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Because affiliate marketing is cesspool of scammers doing scams at scale. I say this as someone who's measured marketing performance of these channels over the

Because affiliate marketing is cesspool of scammers doing scams at scale. I say this as someone who's measured marketing performance of these channels over the years.

TekMol 3y ago
That's what I meant with "I suspect that it is because companies are so afraid of getting scammed". What is the solution? How can we build trust between publishers and advertisers?
- michaelt 3y ago
  Individually negotiated deals. If marketers can negotiate deals for individual youtube videos, they can certainly negotiate deals for individual affiliate websites.
- hedora 3y ago
  Display marketing. The advertiser chooses which content gets their ads, and how much of a premium that content demands. This has the side effect of allowing reputable / high quality sites to charge more per impression, and is also privacy preserving (since it does not require user profiling).
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
So basically Google, with its smart algorithms, is doing 20x better job at weeding out scammers, than a company can do it itself?
- bell-cot 3y ago
  I've been away from this area for a few years now...but I'd say "No, Google is not doing 20x better". However - Google is in a "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" position, and trusted far more than it deserves. And whether you're dealing with small business owners, or C-suites full of suits - there are a whole lot of "we gotta do X!" (even if the ROI looks for-sure negative) human emotions around Marketing. And when you're emotional, and feel that you gotta do something...then "buy IBM" usually feels like the least-bad option.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Google itself isn't scamming the advertisers (much) - and individual scammers have no real way to use Google to make money for themselves. Whereas anyone who signs up for an affiliate account can scam Amazon pretty easily, even just by routing all purchases they'd normally make through it for a discount. Which is why I'm a bit annoyed they got rid of Amazon Smile, as it was a pretty decent way to "scam" Amazon with them fully knowing - you'd route through Smile and your charity would get the affiliate percentage.
- hedora 3y ago
  Google has a higher (perceived) quality audience.

Because affiliate marketing is cesspool of scammers doing scams at scale. I say this as someone who's measured marketing performance of these channels over the years.

TekMol 3y ago

That's what I meant with "I suspect that it is because companies are so afraid of getting scammed". What is the solution? How can we build trust between publishers and advertisers?

michaelt 3y ago
Individually negotiated deals. If marketers can negotiate deals for individual youtube videos, they can certainly negotiate deals for individual affiliate websites.
hedora 3y ago
Display marketing. The advertiser chooses which content gets their ads, and how much of a premium that content demands. This has the side effect of allowing reputable / high quality sites to charge more per impression, and is also privacy preserving (since it does not require user profiling).

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago

So basically Google, with its smart algorithms, is doing 20x better job at weeding out scammers, than a company can do it itself?

bell-cot 3y ago
I've been away from this area for a few years now...but I'd say "No, Google is not doing 20x better". However - Google is in a "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM" position, and trusted far more than it deserves. And whether you're dealing with small business owners, or C-suites full of suits - there are a whole lot of "we gotta do X!" (even if the ROI looks for-sure negative) human emotions around Marketing. And when you're emotional, and feel that you gotta do something...then "buy IBM" usually feels like the least-bad option.
bombcar 3y ago
Google itself isn't scamming the advertisers (much) - and individual scammers have no real way to use Google to make money for themselves. Whereas anyone who signs up for an affiliate account can scam Amazon pretty easily, even just by routing all purchases they'd normally make through it for a discount. Which is why I'm a bit annoyed they got rid of Amazon Smile, as it was a pretty decent way to "scam" Amazon with them fully knowing - you'd route through Smile and your charity would get the affiliate percentage.
hedora 3y ago
Google has a higher (perceived) quality audience.