A new affiliate model? Early reports of PPC (pay-per-crawl) emerge to counter the impact of AI search on publishers.
It’s here. The long-awaited return of PPC in affiliate marketing.
Except, not quite.
To counter losses in click-through rates and affected revenues by AI search, publishers are making demands. A new demand has arrived in the form PPC, but this does not mean pay-per-click.
According to Kantar’s latest study, a net 61% of marketers planned to increase their creator spend for this year. However, with greater budget comes greater scrutiny.
According to Ben Smye, Head of Marketing at Atolls, while traffic can be gamed, influence can’t, and community and content partners shouldn't be judged purely on the last click.
From brands to creators, The Goat Agency’s Annabel Harris walks through how to make moves in 2026.
At CreatorFest 2026, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Pontus Eskilsson, VP Global Partnerships at Twitch.
