Trends: What Stood Out in 2025 and What’s Likely to Shape 2026 [AWA Expert Insights]
Affiliate conferences can be a good reality check: you walk in with the idea of how everything works in today’s market and walk out with 20 different versions of “yes, but”…
Our team came back from AWA with a notebook full of spicy takes about global tendencies from our partners, affiliate managers, and business dev pros from Asia. We asked what stood out in 2025 and what to expect in 2026. The angles were different (of course) – but the patterns were loud and consistent.
Below is the clearest story that emerged, so read and enjoy!
2025: The Year Performance Got Pickier
The first insight to mention is the main feeling of 2025, which was all about trust, transparency, and strong anti-fraud, moving from something nice to have to absolutely non-negotiable.
Sam (co-owner, Pantech Marketing Services) described 2025 as a turning point: the industry has a trust deficit after years of recycled inventory and too many intermediaries. Advertisers are increasingly allergic to anything that smells like paying markups for middlemen unless the middleman brings measurable value (unique reach, clean supply, strong tech, transparent logs, proven incrementality). In his view, the winning networks are those that can deliver outcomes and prove authenticity with transparent logs, clean traffic, and serious anti-fraud tech.
Sam is not alone thinking about this issue. Other partners and affiliate managers also pointed to stricter anti-fraud measures and stronger user-intent signals, with tighter regulation around fraud in the Giveaways conversion chain.
So it looks like the credibility era has started and now it’s clearly here to stay, and the new rule is that volume and scaling are amazing, but only if they’re real.
A Big Year for Leadgen
Multiple experts independently highlighted leadgen as one of the strongest stories of 2025.
For example, they called leadgen growth “explosive,” especially in big-demand sectors like auto insurance, loans, and home improvement, where compliance room and strong demand can create great ROI. They also agreed that whitehat lead growth in evergreen verticals like insurance, home improvement, and eCommerce – all with a noticeable shift toward compliance-first creatives that last longer.
Another interesting point we’ve got from our experts is that leadgen offers in home improvement, insurance, and healthcare bring large budgets and quick returns, especially across Europe and the US.
So yes: leadgen might be not as hot as the trend-of-the-month, but 2025 reminded everyone that boring money is still money.
Giveaways Scaled Hard and Got More Competitive
Giveaways kept pulling massive traffic in 2025. Two of our Asian partners described it as a primary choice for many media buyers because of short cycles and rapid scaling, and also called Giveaways the “top choice” for traffic providers to scale quickly.
But the second half of that story matters: along with scaling opportunities comes competition. The faster a vertical scales, the faster platforms and advertisers respond, and… the faster it attracts fraud attempts.
In other words: in 2025, Giveaways was still a rocket ship – but it started needing a truly experienced pilot.
Nutra Stayed Strong with LTV Supporting Higher CPMs
Our experts also noted Nutra spending in Europe remained strong, with high-priced and high-LTV campaigns staying among the most stable. Debbie (Publisher Manager, Clickdealer) flagged a comeback energy in Nutra, especially when approached in a more evergreen and whitehat way. It’s not just Nutra! Debbie also noted that dropshipping is making a strong comeback too – with bigger budgets, faster creative iteration, and a noticeable spike in overall market activity.
The big take here was that Nutra is stabilizing when it’s built for longevity instead of quick flips.
AI Stopped Being a Novelty and Became Common
In 2025, the shift from emerging AI to AI being everywhere was faster than the blink of an eye. Debbie from Clickdealer highlighted AI’s role across everything affiliates do, including creatives, copywriting, landing pages, and analytics, and even mentioned early growth in AI-related niches, such as AI browsers and mainstream AI Social apps.
MaxJmac (PropellerAds Partner and Affiliate Marketer) stated that AI is maturing rapidly enough to accelerate material creation, localization, and testing, while lowering the barrier to global expansion. He also noted that many traffic platforms are moving toward rule-based and algorithmic approaches, so media buyers can spend less time on operational micromanagement and more on funnel structure and conversion efficiency. And with competition rising, he says stability matters more – long-term controllable campaigns will beat short-term scaling spikes.
The lesson is that AI sneaked into every part of affiliates’ work, but still it doesn’t magically print profit. It simply helps people who know what they’re doing move faster.
Content-led Conversion Started Winning
Our partners also emphasized a key eCommerce shift: stronger results from “content-driven conversion.” They pointed out that app overseas expansion remained a major focus in 2025, especially for tool and utility apps, which often deliver faster returns. At the same time, brands raised the bar for data transparency and compliance.
Regarding the creative side of eCommerce, we found out that long-form copy, review pages, and story-based creatives were converting best – with more focus on user intent and landing page experience. Our partners also expect native advertising demand to increase significantly, alongside the shift toward long-form, story-based creatives.
If you felt like thin pages and generic angles stopped working well in 2025… It’s true, you were not imagining it!
Some Verticals Felt the Squeeze
Not everything was that carefree:
- “Reccuring-based offers entered an adjustment period due to stricter bank risk controls and advertiser payment-risk concerns,” – Charlie, Affiliate Manager
- iGaming backend quality is declining, which made budgets more cautious and scaling slower. This means iGaming offers are getting harder to scale because the post-click experience (payments, verification, retention, and tracking) is becoming less reliable – so budgets are being managed more cautiously.
- mVAS payment habits are staying strong in Africa and the Middle East, but the market dynamics vary heavily by GEO and billing model.
The broader point is that 2025 rewarded campaigns with clean mechanics, clear value exchange, and defensible conversion paths.
Now that we’ve looked back at 2025, it’s time to take a look at the future!
2026: What’s Likely to Get Bigger, Stricter, and More Strategic
The 2026 predictions are kind of natural consequences of what 2025 kicked off, but still have something to surprise you with.
AI’s More Significant Role
Several partners basically said the same thing in different words:
- Debbie from Clickdealer told us, that “AI to reshape the market and drive consistent growth in AI-focused niches (automation software, AI mainstream dating)”.
- And our partner and Affiliate Marketer MaxJmac predicts AI will widen the gap: media buyers who use AI to improve testing efficiency and decision-making will gain a serious edge.
- Another insight from the field: AI-based assessment is expected to have genuine conversion potential to become mainstream.
So if you’ve been thinking that in 2026 AI will just make everything easier by generating whatever you don’t want to create manually, our partners foresee something else. AI goes much further, makes average execution cheaper, and strategy becomes the real differentiator.
Well-Thought Promotional Strategies Instead of Generic Offer Lists
Clickdealer Publisher Manager, Debbie put it bluntly: affiliates need more than offer lists, they need promotional strategies, user psychology, and high-quality conversion creatives. And MaxJmac confirms that he sees media buyers evolving, as well, by adapting more strategic planning around user paths, creative structure, and traffic composition instead of being merely execution-focused. Max also expects traffic diversification to become the norm in 2026. Relying on a single source gets riskier, so media buyers will need to combine channels and build more omnichannel strategies.
In 2026, being just a campaign operator is not enough to stay afloat. You are expected to develop full-fledged growth strategies with a focus on planning and quality.
Leadgen Stays a Core Engine
Our partners also expect leadgen to remain a core growth driver, stabilizing in both quality and scale as regulations and data matching improve. According to their market observations, the key regions for leadgen are Europe and the USA. As for the evergreen verticals – like Nutra (whitehat), insurance, eCommerce, and loans – they will also stay core in 2026.
To put it simply, leadgen stays strong and turns into infrastructure.
Recurring-Based Offers Move Toward Formalization and Compliance
Recurring-based offers are predicted to evolve toward more formal compliance. That’s a consistent market maturation story: anything with payment risk eventually gets stricter, or it gets squeezed.
Giveaways Conversion Paths Become More Interactive and Intentional
Also, our partners shared that more interactive conversion paths (quizzes/surveys) are going to become more important in Giveaways, which fits perfectly with the 2025 shift toward better intent signals and better conversion-chain quality. Beyond Giveaways, they also shared more 2026 shifts they’re watching closely: mVAS will transition toward a more formal paid model in 2026, while still keeping long-term revenue potential. A more global traffic strategy to adapt is thinking beyond one GEO or one source – will strongly influence how fast teams can scale.
As a result, in 2026, Giveaways may reward funnels that feel more like guided experiences, than just clicking random prize boxes.
First-Party Data and Attribution Get Even More Important
Our partners also expect advertising to rely more heavily on first-party data and refined attribution. Looking into 2026, they expect app-market competition to concentrate around high-repurchase eCommerce apps and financial tool apps. What is more, they agreed that as cookies become less prevalent, semantic recognition will impact ad accuracy – and brands will prioritize real sales contribution over click volume.
So yes, it’s all about better measurement, better signal quality, and fewer easy shortcuts. In practice, that means advertisers will lean harder on what they can actually verify: CRM events, server-side tracking, clean postbacks, and first-party audiences built from real user actions (subscriptions, purchases, or repeat visits).
At the same time, attribution will shift away from last-click tunnel vision and toward more cross-channel and incrementality-minded thinking. If a campaign drives clicks but can’t prove downstream value, it’ll struggle to keep budgets.
Content and Video Continue Taking Over
Video is expected to further replace static images, and content eCommerce may become the most reliable path for overseas expansion. To put it simply, 2026 rewards catchy creatives that build intent and trust.
We should expect more performance campaigns to borrow from content marketing: review pages, story-based landers, and tutorial-style videos that make the product feel discovered, rather than pushed.
In the simplest scheme, videos are for the hook, while the landing experience will do the heavy lifting with proof, comparisons, and a smooth conversion path.
Consolidation May Intensify
Sam (Pantech Marketing Services) thinks 2026 will speed up consolidation and turn the market into survival mode. With too many intermediaries reselling the same inventory, advertisers are pressuring networks to prove one thing: incremental reach beyond the big three (Meta, Google, TikTok). If you can’t prove incrementality, you’re at risk of being squeezed out.
Sam’s view is bold, he says, “up to 90% of networks in Europe, North America, and emerging markets may shut down or get acquired over the next few years.”
He also pointed to a bigger issue: weak positioning. At conferences, he meets many networks and affiliates who can’t clearly explain what vertical they specialize in, who their customer is, or what problem they solve.
His advice to founders: diversify for cashflow if needed – but don’t dilute the mission! Pick a vertical, go deep, and become the best at it.
Bottom line: being “just another reseller” won’t be enough – you’ll need real differentiation.
Conclusion: 2026 Will Reward Strong Systems
Put all these interviews together, and you get a surprisingly clean takeaway: 2025 made performance marketing stricter, and 2026 will make it smarter.
AI will boost speed, but it will also underscore sloppy strategy. Leadgen and evergreen verticals will keep growing because they’re built for compliance and stability. Giveaways will keep moving – but interactive, intent-driven paths and cleaner conversion chains will matter more. And across everything, trust and transparency will decide who gets budgets and who gets ignored.
Wishing you a profitable 2026!
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