According to the inaugural 2012 Australian Affiliate Marketing Benchmarking survey from online performance marketing agency and affiliate network dgmAustralia, media agencies are demonstrating a more sophisticated understanding and application of affiliate marketing on behalf of advertisers, compared to companies conducting their own affiliate marketing.
The research, which was conducted by market research company edentify, noted that the retail and finance sectors are the highest users of affiliate marketing in-house.
“There is little consistency when it comes to capped or uncapped budgets. Media agencies are, in the large majority, capping their budgets. For direct clients, around a third are capping their budgets, while that figure for the Retail sector specifically is around half,” the report stated.
The poll went on to reveal that, overall, there is an expectation of growth in spend across the affiliate marketing channel, while in the past year the majority of respondents increased their spend on affiliate marketing.
“Affiliate marketing is still in its infancy in Australia, with the majority of respondents indicating they have been engaging in the channel for five years or fewer. There is much scope for growth and maturity of this channel, which is encouraging for both advertisers and media agencies,” according to the poll.
The study received a total of 143 responses, with media agencies accounting for 59 respondents and direct clients 84 respondents. The results show some marked differences in the use of affiliate marketing between media agencies and direct advertisers, in both spend patterns and strategy.
