IPX London 2026 kicked off with a reflection on the state of affiliate from impact.com's UK Country Manager, Anthony Clements.
Over the years, the industry has undergone three seismic changes: search, mobile and social. Each has changed how we access and discover on the internet. Now, we're in the midst of the fourth: the age of AI, said Clements, a time when no one has all the answers.
A new era arrives
And while search isn’t going away any time soon, we’re moving from an era of browsing to one of recommendation, and this has big implications for both consumers and businesses.
Clements spotlighted that, in a consumer study, three out of four AI-active consumers began their purchase journeys outside standard web searches — one quarter did so to avoid sponsored ads.
Against this backdrop, the conversation is switching from ‘how do I rank,’ to ‘am I trusted, cited and chosen?’ said Clements.
At the same time, retail media is undergoing significant growth — projected to account for one in four digital ad dollars by 2028. Here, he raised the opportunity for retailers to become publishers.
“Every placement is shoppable,” said Clements.
This retail media piece and AI rewriting discovery is converging with software creators becoming a new class of partner and creators being measured like paid media, under commerce partnerships, he said.
But one message Clements ended with was: “I think we're great at delivery. We're great at execution. We don't deliver the stories very well.”
Storytelling and full funnel
Cue Jason Bevan, storytelling expert and former Head of Creative Development and VP marketing EMEA Warner Bros Studios, who encouraged the room to tap into the imagination of their youth, hit the “brave button” and not be constrained by the linear.
At the same time, Bevan said it’s important to “get under the skin of your ultimate judge.”
The day also explored the intent evolution in a panel on 'Moving from last click to customer intent'.
One panellist noted that the channel has been evolving to multi-attribution for years, and while the technology has been there, paying out on last click has been easier. What’s next? According to the panellist, a mindset shift is needed, moving away from thinking of affiliate as a silo channel and instead, a full-funnel and converged growth engine.Another panellist echoed this sentiment and said, looking forward, success doesn't have to be based just on the conversion, but instead, reach, impressions or citations.
Later, looking at the full funnel, the ‘Driving Convergence to Optimise Creator Performance’ session investigated changing consumer behaviour, the resulting attribution challenges, and how the convergence of creator and affiliate is taking shape.
One key point was the importance of creator segmentation. One panellist spoke of zoning in on the role different creators play across the funnel, from discovery, research and planning to decision-making.
Existential threats and AI impacts
And on blazing industry challenges, the room heard from everyone, from AI experts to creators. The talk zoned in on the “existential threat” of late payments, with 25% of affiliates receiving payment at 90 days or later and the £11 billion opportunity in solving this threat.
Creator freedom was another issue that came into focus. A panellist in this session emphasised that this can unlock collaborative partnerships resulting in 4.5 times higher engagement rates and 89% better brand recall.
Another panellist delved into the ad measurement challenge and the solutions on the table, from server-to-server tracking to AI visibility measurement.
Meanwhile, another panellist brought forward AI’s impact on content owners — underscoring the importance of establishing frameworks preventing AI from scraping content without providing fair value and credit to creators.
The final panellist walked through the misuse of email marketing as a key problem. The solution? Value subscribers and focus on relevance and behavioural data.
Stay tuned for more IPX deep dives and exclusive interviews.
