Top 20 Affiliate
(CPS) Networks 2021
These are the Blue Book Best Cost-Per-Sale Affiliate Networks, as chosen by the advertisers and publishers of the world-wide performance marketing community.
Ranking | Network | Comments | |
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INDUSTRY LEADERS 2021 | |||
Rakuten Affiliate Network GO TO WEBSITE |
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After nine years straight, Rakuten Affiliate Network, part of Rakuten Advertising, shows no sign of relinquishing their hold on the #1 spot. Ranks best for service levels and innovation. Rakuten says: "Rakuten Advertising is a digital advertising provider delivering solutions that span affiliate marketing, programmatic display, social and paid search. Harnessing the best of strategy and technology, our products help global businesses seamlessly expand into new markets, acquire valuable new customers and authentically engage their existing audiences by delivering experiences people love." |
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Awin US Group GO TO WEBSITE |
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Awin Group maintains their #2 ranking. A traditionally strong showing from ShareASale in combination with Awin's growing reputation for service and innovation is evidenced by the increased share of votes from our panel. Awin says, "We recognize this achievement is largely a result of votes from our clients and affiliates. We are honored to receive the continued support from our Awin and ShareASale platform partners and would like to thank them for considering both among the top affiliate networks.” Alexandra Forsch, Awin US President. |
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CJ Affiliate GO TO WEBSITE |
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CJ went through a period of change and disruption culminating in their acquisition by Publicis, however their sheer scale and experience means they are still serious competitors. Their pay-per-call capabilities are well-respected and with heavy investment in technology they are a network to watch in 2020. |
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Impact GO TO WEBSITE |
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Run by legends of the industry, with top-class technology and great results. More of a platform than a network, Impact is an important player in the industry and will be included in the Blue Book's new focus on tracking platforms later in 2020. |
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Avangate Affiliate Network GO TO WEBSITE |
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Avangate is consistently well-regarded. The most popular digital goods network by some margin. Avangate says, "Launched in 2006, Avangate Affiliate Network has been awarded the mThink Blue Book badge for #1 Software and Digital Goods Affiliate Network six years in a row. The platform provides the right tools that enable you to focus on your strategy and campaigns and worry less about the means to achieve your results. By joining this network, you will drastically reduce the time it takes to build the plumbing for your business and focus on driving revenues by adding that personal touch, the spark of passion every affiliate business needs!” |
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FlexOffers GO TO WEBSITE |
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FlexOffers continues their seemingly unstoppable rise up our rankings, with a great reputation for straight-shooting, good support for publishers and quality traffic for advertisers. |
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LinkConnector GO TO WEBSITE |
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LinkConnector has a terrific range of trusted brands. In combination with their focus on proprietary technology this is consistently pushing them higher in our list. |
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eBay Partner Network GO TO WEBSITE |
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eBay Partner Network is incredibly well-respected by people who know the performance marketing industry. A great network. |
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Pepperjam GO TO WEBSITE |
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Pepperjam has invested a lot of time and effort into their new Ascend "affiliate marketing lifecycle platform", and it is showing in the increased levels of enthusiasm we are seeing from both advertisers and publishers. A fine, long-established name in the industry now coming back to the top of their game. |
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AvantLink GO TO WEBSITE |
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A stable and professionally operated network with a great business model. |
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Partnerize GO TO WEBSITE |
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The former Performance Horizon Group with a new name and a different approach to performance marketing pricing models. Their head-to-head with Impact Radius will be interesting in 2019. |
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Webgains/ad pepper media GO TO WEBSITE |
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Based in the UK, with an active US office, Webgains delivers world-class customer service and cutting edge technology. |
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TradeDoubler GO TO WEBSITE |
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A very strong European network founded way back in 1999. Tradedoubler has global reach and a terrific publisher network. |
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TradeTracker GO TO WEBSITE |
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Another London-based network, and with 16 offices worldwide TradeTracker offers a lot of reach and a good platform. |
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Amazon Associates GO TO WEBSITE |
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Amazon Associates remains the industry entry-point for many publishers. Their broad product offerings and ease of use make it simple. |
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Affiliate Future GO TO WEBSITE |
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Based in London, founded in 1999 and owned by Global Data, Affiliate Future is a solid network well-respected by our survey respondents. |
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RevenueWire GO TO WEBSITE |
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A well appreciated Canadian network focused on digital commerce. An excellent reputation with advertisers. |
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ClickBank GO TO WEBSITE |
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Enormous and extremely popular, ClickBank is still the entry point to the industry for a large number of merchants. |
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TravelPayouts GO TO WEBSITE |
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The fast-growing travel-focused network claims to have just crossed the 200,000 affiliates mark and is a new entry to our Top 20 rankings. |
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Skimlinks GO TO WEBSITE |
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Skimlinks is a content monetization platform for online publishers that specializes in in-text, contextual advertising. Based in London since it was founded in 2007, Skimlinks has built its own niche in the industry and is highly respected. |
Best CPS Affiliate Networks – Top 20 Affiliate Networks
Each year we conduct the biggest research survey in the performance marketing industry in order to identify the best CPS Affiliate Networks (Cost-Per-Sale). The responses are then aggregated with input from the Blue Ribbon Panel of industry experts and mThink’s own research. The result is the Blue Book Top 20 Affiliate Networks, as chosen by the advertisers and publishers of the world-wide performance marketing community. These are the industry leaders that provide the levels of customer service, professionalism and consistent ROI that is the mark of a top network. They have also learned to survive and thrive in an ever-changing and incredibly competitive environment, so they are without exception run by smart, effective leaders.
The BLUE BOOK Top 20 is not a simple list of the biggest networks. Instead, it takes into account reputation, influence, clientele, popularity and scale.
An important part of the ranking process is our survey of over 25,000 industry figures that is carried out during the Fall. In the survey, we ask an open-field first question to identify the respondent’s favorite networks for running CPA and affiliate campaigns. The open-field nature of this first question is designed to avoid any selection-bias caused by prompting or by which networks we include in a pick-list. On a subsequent screen we provide a list of almost 50 networks from which respondents are asked to choose an additional four networks in each of the CPA and affiliate network categories, together with an additional open-field for write-in choices. In all, some 400 networks are included in our considerations.
In addition to the survey, we researched and aggregated expert views, traffic data, measures of industry influence and as many other pieces of data as we can gather. We also have a strong Blue Ribbon Panel of respected leaders in the industry that help provide insight and evaluation.
The final result of all these deliberations is the BLUE BOOK Top 20: the biggest and fairest evaluation of the best performance marketing networks in the world.
Disclaimer
While we put a huge amount of effort into researching and compiling the Blue Book rankings, as with all such lists they should be taken only as an expression of our opinion. By developing and posting these rankings, mThink makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy or factual basis of the rankings. We recommend that users should carry out their own research. Under no circumstances will mThink be held liable in any way for any ranking, any errors or omissions in any ranking/s, or any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of the ranking/s.