customer journeys that used to generate trackable clicks, and the content that influences purchasing decisions is increasingly going unrecognised and unpaid.
In this episode, Lee-Ann sits down with Alex Springer, Director at openattribution.org, and Leanna Klyne, Head of Agency at KonverJ, to unpack what open attribution actually means, why last-click attribution was already broken before AI arrived, and what the industry is doing about it together, many of them for the very first time.
If you work with publishers, run an affiliate program, or depend on content-driven traffic to generate sales, this conversation will reshape how you think about measurement, value, and what comes next.
Talking Points Include:
Why content creators are producing value they will never be paid for and what needs to change before the affiliate industry loses its commercial foundation entirelyThe difference between how people shop and how AI thinks people buy and why that gap is exactly where affiliate marketing's future opportunity livesWhy last click was always a fiction and why the shift to AI-assisted search is finally forcing the industry to confront itWhat Open Attribution actually is and why it starts with something as simple as a list of URLs that changed everythingListen to Find Out More About:
What the agentic commerce protocols from OpenAI and Google actually do, and why the contributions Open Attribution is making to them matter for every publisher and brand in performance marketingWhy some of the highest-quality publisher content has been deliberately removed from AI training sets, and what that means for the accuracy of AI recommendations right nowThe early warning signs that brands and affiliate managers should be watching for as AI-generated content starts to game LLM visibility the same way SEO was gamed in the early days of GoogleHow the SPUR initiative and the APMA AI task force connect to what Open Attribution is building, and where compliance and governance conversations are actually happeningWhy Alex believes websites are not going away in five years, and what types of purchases will continue to require the kind of considered, content-led journeys that affiliate publishers are built to supportKey Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[02:47] Alex introduces Open Attribution, his decade in performance marketing, and why he shifted focus from AI as a technology to AI as an industry actor
[05:45] Why last click was already broken before AI, and what transparency and usage auditability actually mean for content owners and brands
[27:05] The CPA debate: whether cost-per-acquisition still makes sense, what influence really means now, and why the shopping journey has always been more complex than the model we used to measure it
Ready to Build a Smarter Affiliate Program?If this episode raised questions about how your program is measuring influence, attributing value, or preparing for an AI-first customer journey, the KonverJ team can help. We work with brands and publishers to build affiliate strategies that are built for where performance marketing is heading, not just where it has been.
Get in touch with the KonverJ team to find out how we can help you build a program that performs in the new landscape.
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How treating compliance as a marketing function rather than a legal checkbox can protect your program, your brand, and your bottom line.
If compliance makes your eyes glaze over, this episode is worth pushing through. Sarafina Wolde Gabriel, CEO of Rightlander and a 20-year veteran of affiliate marketing, joins Lee-Ann to make the case that compliance is not a legal formality but a direct driver of revenue. They get into why the biggest programs are still leaving massive blind spots unchecked, what AI-generated content is doing to risk exposure, why a large affiliate is not automatically a compliant one, and the practical steps any affiliate manager can take today to audit their program before a regulator does it for them.
Why even a compliant, long-standing affiliate in your program can still be exposing your brand through content they published years ago and have forgotten aboutHow the Honey browser extension scandal is a preview of the tracking integrity challenges that are coming for affiliate programs this yearWhat Sarafina would prioritise in the first week of managing a new affiliate program to put the right compliance foundations in place from day oneWhy proving to a regulator that you had systems and monitoring in place before a problem occurred can be the difference between a warning and a fineHow to split compliance responsibilities across your team so it does not all sit on one person and quietly fall off the priority list during busy periodsThe one piece of advice Sarafina would give any affiliate manager building a program from scratch, and why knowing your affiliates is still the most important thing in this industry after 20 years
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[03:05] Why the foundations of affiliate marketing have not fundamentally changed in 20 years, and what that means for how you should still be operating today
[05:09] What actually happens to revenue when compliance fails, and the moment a customer walks away because your affiliate's promotional content did not match reality
[06:38] Rightlander's core function explained: scanning, risk scoring, and giving affiliate managers an action step rather than just a data dump
[21:58] The two compliance trends coming in the next two to three years that most programs are not yet preparing for
[23:26] The five-point compliance checklist Sarafina recommends for any affiliate manager who has never formally audited their program before
Call to ActionA big thank you to Sarafina Wolde Gabriel for joining us this week and for making compliance feel like something worth paying attention to rather than something to hand off to legal. You can connect with Sarafina on LinkedIn and find out more about what Rightlander does at rightlander.com.
If you want more practical insight like this delivered directly to you, sign up for the Affiverse newsletter at affiversemedia.com. We cover the latest in affiliate marketing strategy, industry news, and program growth every week, and it is one of the simplest ways to stay ahead without having to go looking for it yourself.
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Why personalised affiliate recruitment still outperforms automation (and what the best affiliate managers do differently)
If your affiliate recruitment is generating lists but not conversations, this episode is your reset. Frederic Jean-Bart, founder of Performance Partners, has spent 17 years building relationships across every side of this industry: affiliate networks, brand-side program management, and as an affiliate himself. Lee-Ann and Fred get into why the era of AI-generated outreach is actually making human connection more valuable, not less, how deal making with high-quality affiliates is where real program growth happens, and what separates elite affiliate managers from everyone else hitting send on the same mass email.
The exact communication gap between what affiliate managers send and what top publishers actually need to see before they say yesWhy media buyers are among the best affiliates for scale but require a completely different recruitment and relationship strategy than any other partner typeHow AEO and brand citation are starting to change where affiliate influence happens in the customer journey, and what that means for program strategyWhy Fred's advice to his 2009 self comes down to one word and what that means practically for anyone building a career in this industryThe rapid fire breakdown on CPA versus revenue share, the one book Fred says every agency owner should read, and why boring operations beat exciting chaos every single timeWhat trust actually looks like in practice with high-value affiliate partners, and why paying on time is as much a relationship signal as any personal outreach
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[01:51] Fred introduces his 17-year career spanning network, brand, and affiliate sides of the industry and why building Performance Partners came out of working with nine-figure e-commerce brands
[05:05] Lee-Ann shares the exact outreach emails she receives that get deleted instantly, and what three pieces of information every affiliate needs before they'll respond
[09:35] The case for getting on video calls with key partners and why the human ability to convey excitement and credibility over a call still closes deals that email cannot
[15:30] Why media buyers are the most powerful affiliate type for scale but also the most burnt out by programs that overpromise, and what building genuine trust with them requires
[17:40] Partner diversification as risk management, why brands default to influencers and coupon sites, and how Fred approaches segmentation from day one of a new program
Call to Action
A huge thank you to Frederic Jean-Bart for joining us this week. If this episode has made you rethink how you're recruiting affiliates and managing partner relationships, KonverJ works with brands at exactly this level, building programs that are built on strategy, not spray and pray. Find out how we work with brands here.And if you want conversations like this one landing in your feed every week, subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast so you never miss an episode. Share this one with an affiliate manager you know who's still relying on volume over quality. It might be the nudge they need.
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Why tracking everything your affiliates do matters more now than ever before (and what conversion protection tells us about lost revenue)
If your affiliate program isn't tracking properly, you could be losing millions without realising it. Adam Ross, CEO of Awin and 21-year industry veteran, reveals exactly how AI-powered search is fragmenting the customer journey, why deterministic tracking alone won't survive the next five years, and how Awin's Conversion Protection Initiative has already recovered over $250 million in previously untracked revenue. Lee-Ann and Adam discuss his leadership approach, why probabilistic tracking methods are becoming essential, and what the convergence of influencer and affiliate marketing means for program growth.
The seismic shift happening in content attribution – how LLMs are citing publisher content to answer consumer queries, why this value currently goes unrewarded, and the new tracking signals needed to expose itWhy different traffic deserves different tracking methods – different traffic has different value and possibly needs different tracking methods and different reward mechanisms, ending the era of treating all affiliate partnerships equallyThe conversion protection wake-up call – how forcing tracking upgrades revealed $16 million in additional commission and what this tells us about invisible program value
Talking Points Include:
Why Awin does quarterly seasonal product releases to bring meaningful improvements to advertiser and publisher experiences, with the winter release focused on simplifying what is still an incredibly complex channel to help everyone get much more value out of the spaceHow the new platform aims to get smaller advertisers to money-making partnerships as quickly as possible without needing account management support, using 25 years of data to know which partnerships work, what rates to pay, and how to increase active partnershipsWhy Adam is extremely bullish about affiliate's future, noting that while this disruption is probably going to be much bigger than past changes, affiliate is a wonderful monetisation infrastructure that can be quite agnostic about how end user experiences evolveThe exciting new influx of AI startups connecting at scale with multiple brands looking for ways to monetise, where the CPA model works very well for AI recommendations based on personalisationWhy the convergence of influencer and affiliate marketing continues accelerating and why people will always want to buy from other people, even when using AI for researchWhat it means that there's got to be an acceptance that in a lot of cases, the old ways of tracking from a technical perspective are no longer going to work, whilst deterministic tracking remains super important as the base
Listen to Find Out More About:Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[01:15] The unlikely journey from dentistry student to affiliate marketing through a recruiter who saw potential beyond experience
[18:55] Why different affiliate traffic has different value and needs different tracking methods and reward mechanisms
[27:00] How Awin's seasonal product releases bring quarterly improvements and what the winter release means for platform simplification
Call to ActionMaster the tracking evolution that's reshaping affiliate marketing success. Adam's insights into probabilistic measurement, AI disruption, and conversion protection reveal exactly why upgrading your technical infrastructure isn't optional anymore. [Subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podc
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If you're running an affiliate program based purely on last-click attribution, you're missing the complete picture of how customers actually buy. Phil Thompson, Partnerships Manager at fintech publisher Zilch, shares insights from their platform's 5 million UK customers to reveal shopping behaviours that challenge everything affiliate managers assume about consumer loyalty, price sensitivity, and partner value. Lee-Ann and Phil discuss why traditional cookie tracking leaves critical gaps, how to leverage first-party data without expensive integrations, and why the grocery shopper who seems loyal to one brand is simultaneously spending three times more with competitors.
The affiliate channel's unique negotiation problem that happens after the sale instead of before, and why payment processing data fills gaps that cookie consent leaves behindHow Zilch's fee-free credit model converts competitor customers by offsetting the cost of interest-free installments through merchant commissions rather than charging consumers late fees or interestWhy price-led marketing is lazy marketing and what Valentine's Day dinner-for-two campaigns teach us about emotional storytelling that actually changes consumer behavior.
Talking Points Include:Listen to Find Out More About:
The exact moment UK consumers became willing to abandon brand loyalty for fee-free payment flexibility, and what this reveals about post-peak shopping psychologyWhy Phil refuses to position Zilch campaigns as integration-heavy when they run on standard Visa rails, and how this changes the barrier to entry for testing new publisher typesHow Intelligent Commerce tracking uses merchant ID data to close attribution gaps that cookie-based models leave wide openThe demographic shift that took Zilch from Gen Z fintech app to cross-generational payment tool, and why cost-of-living pressures create opportunities for value-focused affiliate partnershipsWhy diversification matters more than ever when clicks still exist but shopping behavior fragments across devices, apps, and privacy-conscious browsingKey Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[09:05] How Intelligent Commerce works: using merchant ID and payment processing data to fill attribution gaps that traditional cookie tracking misses
[13:16] The consistent age-group patterns Zilch sees in 2025 spending data, and why everyone hunts for value right now, not just younger demographics
[22:22] Why one-month campaigns don't typically move consumer behaviour needles, and the longer timeline required to shift shopping habits permanently
[25:07] Phil's call for affiliate managers to stay open to testing and learning, even after being burned by publisher types in the past
Call to Action
The affiliate programs that thrive this year won't be the ones clinging to 2019 playbooks. They'll be the managers who embrace data partnerships, extend attribution visibility beyond cookie tracking, and recognize that publishers deliver value across the entire funnel, not just at conversion. Ready to build a program that leverages first-party shopping intelligence? Work with the KonverJ team to audit your current partner mix and identify the data gaps costing you revenue. We'll help you move beyond last-click thinking and build partnerships that capture the complete customer journey.
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When Tricia Meyer's name was called as this year's Pinnacle Award winner at Affiliate Summit West, there was a moment of silence. Not because the room disagreed, but because Tricia herself didn't believe it. After two decades of watching her heroes receive that same recognition, the publisher-turned-executive director of the Performance Marketing Association finally earned the industry's most prestigious honor. This conversation explores what it actually takes to reach the top without losing yourself, why being kind isn't a weakness in business negotiations, and how staying curious about industry changes for 20 years reveals patterns that help you stop panicking about AI, zero-click search, and whatever disruption comes next.
The attorney who left law for affiliate marketing when she realized publishers could earn more than lawyers and built a 20-year career that started with mom blogs and evolved into executive leadershipWhy community platforms fail but weekly calls succeed isn't just about affiliates – the same principles apply to how industry associations create genuine connection versus performative membershipThe shocking truth about affiliate marketing's growth that most brands miss – independent studies prove the channel is outpacing e-commerce itself, not just riding the online shopping wave
Talking Points Include:
Why Tricia created custom tracking tools using AI to solve AI-caused attribution problems, and how small publishers can do the same with vibe coding platforms like LovableThe critical section being added to PMA's retailer agreement guide about AI usage, plagiarism, and disclosure requirements in affiliate terms and conditionsHow Google's constant testing of citations in Gemini (from detailed paragraph attribution to zero citations to YouTube video insertions) reveals nobody knows what's coming nextWhy publishers might strategically rewrite content to feature competitors if brands don't properly value their contribution to LLM-driven trafficThe new AI Council launching to address both publisher optimization for LLMs and technology solutions for brands dealing with compliance and trackingHow fintech and B2B affiliate marketing represent massive industry segments the PMA is finally addressing with dedicated resourcesWhy analyzing five years of industry study data would reveal cyclical patterns that help predict where apparent disruptions actually leadHow Open Attribution is creating free membership opportunities to discuss citation tracking and publisher rewards in the age of LLMs
Listen to Find Out More About:
Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:[06:02] Working from the bottom of PMA working groups to executive director, and why being an attorney made Tricia the perfect fit for part-time leadership
[[19:54] Three critical areas where affiliates need preparation for 2025: LLM optimization, proving publisher worth through journey tracking, and staying educated on rapid changes
[27:00] Why affiliate program terms and conditions need AI clauses now, covering content generation, plagiarism, and disclosure requirements
[30:11] The five-year prediction: fundamentally everything stays the same but with different technical details, just like the last 20 years of disruption
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The OG Publisher's Blueprint for Building Partnerships That Actually Last
Your affiliate program has hundreds of approved publishers, but only a handful are actively promoting you. Sound familiar? Stuart Miles, founder of Squirrel and former owner of Pocket-lint (which he grew to 12.5 million monthly readers before exiting), reveals why most affiliate managers are accidentally destroying publisher relationships before they even begin. Lee-Ann and Stuart discuss why product feeds matter more than commission rates, and the six tactical shifts that separate transactional affiliate programs from genuine partnerships that drive consistent revenue.
Talking Points Include:
The relevance test every affiliate manager fails – how understanding audience profiles transforms your outreach from spam into valuable partnership opportunitiesWhy making it harder for publishers to link to you kills conversions – the 15-minute friction point that costs you thousands in lost sales, and how removing barriers between story ideas and affiliate links changes everythingThe coffee shop approach to publisher relationships – why the best partnerships happen outside of product launches and promotional cycles, and what real-life relationship building looks like in 2026Listen to Find Out More About:
Why standardised product feeds matter more than you think, and how retailers without them are losing visibility across major publisher platformsThe exact moment Stuart realised Pocket-lint competitors were stealing his affiliate links, and what Amazon's phone call revealed about attribution trackingHow international audience expansion forced Pocket-lint to build automated localisation, and why showing UK readers US pricing destroys conversion ratesThe pub test Stuart used with new journalists to determine if a story was actually worth publishing, and how this filter led to explosive audience growthWhy retailers that can't beat Amazon on price can still win publisher placements through customer service ratings and relevance scoringWhat happened when Stuart's team spent more time finding affiliate links than writing stories, and the efficiency breakthrough that led to Squirrel's creationCall to Action
Ready to transform how you work with publisher partners? The strategies Stuart shared didn't come from theory – they came from two decades in the trenches building one of the world's most successful consumer technology publications. If you're serious about moving beyond transactional affiliate relationships into genuine partnerships that drive consistent revenue, subscribe to Affiverse's Affiliate Marketing newsletter for weekly insights that help you stay ahead of industry shifts. Our team translates complex partnership strategies into actionable frameworks you can implement immediately.
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"I love the Affiliate Marketing Podcast." If that sounds like you, please give us a 5 Star rating here! Taking the time to do that helps us support more people in our community to access affiliate marketing insights, expert-led learnings, and allows us to share the latest tactics that help affiliate programs and businesses grow.
Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select "Write a Review."
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Why Your Affiliate Program Might Be Losing Traffic Without You Realising It
When 62% of AI citations reference affiliate sources but only 20% link to direct providers, something fundamental has shifted in how consumers discover financial products. Jon Ostler, CEO of finder.com and digital marketing veteran since 1997, reveals research that should worry every affiliate program manager: AI is scraping content from publishers, summarising their expert analysis, then sending consumers directly to providers while cutting out the affiliates who created that value. Lee-Ann and Jon discuss what this means for content publishers who've invested millions in editorial teams, how the performance model needs to evolve beyond last-click attribution, and why the publishers who survive will be those who understand their true value isn't just traffic anymore.
Talking Points Include:
The research findings that sparked this conversation - Jon analysed best-for-finance product searches across AI engines and discovered AI overwhelmingly cites affiliate content while bypassing affiliate links, fundamentally disrupting how publishers monetise their expertise
Why this isn't plagiarism in the traditional sense - AI doesn't reason from first principles but delivers consensus answers by absorbing content investment from publishers, raising urgent questions about compensation models when your editorial work powers AI responses but generates zero clicks
Listen to Find Out More About:
Jon's LinkedIn research that quantified exactly how AI citations reference affiliate content while bypassing affiliate monetisationWhy branded search and direct traffic increases often mask AI influence you're not being compensated for under current attribution modelsThe specific vulnerability AI systems share with early search engines and why chasing short-term exploitation breaks long-term brand buildingHow Google's antitrust position creates pressure to maintain ad revenue growth even as AI overviews reduce organic click-through ratesWhy Reddit strategies and multimedia affiliate approaches create the consensus signals AI relies on when formulating answersThe exact metrics Jon tracks beyond sales figures to understand genuine community health and identify which publishers drive sustainable valueReady to Master the Next Evolution of Performance Marketing?
If this conversation with Jon Ostler revealed gaps in your current affiliate strategy, Affiverse Agency can help you navigate this transition with confidence. Our team specialises in helping affiliate program managers rebuild their partner ecosystems for an AI-influenced world, from identifying which publishers bring genuine value beyond last-click attribution to structuring commercial models that reward upstream influence. Whether you need strategic partner segmentation, innovative attribution frameworks, or simply expert guidance on what deserves your budget investment right now, we've worked with programs at every stage of this evolution. Visit Affiverse Agency to explore how our consulting services can transform uncertainty into competitive advantage, or reach out directly to discuss your specific program challenges. The publishers and program managers who thrive won't be those who mastered yesterday's best practices but those who understood tomorrow's fundamentals before their competitors did.
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