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There is not yet a verified full-year 2026 global affiliate-marketing total. For planning, the strongest recent benchmark is the Performance Marketing Association’s (PMA) 2025 U.S. study: spending rose from $9.1 billion in 2021 to $13.62 billion in 2024, while affiliate-attributed ecommerce sales reached $113 billion. Those are historical U.S. results through 2024, not a 2026 forecast or measurement.
What the latest data actually measures
“Affiliate marketing statistics” can describe several different quantities. Advertiser spending is not the same as sales attributed to affiliates, a brand’s self-reported revenue share, or publisher income. The figures below should therefore be read side by side, not added together.
| Figure | Geography and period | What it measures | Evidence and denominator |
|---|---|---|---|
| $13.62 billion | United States, 2024 | Advertiser affiliate-marketing spend | PMA 2025 industry study using data from eight leading affiliate networks and more than 50 publishers; not a complete census |
| $113 billion | United States, 2024 | Ecommerce sales attributed to affiliate marketing | PMA estimate equal to 9.4% of all U.S. ecommerce sales |
| 14.42% CAGR | United States, 2021–2024 | Annualized growth in affiliate spend | PMA calculation; the association says this was twice the pace of broader ecommerce growth |
| 74% of surveyed brands | Eight countries, survey conducted in mid-2025 | Brands reporting that affiliates generated 11–30% of total revenue | impact.com survey evidence from 818 marketers who manage, contribute to or oversee an affiliate program |
The PMA page headline rounds the 2024 spending figure to $13.63 billion, while its body states $13.62 billion. This article uses the body’s more precise number.
U.S. affiliate-marketing spending reached $13.62 billion in 2024
The PMA’s 2025 U.S. Affiliate Marketing Industry Study reports spending of $9.1 billion in 2021 and $13.62 billion in 2024. That is a 49.8% increase over the three-year interval. The reported compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is 14.42% for 2021 through 2024.
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CAGR is an annualized rate, not a claim that spending increased by exactly 14.42% every calendar year. It summarizes the change between the two endpoints. PMA says affiliate spending grew at roughly twice the rate of the broader U.S. ecommerce market during that period.
What this means for a 2026 plan
The result supports treating affiliates as a significant, growing acquisition channel. It does not establish 2025 or 2026 spending. A budget for 2026 should use the 2024 result as a benchmark, then substitute your own conversion rate, commission structure, average order value, returns and incrementality assumptions.
Affiliate-attributed sales represented 9.4% of U.S. ecommerce
The same PMA study attributes $113 billion in ecommerce sales to affiliate marketing in 2024, equal to 9.4% of all U.S. ecommerce sales. This is a sales-attribution figure, not the amount merchants paid to affiliates. It also is not publisher earnings: commissions and other partner costs are only one part of the economics behind attributed sales.
Do not generalize the 9.4% to every company
PMA separately estimates that affiliate marketing accounts for 15–20% of sales for companies that use affiliate strategies. That qualified estimate applies to companies using the channel; it is different from the 9.4% share of all U.S. ecommerce sales. A retailer with no affiliate program should not be assigned either percentage.
What the 2025 global survey says about brand revenue
impact.com’s 2025 report surveyed more than 1,500 marketers, publishers and creators across the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. Its methodology identifies 818 marketers who manage, contribute to or oversee an affiliate program; fieldwork took place in mid-2025.
In that survey, 74% of brands said affiliate marketing generated 11–30% of their total revenue. This is self-reported survey evidence, not an audited global market share. The respondents are program-connected marketers, so the result should not be treated as representative of every brand or country.
Other themes reported by impact.com
The report also describes diversified partner mixes, creator-budget activity, increased use of artificial intelligence and interest in alternative attribution models. These are findings or claims from the surveyed population, not independently verified causal effects. They indicate how participating marketers say their programs are evolving, rather than proving that a particular tactic will produce a given return.
Is affiliate marketing still growing?
The best observed U.S. evidence says yes: PMA measured 14.42% compound annual growth in spend from 2021 to 2024. The impact.com survey also shows that many program-owning brands assign a substantial share of revenue to the channel. Together, they support continued growth as a planning assumption.
They do not prove a full-year 2026 growth rate. No verified 2026 global spend total is established here, and survey responses cannot replace transaction data. Growth can also differ by category, partner type, attribution rules and market.
How to evaluate growth in your own program
- Track approved orders, net sales after cancellations and returns, commission expense and contribution margin separately.
- Keep attribution windows and “last click” or multi-touch rules consistent when comparing periods.
- Segment creators, editorial publishers, loyalty partners, coupon sites and paid-search partners; a blended total can hide very different economics.
- Compare incremental sales with customers who would likely have purchased without the affiliate referral.
- Report geography and currency with every total, especially when combining markets.
Why the numbers cannot be combined into one “industry size”
Each statistic has a different scope:
- Spend: money advertisers invest in affiliate commissions, fees and related activity.
- Attributed sales: ecommerce revenue assigned to affiliate referrals under a study’s measurement rules.
- Revenue share: what surveyed brands say affiliates contribute to their own total revenue.
- Publisher earnings: commissions or other compensation received by partners; the cited studies do not provide a single comparable total for this measure.
Adding $13.62 billion in spend to $113 billion in attributed sales would double-count different sides of the same ecosystem. Likewise, applying the 74% survey result to all brands would turn a respondent statistic into an unsupported market-wide claim.
How to use these benchmarks when forecasting 2026
- Set the scope. Decide whether your forecast covers one country, a region or all markets, and state whether figures are gross or net of returns and cancellations.
- Choose the measure. Build separate lines for partner cost, attributed revenue, incremental revenue and profit.
- Use the PMA result as a reference point. The 2021–2024 U.S. CAGR can frame a scenario, but it should not be copied as a guaranteed 2026 rate.
- Model partner mix. Forecast creators, content publishers, loyalty, coupon and other partner types independently where their commissions or incrementality differ.
- Stress-test attribution. Run conservative and broad attribution windows and show how the result changes.
- Document the date. Label every dashboard and board slide with the latest completed period; do not call a 2024 observation a 2026 result.
Affiliate disclosure requirements
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says publishers should disclose their relationship to a retailer “clearly and conspicuously” so readers can decide how much weight to give an endorsement. Its example is: “I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.”
Place the disclosure near the recommendation or link. The FTC warns that “affiliate link” alone may not clearly communicate that the publisher receives compensation. The same principle applies on social media and other websites, not only on a traditional blog.
Quick Recap
A practical disclosure checklist
- State plainly that you may earn a commission.
- Put the statement where readers will see it before or alongside the recommendation.
- Use readable language rather than relying on a technical label such as “affiliate link.”
- Apply the disclosure consistently across articles, videos, newsletters and social posts.
What is not established by these figures
- A verified full-year 2026 global affiliate-marketing spend total.
- A single worldwide percentage of ecommerce sales generated by affiliates.
- A reliable current result from the Partnerize U.S. Retail Affiliate Marketing Sales Index. Its landing page was surfaced with an invalid “June 31st, 2026” update date, so no specific current index value is used here.
- Universal commission rates, cookie durations or acceptance terms for named affiliate programs.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
