CPA Networks

The winners in the online marketing space have always been the fast movers. Quick and agile people who see an opportunity and have the motivation and resources to act rapidly. But as we’re seeing in the mobile marketplace right now, new opportunities are being fenced in by the biggest companies who control the platforms. In the evolving world of online advertising, the big beasts are making their presence felt.

Consider three data points:

Will fraud kill affiliate marketing?

It is up to you. You choose.

But here’s a clue: the BP oil spill probably just killed the Louisiana wetlands. I think we should take that as a warning of just what can happen.

The affiliate marketing industry is an ecosystem. It consists of a web of interdependent species: affiliates, merchants, networks, merchant processors, etc. Sometimes they compete, sometimes they are symbiotic. But they all rely on each other for survival.

The recent discussion of the importance of brand to CPA network survival generated a fair amount of feedback. For an industry rooted in performance, where everything is measurable, the idea that product functions and features aren’t all important is a hard one to accept.

But it’s true. Let’s look at exactly why that is.

We’ll use Adam Viener’s post on WiseAff as a starting point.

The CPA network space is in tumult. If your favorite CPA network isn’t dead already, it’s probably refinancing, merging or crouching in a defensive posture.

Give me “affiliate managers who aren't idiots,”  was the demand of one publisher when we asked what they looked for when choosing a network, while another said, "what i care most about is that they don't shave or scrub my business. I've seen that happen way too often." 

The survey we recently carried out for the BLUE BOOK Top 20 ranking of leading performance marketing networks gave us some great insights into what's bothering people right now.