The Affiliate Marketing Podcast

The OG Publisher's Blueprint for Building Partnerships That Actually Last
Your affiliate program has hundreds of approved publishers, but only a handful are actively promoting you. Sound familiar? Stuart Miles, founder of Squirrel and former owner of Pocket-lint (which he grew to 12.5 million monthly readers before exiting), reveals why most affiliate managers are accidentally destroying publisher relationships before they even begin. Lee-Ann and Stuart discuss why product feeds matter more than commission rates, and the six tactical shifts that separate transactional affiliate programs from genuine partnerships that drive consistent revenue.
Talking Points Include:
The relevance test every affiliate manager fails – how understanding audience profiles transforms your outreach from spam into valuable partnership opportunities
Why making it harder for publishers to link to you kills conversions – the 15-minute friction point that costs you thousands in lost sales, and how removing barriers between story ideas and affiliate links changes everything
The coffee shop approach to publisher relationships – why the best partnerships happen outside of product launches and promotional cycles, and what real-life relationship building looks like in 2026
Listen to Find Out More About:
Why standardised product feeds matter more than you think, and how retailers without them are losing visibility across major publisher platforms
The exact moment Stuart realised Pocket-lint competitors were stealing his affiliate links, and what Amazon's phone call revealed about attribution tracking
How international audience expansion forced Pocket-lint to build automated localisation, and why showing UK readers US pricing destroys conversion rates
The pub test Stuart used with new journalists to determine if a story was actually worth publishing, and how this filter led to explosive audience growth
Why retailers that can't beat Amazon on price can still win publisher placements through customer service ratings and relevance scoring
What happened when Stuart's team spent more time finding affiliate links than writing stories, and the efficiency breakthrough that led to Squirrel's creation
Call to Action
Ready to transform how you work with publisher partners? The strategies Stuart shared didn't come from theory – they came from two decades in the trenches building one of the world's most successful consumer technology publications. If you're serious about moving beyond transactional affiliate relationships into genuine partnerships that drive consistent revenue, subscribe to Affiverse's Affiliate Marketing newsletter for weekly insights that help you stay ahead of industry shifts. Our team translates complex partnership strategies into actionable frameworks you can implement immediately.
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Why Your Affiliate Program Might Be Losing Traffic Without You Realising It
When 62% of AI citations reference affiliate sources but only 20% link to direct providers, something fundamental has shifted in how consumers discover financial products. Jon Ostler, CEO of finder.com and digital marketing veteran since 1997, reveals research that should worry every affiliate program manager: AI is scraping content from publishers, summarising their expert analysis, then sending consumers directly to providers while cutting out the affiliates who created that value. Lee-Ann and Jon discuss what this means for content publishers who've invested millions in editorial teams, how the performance model needs to evolve beyond last-click attribution, and why the publishers who survive will be those who understand their true value isn't just traffic anymore.

Talking Points Include:
The research findings that sparked this conversation - Jon analysed best-for-finance product searches across AI engines and discovered AI overwhelmingly cites affiliate content while bypassing affiliate links, fundamentally disrupting how publishers monetise their expertise
Why this isn't plagiarism in the traditional sense - AI doesn't reason from first principles but delivers consensus answers by absorbing content investment from publishers, raising urgent questions about compensation models when your editorial work powers AI responses but generates zero clicks

Listen to Find Out More About:
Jon's LinkedIn research that quantified exactly how AI citations reference affiliate content while bypassing affiliate monetisation
Why branded search and direct traffic increases often mask AI influence you're not being compensated for under current attribution models
The specific vulnerability AI systems share with early search engines and why chasing short-term exploitation breaks long-term brand building
How Google's antitrust position creates pressure to maintain ad revenue growth even as AI overviews reduce organic click-through rates
Why Reddit strategies and multimedia affiliate approaches create the consensus signals AI relies on when formulating answers
The exact metrics Jon tracks beyond sales figures to understand genuine community health and identify which publishers drive sustainable value

Ready to Master the Next Evolution of Performance Marketing?
If this conversation with Jon Ostler revealed gaps in your current affiliate strategy, Affiverse Agency can help you navigate this transition with confidence. Our team specialises in helping affiliate program managers rebuild their partner ecosystems for an AI-influenced world, from identifying which publishers bring genuine value beyond last-click attribution to structuring commercial models that reward upstream influence. Whether you need strategic partner segmentation, innovative attribution frameworks, or simply expert guidance on what deserves your budget investment right now, we've worked with programs at every stage of this evolution. Visit Affiverse Agency to explore how our consulting services can transform uncertainty into competitive advantage, or reach out directly to discuss your specific program challenges. The publishers and program managers who thrive won't be those who mastered yesterday's best practices but those who understood tomorrow's fundamentals before their competitors did.
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Why Auto-Approving Affiliates in 2026 Is Like Leaving Your Front Door Wide Open
If you're still auto-approving affiliate applications or letting every partner type into your program without a clear strategy, this episode explains exactly why that approach will cost you this year. Ishtvan Torpoi, known industry-wide as "that affiliate guy," joins Lee-Ann to unpack the MegaLag controversy, distinguish between coupon browser extensions and cashback models, and reveal why the vast majority of affiliate management work happens after launch, not before. This conversation delivers the strategic framework you need to build programs that actually drive incremental value rather than just revenue on paper.

Talking Points Include:
The browser extension distinction that most managers miss including why cashback browser extensions operate fundamentally differently than coupon extensions and how to set different commission structures for each
Why more affiliates doesn't equal more conversions and how one wellness brand caught an 800-install fraud farm within 24 hours by watching data like a hawk during new partner launches
The three non-negotiables for 2026 from monitoring performance data properly to changing default payout models based on customer lifetime value to implementing compliance monitoring before problems emerge

Listen to Find Out More About:
Why European brands lag behind US brands in customer lifetime value thinking and how that affects willingness to pay higher initial commissions for quality partners
The exact process for testing whether browser extensions actually improve cart abandonment rates or any other claimed metric before committing to partnerships
How to structure commission differences between browser extension triggers and website-initiated traffic to reward genuine customer journey starts
Why reading affiliate sales pitches isn't enough and how to test partners as actual users to understand their real impact on your funnel
The data infrastructure investments that separate £30 million brands still doing manual analysis from brands with five data scientists building proper warehouses
How to spot bot farms and fraud attempts within 24 hours of new partner launches by monitoring specific conversion ratio patterns

Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[12:10] How to determine which of the 18-19 affiliate types make sense for new program launches based on internal marketing capabilities and desired speed to revenue
[22:00] Why brands at every size from startups to £30 million operations struggle with data aggregation and proper tooling investments
[27:45] The three non-negotiables for 2026: watching data like a hawk, changing default payout models, and implementing compliance monitoring
[30:50] Quality control processes that prevent fraud, including conversion validation checks and why auto-approval creates cleanup work rather than preventing problems

Call to Action
Huge thanks to Ishtvan Torpoi for sharing the frameworks he implements across diverse client programs at every stage of maturity. If this episode clarified where your program strategy needs adjustment, subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast so you catch every tactical insight that helps you build programs delivering genuine incremental value. Join us at the ELEVATE Summit in July 2026 in London, where strategic conversations happen between sessions and partnerships form that transform programs. Early bird tickets launch in January.
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The Year Affiliate Marketing Proved Its Power While Rewriting All the Rules
If you thought affiliate marketing was mature, predictable, or figured out, this year proved you spectacularly wrong. Lee-Ann Johnstone takes you inside the most transformative year our industry has ever experienced, where UK brands delivered £16 for every £1 invested while simultaneously watching 60% of searches end without a single click. This isn't just a recap of what happened. It's a master class in how the smartest operators adapted when zero-click search, AI integration, and algorithm chaos threatened to upend everything we thought we knew about performance marketing.
Talking Points Include:
The shocking numbers that prove affiliate marketing dominates digital marketing with £19 billion in UK basket revenue, $113 billion in US e-commerce sales, and ROI figures that make other channels look obsolete
Why 60% of searches now end without clicks and what the smartest publishers did differently when AI Overviews decimated traffic by up to 89%
The three business lessons that changed how Lee-Ann runs Affiverse including why saying no to clients actually increased demand and how community building became the antidote to algorithm dependency.

Listen to Find Out More About:
Why independent bloggers overtook major media outlets in content affiliate spend for the first time, and what this shift reveals about authentic voices versus corporate content farms
The exact community building strategies that made some programs resilient when algorithm changes devastated others, and why owning your audience relationships transcends platform dependency
How Affiverse reached nearly a million podcast downloads, trained over 3,000 practitioners globally, and launched the ELEVATE Summit and RAV Awards while doubling agency clients
The innovation that genuinely worked this year, from community-led programs building true partnerships to video-first publishers seeing engagement rates that dwarfed traditional content
Why data privacy will define winners and losers, and what first-party data strategies look like for brands that excel at collection and leverage
The specific metrics proving affiliate marketing delivers ROI other channels can't match, with sector-by-sector breakdowns showing 11:1 to 21:1 returns
Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:
[10:30] The UK and US industry numbers that prove affiliate marketing delivers ROI other channels can't match, with specific sector breakdowns
[35:45] The three business lessons that changed how Lee-Ann approaches agency work, event planning, and community building
[56:00] What's coming in 2026 and 2027, including specialized roles, attribution evolution, and data privacy defining winners
[1:02:15] Affiverse milestones across media, agency, and community impact, plus what's launching in 2026
Call to Action
This episode captures the year that separated operators who adapt from those who wait for best practices to emerge. If these insights sparked ideas for how you'll approach affiliate marketing differently in 2026, subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast so you never miss the strategic frameworks that help you stay ahead. Join us at the ELEVATE Summit in July 2026 in London, where the industry comes together not just to learn, but to actually move forward. Early bird tickets launch in January.
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A Christmas Day Special Celebrating the Insights, Breakthroughs, and Bold Conversations That Defined Our Season
Welcome to this very special Christmas Day edition of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast. Throughout Season 23, we dug deep into the engines behind impactful content, questioned the role of SEO and AI algorithms in a world that still craves human connection, and spotlighted the evolution of affiliate marketing from community-driven growth to loyalty-first strategies and consumer discovery beyond the usual channels. Today's episode is a moment to look back on all we shared this season, appreciate how far we've come together, and celebrate the insights we gathered along the way. Grab a cup of something warm, settle in, and enjoy this Christmas Day Special as we wind up the season that's past and get ready for an even bigger one ahead.
What You'll Hear in This Episode:
The 6:1 content ratio that's reshaping digital marketing as Saurabh Singh reveals why educational content consistently outperforms promotional posts and how trust has become the new currency in affiliate marketing
Why most affiliate programs stall before they ever hit momentum with Florin Simovici's operational insights from 15 years of hands-on experience building scalable, sustainable programs
The harsh reality of building a content-first publisher from scratch as George Sullivan opens up about facing rejection after rejection and what affiliate managers misunderstand about the publisher's journey
Why user-generated content is now the most powerful lever in affiliate growth from Dennis Yu's billion-dollar ad spend experience with brands like Nike and Starbucks
How AI-powered answer engines are capturing a quarter of global queries and what Colin Jeavons says this disruption really means for affiliate managers navigating an uncertain future
The loyalty-building principles that turn silent affiliates into thriving communities as Alex Hitt shares why genuine connection, not higher commissions, truly drives retention
Why most organisations stall on AI adoption with Katie King's roadmap for building strategic frameworks and embedding responsible governance before regulation arrives
How daily payouts became the most powerful micro trust signal as the Exness team reveals their journey scaling from 18 to more than 100 countries with human-centric logic
Why platforms like Reddit are suddenly outranking traditional reviews and how Ewen Finser steered more than 100 websites through Google's volatility into the AI-driven landscape
How to run your affiliate program ethically in the age of AI as Leanna Klyne and Lee-Ann discuss automation that stays human and what regulation might mean for your partner management.
Call to Action
Season 23 gave you the frameworks, now it's time to implement them. Whether you're rebuilding your onboarding process using Alex's white-glove approach, restructuring your content strategy around Saurabh's 6:1 ratio, or preparing your team for AI adoption using Katie's governance roadmap, the insights from this season only create value when you put them into action. Subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast so you're ready when Season 24 launches on New Year's Day with bold predictions for 2026 and conversations that push the boundaries of where affiliate and performance marketing are headed. DM Lee-Ann on LinkedIn and share what you're struggling with or want to know more about, and she'll find the right expert to get on the mic and talk us through it.
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