Can Any Affiliate Program Be Trusted Anymore?

[footballaffiliate]

It seems this industry is becoming more and more untrustworthy by the year, if not the month, week and even day sometimes! AffEurope closing down, Referback earnings being swindled away with their move to BP, hacking, spamming, lack of data protection and ethics, cross selling, and all sorts of unscrupulous activities.

Is there anyone that can be trusted anymore? It seems to me that the affiliate industry is literally imploding, and companies don't really care too much about affiliate programs anymore as they look at other forms of advertising - spamming with millions of pop ups/unders, hacking, and other stuff that will really get them large volumes of clicks and referrals when compared to small affiliates.

I wouldn't be surprised if in 2 years time some of the affiliate conferences were not run anymore, and some of the big brands didn't even bother turning up anymore (some didn't to BAC), because the number of new fresh affiliates that can be stolen from will dwindle as people realise they can't make money in this industry as a small affiliate.

The affiliate industry really needs an injection of trust to keep it alive - either that, or one or two big players wiping out the competition through being the only one or two players that can be fully trusted.

 

[slotplayer]

I don't think it was ever trustworthy.

 

[AussieDave]

I don't think it was ever trustworthy.

Agreed
Difference being back then, programs didn't have the competition and the all Markets were open.

These days, the markets have dwindled, players are hard to come by and the competition is fierce. Affiliates have and will always be, at the bottom of the feeding chain.
We're the first to usually get shafted, then players.

This industry is akin to a beach, where the minnows swim in the shallows and look out over the reef, watching the sharks, tear everything edible to bits, including chunks out of each other!

 

[Online18Casino]

I don't think it was ever trustworthy.

Also Agreed, that's why I go out of my way to have a great relationship with my affiliate managers. We have a good relationship, but they also understand that it is business and if my numbers drop, I very quickly move things around.

I think to many affiliates don't stay active on performance issues and they are more likely to get screwed over. I check my numbers monthly, and if a program drops the ball a month or two in a row.. I change them right out and see how another preforms in its place for a while.

Let everyone know, top performance gets top spots.. Keeps everyone a little more honest.

 

[TheGooner]

There are plenty of good reliable programs out there.

They don't offer 40% rev-share with no negative rollover, they don't come in with hype and 1000% customer bonuses.

Instead they offer a sensible rev-share, reasonable bonuses, they have longevity in the business and will (probably) continue to be here for another 10-20 years.

Choose your business partners wisely, don't get tied up in the high-rate, short term promises.

 

[LandofOz]

I don't think it was ever trustworthy.

I agree, but I don't think that the affiliate industry will ever vanish because an affiliate program is the most cost effective way to advertise.

 

[footballaffiliate]

I agree, but I don't think that the affiliate industry will ever vanish because an affiliate program is the most cost effective way to advertise.

It seems these days though that many companies are turning to PPC and pop ups/unders in bulk rather than manager thousands of affiliates who each give them a small amount of exposure. Talking to some of the big guys in the industry I know that they're pretty happy to just hand over a bit of money to sites who can give them 20 million pop overs in a week or so - in the long run it's more cost effective for them as they just deal with one advertising party and get results quickly.

Certainly those companies with small affiliate teams struggle to run any sort of serious affiliate program.

 

[AussieDave]

Choose your business partners wisely, don't get tied up in the high-rate, short term promises.

I agree but you can do all that, hell that's how I've run things for years, like you too. Yet look at what happened to RB... Now WS runs the show.
While FA and others don't seem too concerned about working with hackers, do they!

I wont go on about it but I think the OP raises valid points too

will (probably) continue to be here for another 10-20 years.

Who'd have thought for a sec after the UIGEA was passed (Oct? 2006), in 2013 there would be a fully licensed and regulated USA online casino! The UK is now following that path and I'm sure within the next 5 years, if not sooner, other Countries will start to adopt this model too.

Once this happens, on a wider scale, the industry as we know it now, will be dead in the water.

The industry as we know it now, as its been run since day dot, is still the 'Wild West'.

I think the industry could have avoided this IF it as whole had been truly self regulated. Sadly though, greed as always screwed that up too.

Hence what we're seeing now is the start of worse things to come. Now it's only little affiliates, but just you wait, soon they're be biting at your heels too, mate.

 

[TheGooner]

Hey Bet4You,

Very interesting to get your viewpoint as you are a very seasoned affiliate that probably was in the casino only game for longer than I've been (I started with sports) and so specialised in these "second-tier" programs at lot more than I did. So I appreciate you sharing. Thanks

You mention "RB" which I assume is Referback, and FA which is FortuneAffiliates? Never worked with either program. Their promises were nice, but they just felt like two guys and a girl working out of a garage to me. I think that the "online casino only" workspace is a lot more "seat-of-the-pants" than the programs that had to run and maintain sportsbooks as well.

So perhaps we've been spared the pain by online affiliating with the bigger outfits? Certainly our approach of just trying to take "best-of-breed" has been valuable in weeding out the failures as has the policy of "two years minimum experience" before taking on a new site.

Regarding country specific regulation - I do not see any impact at all on US facing online programs from the current iteration of intra-state licensed online casinos / poker rooms. They seem to be a non-event for affiliates - poorly marketed, managed, and dismal offerings - and certainly they are NOT taking any measurable bite out of the market. Good US facing programs are still doing well.

Within the UK, legislation is very different, as online is not automatically correlated with "evil". There are no special interest groups trying to ban online gambling and there are many well respected names that will always have a market. In many respects the UK and Australia are similar - as gambling is part of the culture - and the authorities are not trying to ban - but regulate and of course - increase taxes. Will it be taxed more? Yes. Will program profits (and therefore affiliate shares) be lower? Yes.

Other smaller European countries are trying a combination of monopolistic approaches (Latvia, Estonia) or severe restrictions around locally based operations (Romania, Greece) which does hit a player base hard if an established company has to pull out of a country because it no longer qualifies or is no longer viable.

But overall the programs that were the leaders when I started in 1999, such as Interwetten, Bet365, Ladbrokes, PaddyPower, Bodog (now Bovada) are still around and still delivering gaming products to customers, and profits to affiliates. They may have had changes to their programs and/or terms - there may be some things that we don't like about them .... but on the OP question of "trust" ?? Yes I trust them - and another dozen we've picked up in the last 15 years as well.

Just one affiliates opinion.

 

[AussieDave]

Gooner, I may not agree with you all the time but I'm ok with that, I'm sure as a professional affiliate, you are too.