Fixed-fee deals: is affiliate management turning into media buying?

With more affiliates asking operators for flat fees, this iGaming Club webinar asks whether affiliate management is turning into media buying. AffPapa's head of affiliate management hosts; the panel brings in Wayzen's CEO, Makeberry's vice president, Blockbuster Partners' head of affiliates, Rocks Partners' deputy head of affiliates and an AffPapa affiliate manager.

In this episode

• Makeberry's vice president blames Google updates and AI: sites are easier to launch but need more cash to grow, so affiliates sell traffic at higher prices (3:45, 4:34).

• Blockbuster Partners' head of affiliates calls a flat fee a red flag and an affiliate who will start on a performance deal a green flag; for her, a six-figure flat fee would never be justified (8:55, 10:05, 12:54).

• She separates a prepayment, which is effectively a performance deal, from a flat fee paid without guarantees (30:03).

• Rocks Partners' speaker describes a closed group of about 100 heads of affiliates whose members agree on rules such as not paying over €1,000 for a PPC deal (36:37, 38:44).

• For small brands, the panel advises finding a niche and avoiding the top five SEO spots at first; the Rocks speaker recalls a top-position deal that took 100% of a brand's budget and paid off, but says she doesn't recommend it (51:20, 53:21, 56:14).

• One panellist expects AI to do at least 70% of today's deal-making work within five years (1:07:23).

Webinar from iGaming Club by AffPapa Media, published on YouTube.