The humble wristwatch. This convenient timepiece first caught the public’s eye in 1810, but it gained immense popularity during the First World War. It was easy to carry and could tell the time, which was truly revolutionary back then. Fast forward to the modern day and watches are now expected to track your heart rate, sleeping patterns, take phone calls, make payments, and even switch your house lights on and off. Technology has not only advanced the products themselves, but customer expectations as well. While the sound of a ticking clock may be a lost medium, it can certainly be heard by affiliates, particularly those in the iGaming space. 

Many industries rely heavily on affiliate marketing, and this model is certainly not unique to the gambling world. Cosmetic brands have always advertised through beauty YouTubers, travelling blogs contribute to the tourism industry and streaming brought along a meteoric rise in gaming affiliates. The main difference is: most of this engagement comes from organic interest in the industry itself. Millions of people proudly present themselves as makeup fans, or free spirits who want to travel the globe, but few are loud and proud about being slot aficionados.

Thus, gambling affiliates have always had to think a little outside the box. They started as simple websites listing the best and safest platforms to play at. However, much like our humble wristwatch, simply telling the time or listing companies on a blog was no longer enough. Affiliates had to begin incorporating reviews, demos, news and analysis pieces, guides, community events, interviews, exclusives and daily tips from experts, just to stay relevant. The ecosystem became stretched, but somewhat settled, until a few years ago. The clock continued to tick, but the market did not follow the predicted path and began to warp away from expectations. The affiliate market stumbled, but refused to fall, and now we are at a point where the model has to adapt if it wants to thrive once more. 

Capitulate, affiliate

Before we examine how trends have changed, we must understand the why behind it. Changing regulations have forced affiliates out of several countries, most recently Finland, after the new ban ignited a fierce debate over whether this would result in a crackdown on crime, or a crack in the market that would see players bleed out into the illegal sector. 

Finland is far from the only country to act against affiliates, though. Marketing has grown increasingly unpopular with regulators around the world. Norway, Poland, Switzerland and the Netherlands are now very picky about how affiliates can operate; while regulators in Denmark, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Romania and the UK are placing more restrictions on affiliate advertising seemingly by the day. It seems like half of Europe turned its back on affiliates all at once, perhaps put off by the actions of some brands that took things too far. Those will exist in every industry – but whether the whole sector is punished, or whether the whole sector is at fault, is a common moral quandry. 

Many countries were already moving to place restrictions on gambling advertising anyway, and the rise of ‘NotOnGamstop’ affiliate sites made the legitimate ones an easy target. As for North America, the market did not replicate its European counterparts in terms of hundreds of brands competing for market share. Instead, a handful of brands dominated immediately. In South America, influencers gained, well, influence, over their viewers on a scale we’ve never seen before – and affiliate companies struggled to adapt to all of the above. 

So a change of plan was needed. As long as people are buying and selling things, which is guaranteed to be forever, affiliate marketing will remain a viable business model. Doing it successfully is the catch, though. Traditional advice urges affiliates to partner with brands to expand their reach, but this is borderline impossible to achieve outside of the industry, thanks to the stigma against gambling. 

Social 'Me'-dia

Marketing is all about the media nowadays. Social media, that is. Viral content translates to click-throughs, and many brands have proved that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to get eyeballs on your content. Duolingo, Ryanair, Scrub Daddy and the various KFC regional accounts are all known for their own personal brands of humour on TikTok – particularly with content that comes across as low-budget and low-brow. Snapchat started off as a platform to send selfies to friends, but has since grown into a marketing behemoth. Reddit, Discord and Twitter (X) all have strong communities, but most importantly, all of these aforementioned platforms have loyal Gen Z and Millennial users. Your audience is there, and they are begging for content; you just have to deliver something they want to engage with. 

Enter stage left: the influencers. As it becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to partner with brands outside of the space and see tangible results, one bright spark saw the potential in influencers. It was about time, too. The beauty and esports industries have thrived on influencer marketing for years; so why not gambling, too? Mid-sized influencers already have a loyal audience that will watch whatever they upload and are always looking for ways to get closer to them in the process. These influencers create fun, engaging content and scratch that itch for human connection along the way. But as is always the way, regulators are cracking down on influencer marketing, just as it was gaining traction with gambling, too! It might be time to go back to the whiteboard and start again. 

Content is king

But do affiliates really need to throw away all of this progress? Perhaps not. Rather than relying on influencers or companies to bring in views, some affiliates have taken the bull by the horns and have begun creating their own content for potential customers to engage with. But this is the difficult part. After all, Gen Z and Millennial customers are increasingly rejecting anything that feels too corporate or AI-manufactured. As more technology is being pushed onto the public, they have found themselves turning more and more towards human connections for ‘real’ recommendations that have not been paid for by companies. These demographics no longer have the spare pennies to try out every casino listed on an affiliate blog – you can thank the cost of living for that – instead, they want one strong recommendation from people in similar situations to them. Trust in casinos is down. Trust in companies, also down. Trust in the fellow man is up. 

Affiliates can be that guy, though. It just requires yet another facet to be added to their already swollen repertoire of skills; and likely another talent hire to strain a thinning revenue margin. Just as many brands have done before them, affiliates must now find their authentic voice and create an environment that is fun to exist in, first and foremost, and where the product comes second. Some affiliates are already excelling at this, giving customers the option to choose whether they want to join the Light or the Dark side when they join a platform. Not only does this storytelling give customers a natural way to engage with others in the community, it also opens the door to themed bonuses, rewards and objectives for them to complete as part of the onboarding process. 

Understanding what makes something fun is a skill not everyone has, but affiliates have a great opportunity ahead of them if they can achieve that. Customers are looking for personalised recommendations based on product preferences, rather than whichever company was the highest bidder; operators are begging affiliates to reject the albeit lucrative black-market money; and the wider public is looking for easy content that entertains them during their daily lunchtime doomscroll. Sometimes funny videos translate to conversions, after all! 

Affiliates may have found themselves in the unenviable position where they need to perform a dozen roles at once just to stay afloat. But if they can pivot fast enough, they might just be able to beat the clock this time around.