Affiliate marketing crossed a real threshold in 2025. According to Statista, US affiliate marketing spending reached an estimated $11.99 billion that year, the first time the channel broke the $10 billion mark, and the figure is projected to climb to $15.80 billion by 2028. That growth curve sits next to a much rougher picture at the individual-earner level, where most affiliates make very little money at all.
The gap between rising channel-level spend and thin individual earnings is the throughline of the data below, along with a commission structure that keeps shrinking at the top end and a disclosure regime the FTC has made brands, not just affiliates, responsible for enforcing.
How big is the affiliate marketing market in 2026?
US affiliate marketing spending is estimated at $11.99 billion for 2025, per Statista’s tracked series on the channel, up from $10.72 billion in 2024 and $9.56 billion in 2023. That is roughly 12% year-over-year growth, and Statista’s own forecast has the US figure reaching $15.80 billion by 2028.
Figure 1: US affiliate marketing spend, actuals through 2025 and forecast to 2028. Source: Statista, affiliate marketing spending series, 2025 data.
Globally, the picture is measured two different ways depending on what a report counts. Channel-spend estimates put the global affiliate market between $17 billion and $18.5 billion for 2025, with several market-research firms projecting it will pass $20 billion in 2026. A separate line of research measures the software and platform layer that runs affiliate programs, rather than the ad spend flowing through them, and lands at a noticeably higher figure of over $22 billion for 2025. Both are legitimate numbers; they are just measuring different parts of the same industry, so treat any single “affiliate market size” headline with a beat of caution until you know which layer it counts.
If you run an affiliate program or publish affiliate content, a current disclaimer covering affiliate links and material connections is the baseline compliance document for this growth, not an afterthought.
How much do affiliate marketers actually earn?
Most individual affiliates earn far less than the channel-level growth numbers suggest, and the distribution is heavily skewed. Authority Hacker’s 2024 survey of 2,270 affiliate marketers found that 57.55% earn under $10,000 per year, and only 11.72% earn more than $100,000 annually. A small number of high earners pull the average up to $8,038 per month, roughly $96,000 a year, which sits far above what most respondents actually reported. The same survey found earnings jump roughly sevenfold between a marketer’s first and second year, then double again by year three.
Figure 2: Reported annual earnings among surveyed affiliate marketers. Source: Authority Hacker, 2024 survey, n=2,270.
Warning
This is a single self-selected survey of Authority Hacker’s own audience, which skews toward website-based affiliates rather than social or app-based ones, and it does not disclose a margin of error. Treat the exact percentages as directional for the broader affiliate population rather than a precise census, even though the sample size and methodology are more transparent than most affiliate income claims circulating online.
The takeaway holds regardless of the exact split: affiliate marketing income is heavily concentrated toward a small top tier, while the majority of participants earn side-income amounts, not full-time replacement income.
What commission rates do the major affiliate programs pay?
Commission rates vary widely by network and category, and the largest program in the industry has been trending its rates down, not up. Amazon’s Associates Program pays standard commissions from 1% to 10% depending on product category as of 2025, according to Amazon’s own published rate table on Associates Central, with Amazon Games as an outlier at 20% and Amazon Haul added in 2025 at 7%. Categories that paid 6% to 8% in 2019, including furniture, home, and outdoors, have been cut to around 3% today.
| Category | 2025 commission rate |
|---|---|
| Amazon Games | 20% |
| Luxury beauty | 10% |
| Digital and physical music, handmade | 5% |
| Physical books, kitchen, automotive | 4.5% |
| Furniture, home, outdoors | 3% |
Source: Amazon Associates Central, standard commission income table, 2025.
Figure 3: Standard Amazon Associates commission rates, selected categories. Source: Amazon Associates Central, 2025 rate table.
SaaS affiliate programs sit at the other end of the spectrum, commonly paying 20% to 70% of a subscription’s value, often as a recurring commission rather than a one-time payout. That structural gap, a low single-digit cut of a physical product versus a large recurring cut of a subscription, is a major reason affiliate marketers gravitate toward digital and subscription products once they have traffic to work with.
Which affiliate formats do brands actually use?
Not every affiliate program runs on tracked links. Influencer Marketing Hub’s Affiliate Benchmark Report, based on a survey of more than 2,000 brand marketers run with Refersion, found promo and discount codes are the most-used format at 45.9% adoption, ahead of traditional affiliate links at 26.0% and native in-app or in-platform shop features at 25.0%.
Figure 4: Affiliate format adoption among surveyed brand marketers. Source: Influencer Marketing Hub / Refersion Affiliate Benchmark Report, 2,000+ brands surveyed.
This matters for site owners as much as brands. A promo code is still a form of compensation that creates a material connection under FTC rules, in the same way a tracked link does, so a program built entirely on codes does not sidestep disclosure obligations.
This adoption split also connects to a broader shift in how commerce content gets built. See our influencer marketing disclosure statistics for 2026 for the data on how often that disclosure obligation is actually being met.
How has affiliate disclosure regulation changed?
The FTC issued its revised Endorsement Guides on June 29, 2023, the first update in roughly 14 years, and the changes directly affect affiliate marketers. A material connection, meaning anything that could affect how an audience weighs a recommendation, must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, in the same format and location as the endorsement itself. A commission earned through an affiliate link counts as a material connection by definition, and the FTC no longer accepts a “click for more” link as a sufficient standalone disclosure method.
Figure 5: Key milestones in FTC affiliate and endorsement disclosure rules. Source: FTC, Endorsement Guides press release, 2023.
The more significant shift is who the FTC holds accountable. The revised guides state that advertisers, meaning the brands running an affiliate program, are responsible for training affiliates on disclosure requirements, monitoring what affiliates publish, and can face liability for an affiliate’s deceptive or non-disclosed content. That reallocates risk toward program owners in a way the 2009 guides did not.
The Bottom Line
Affiliate marketing’s headline numbers are genuinely strong: US spend crossed $10 billion for the first time in 2025 and is on a clear path toward $15.80 billion by 2028. But that channel-level growth sits above a market where the majority of individual affiliates earn under $10,000 a year, commission rates on the largest program keep compressing, and regulators have shifted liability for disclosure failures onto the businesses running affiliate programs, not just the people posting the links. Anyone operating a program or publishing affiliate content in 2026 needs a disclaimer that names the affiliate relationship plainly, not just a footer link buried below the fold.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is spent on affiliate marketing in the US? US affiliate marketing spending reached an estimated $11.99 billion in 2025, the first year it crossed the $10 billion mark, according to Statista, which projects spending will reach $15.80 billion by 2028.
How much do affiliate marketers actually earn? 57.55% of affiliate marketers earn under $10,000 per year, while only 11.72% earn more than $100,000 annually, per Authority Hacker’s 2024 survey of 2,270 affiliate marketers. The average across all experience levels was just over $8,000.
What commission rate does Amazon pay affiliates? Amazon’s standard Associates commission rates run from 1% to 10% depending on product category as of 2025, with Amazon Games as an outlier at 20%, per Amazon’s own published rate table on Associates Central.
Do affiliates have to disclose their links under FTC rules? Yes. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides, revised June 29, 2023, require a clear and conspicuous disclosure whenever a material connection like a commission could affect how an audience weighs a recommendation, and advertisers can be held responsible for their affiliates’ non-disclosure.
Sources and References
- Statista. (2025). “US Affiliate Marketing Spending, 2023-2028.” Tracked spending series with forecast.
- Amazon Associates Central. (2025). “Associates Program Standard Commission Income Statement.” Official rate table by product category.
- Federal Trade Commission. (2023). “FTC Announces Updated Advertising Guides to Combat Deceptive Reviews and Endorsements.” Official press release, revised Endorsement Guides effective June 29, 2023.
- Authority Hacker. (2024). Affiliate marketing income and tactics survey, n=2,270 affiliate marketers.
- Influencer Marketing Hub / Refersion. Affiliate Marketing Benchmark Report, survey of 2,000+ brand marketers on program format adoption.
Note: All figures verified as of August 2026. Affiliate spend forecasts and commission-rate tables change with each platform update, so headline figures are refreshed at least twice a year.
