The industry is changing, and according to Anthony Clements, UK Country Manager at impact.com, the word affiliate now represents only a “small element” of what impact.com does as a company.
Commerce partnerships
Clements elaborated on this transition, noting: “Today, we talked a lot about how that search era is changing into that answer era and what that really means for the types of publishers that you might be able to work with, and also how you will pay those publishers, how you'll measure the impact of those publishers.”
This shift sets the stage for the company’s new focus on “commerce partnerships.”
Clements said that this concept enables brands to understand where they should be, how to position themselves in front of the right audiences and the partnerships that can deliver that.
“Brands are asking us a broader question than affiliate,” said Clements.
Adapting to LLMs
Looking ahead, the impact.com Exec said that brands need to assume that the traditional methods of acquiring audiences will disappear in five years' time.
This forecast comes as LLMs transform the digital landscape.
“That's going to change the way we discover things on the internet. That's going to change where your audiences are, and that's going to change the way you market,” said Clements.
And this shift will impact the entire industry to varying degrees. But, Clements noted that doesn’t mean that conversion-oriented publisher types are going away.
“What it means is those publisher types need to find a different way to harness that audience,” he said.
Watch the full interview below.
