Kevin Edwards, Founder and Director of the Affiliate & Partner Marketing Association (APMA), announced a research partnership with Germany’s Affiliate Partner Marketing Circle (APMC) in a guest post for APMA UK. The UK and German affiliate industries will standardize market data across Europe’s two largest digital economies. This collaboration provides a side-by-side comparison of market size, structure, and performance.
The project addresses the lack of comparable cross-border data in the performance marketing sector. While many agencies and networks operate internationally, reporting standards often vary by region. Germany and the UK combined represent approximately 50% of all digital marketing spend in Europe. Therefore, this data set offers a benchmark for the continent.
Identical Data Points for Major Networks
The APMC operates under the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) in Germany. It will work with the APMA to collect identical data points from major networks and platforms. Participating companies include Awin, CJ, impact.com, Tradedoubler, and Webgains.
The research focuses on several critical KPIs:
- Total sales volumes and revenue tracked.
- Numbers of active publishers.
- Sector-specific growth trends.
- Publisher type breakdowns.
By using a shared framework, the organizations allow stakeholders to view the maturity and composition of both markets. This removes the friction of conflicting methodologies.
Market Transparency for European Expansion
This initiative provides a roadmap for brands and agencies planning European expansion. André Koegler, Social Media & Affiliate Marketing Expert at impact.com and a primary architect of the partnership, noted that market-level data has historically failed to keep pace with borderless affiliate marketing.
The standardized data assists global organizations in benchmarking their performance against local market averages. It provides smaller businesses with context to justify investment when entering the UK or German markets.
State of the Affiliate Nation Report
The trade bodies plan to publish the findings in late April. In the UK, this data serves as the foundation for the third annual State of the Affiliate Nation report on April 30. This report previously served as a health check for the UK industry. The inclusion of German comparative data expands its scope.
Both trade bodies indicated that this begins a deeper collaboration. The affiliate channel continues to defend its share of marketing budgets against rising costs. Consequently, the ability to demonstrate scale through verified, cross-border data has become a competitive necessity.
Affilitizer Editorial Team
This article was created with AI assistance and editorially reviewed.
