7 Affiliate Marketing Statistics (How many people earn $150,000+ per year?)

byRoopeKiuttu

71.4K followers

Updated 4 years ago

I was looking for different Affiliate Marketing Statistics and wanted to share with you some of the most interesting ones. The stats are from different sources and you can check them out yourself if you want to verify.

I'd love to hear what do you think about them so feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below this post!

You'll see the statistic in the titles and then I share my quick thoughts about them.

1. The U.S affiliate marketing is expected to reach $6.8 billion by 2020

Just in 1 country (=US), affiliate marketing is a $6.8 billion/year business. That is $6,800,000,000 in the US. Quite many zeros! ;)

Then you can add all the other countries and the global revenue of affiliate marketing is pretty large. There are quite many dollars to be shared among people.

And it's constantly growing...

2. Since 2015, revenue from affiliate marketing programs grows by 10% annually

It's great to be in an industry that is constantly growing. 10% per year is quite a lot... It means that in around seven years the market doubles.

There are a lot of dying industries but affiliate marketing definitely isn't one of them. Some of the dying industries in the United States are (source: USA Today):

• Bookstores
• Sound Recording Studios
• Curtain and Linen Mills
• Support Activities for Printing

Do you rather prefer being in a growing industry than in a dying industry?

Because of the machines and automation, many jobs will be lost in the coming decades. As an affiliate marketer, your future looks bright.

3. 64.48% of the affiliate marketers blog to generate traffic

I was surprised that the number of bloggers is so high.

There are obviously many reasons for that:

• With your own blog, you 100% own the content (unlike with social media platforms and YouTube)
• You can generate huge amounts of traffic from Google
• Blogging has been a proven way to build a business for YEARS.
• Etc.

It's good that Kyle teaches blogging as a primary method in his step-by-step training.

4. 3.2% of affiliate marketers earn over $150,000 per year

There you go...

Where are the gurus who promise $25,154/month income in the next 60 days? ;) The reality is completely different than what they promise.

One of the characteristics of affiliate marketing is that it's very easy to get started. And the money-making process can be taught in 5 minutes. However, actually learning the skills takes time.

I remember it's the same sa what they said about chess... You can learn the rules in a few minutes but mastering the game completely will take a lifetime.

I'd bet though that people who start affiliate marketing WILL make more money faster on average than those who go through an ordinary college/university route. It would be interesting to see comparisons about that...

5. 42,17% (almost half) of affiliate marketers prefer to promote only 1-10 products

I think a common mistake that beginner affiliate marketers do is that they start promoting everything.

When I got started, I signed up for many affiliate programs and hoped to earn "multiple streams of income"... Well, by now I earn "multiple streams of income" but the reality is that I've got the best results by focusing on a few products rather than many products.

If you are starting out, I'd advise you to pick 1-3 products that you promote and focus on them.

You'll get most likely faster and better results than a person who tries to promote 30 different products.

6. Some people make millions with affiliate marketing

Pat Flynn is probably one of the most famous affiliate marketers. I remember when he was publishing his income reports, he often made even $50,000/month passive income from just 1 affiliate program (Bluehost) and in total he was making probably $2-3 million per year from his online income sources (mostly affiliate marketing).

Flynn is obviously just one of many examples... In the Wealthy Affiliate community, there are also several people who have made over $1,000,000 with affiliate marketing.

Check out for example the post from Eddy: I Made Over $1 Million With Affiliate Marketing. I also recommend that you read other posts from Eddy because you can learn a lot from him.

7. More than 50% of affiliate-referred traffic comes from MOBILE devices.

This is really important to acknowledge when you are creating your content. It MUST be mobile-friendly.

Last time when I checked the stats on my YouTube channel, I remember that majority of the views are from mobile devices.

Here are 2 things that have been growing fast and are expected to grow more online in the coming years:

1. Videos
2. Mobile

BONUS FACT: Affiliate Marketing Gives You the Most FREEDOM!

(This is my own addition)

Can you think of another work where you could do all this:

1. Work anytime you want (no deadlines)
2. Work anywhere you want
3. Choose to promote ANYTHING you want
4. No need to do customer support
5. No need to create product
   
6. You will earn passive income (=earn money even while sleeping)
   

In a simplified definition, all you need to do is to get someone to CLICK your link and take action.

I can tell you from my own experience that affiliate marketing gives lots of freedom. I can hardly think of any other work where you would have similar freedom.

Let's keep on rocking!

- Roope "Exploring affiliate marketing statistics today" Kiuttu

PS. Now I'd love to hear from YOU.

What do YOU think about these affiliate marketing statistics?

Did you know these numbers before?

Was there something surprising for you?

Let us know in the comments below and join the discussion!