Download the Affiliation Barometer 2025
The affiliation market in France is booming, as revealed by the latest Affiliation Barometer 2025published by the CPA (Collectif pour les acteurs du marketing digital). This study highlights key trends and challenges for e-commerce players. This comprehensive report, compiling key data from 13 major business sectors, offers advertisers the opportunity to assess their performance against market standards, and can guide them in developing their digital acquisition strategies.
Topics covered by the 2025 Affiliation Barometer
Affiliation, a booming market
The year 2024 saw remarkable growth in e-commerce in France (+9.6% according to FEVAD), directly benefiting affiliate marketing. This acquisition channel has confirmed its effectiveness, with a spectacular 28% increase in the number of merchants having launched an affiliation program, representing 1,072 new players on the market. This dynamic reflects the growing recognition of affiliation as an essential performance lever.
This expansion is accompanied by a diversification of merchant profiles: Direct Brands (D2C), B2B players and niche specialists are multiplying, offering affiliates a richer and more varied range of partnerships. The cultural, sports, entertainment and home improvement sectors stand out among these new entrants, opening up specific opportunities for specialized affiliates.
With 5,000 companies now active in affiliation, the market is reaching a threshold of maturity, affirming its central role in the digital ecosystem.
The challenges of a changing market
This rapid growth nevertheless comes with major challenges. One of the key issues remains the attribution of conversions and sales, a subject made more complex by the RGPD and the gradual disappearance of third-party cookies. Industry players must therefore rethink their performance measurement and evaluation models.
Another challenge is the changing rules imposed by Google, notably the new site reputation abuse policy, which has already penalized some coupon sites. Cashback control is also undergoing a major transformation, with the Collectif pour les Acteurs du Marketing Digital (CPA) drawing up a charter aimed at framing these practices and guaranteeing greater transparency.
Influence and artificial intelligence: the new engines of affiliate growth
At the same time, the affiliate market is evolving with the emergence of new uses, notably influencer marketing and artificial intelligence (AI).
Affiliation is now an integral part of influencer strategies, enabling content creators to monetize their audience in a more fluid and measurable way. The rise of TikTok Shop Affiliate illustrates this trend, offering brands a powerful channel for authentic, engaging recommendations.
Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, is profoundly transforming affiliation:
- New sources of traffic with the rise of AI-based search engines.
- Automate and personalize content (texts, visuals, videos) for greater agility.
- Intelligent program and product recommendations for affiliates.
- Emergence of new types of affiliates, with conversational platforms incorporating real-time suggestions.
Although these technologies are still in their infancy in the affiliate market, their impact promises to be considerable.
Affiliation and CSR: towards more responsible advertising
Last but not least, today’s affiliation industry is faced with growing expectations in terms of responsible advertising and the reduction of digital’s carbon footprint. More and more advertisers are looking for more ethical and eco-responsible solutions, influencing the sector’s technological and strategic choices.
Key figures and sector analyses from the Affiliation Barometer 2025
But the Affiliation Barometer is eagerly awaited each year for its key figures and specific analyses of the different sectors:
- B2B
- Mode
- Beauty/Health/Hygiene
- Cultural/Leisure Products
- High Tech/Home appliances
- Power supply/Drive
- Sport
- Games/Toys
- Travel
- House/Garden
- Auto Parts
- Telecom
- Banking/Finance/Insurance/Energy
For each sector, the Affiliation Barometer 2025 offers :
- Key figures: average commission, number of advertisers analyzed, average basket, conversion rate, mobile sales and return on investment.
- An analysis of the sector: trends, challenges and opportunities.
- Breakdown of sales by type of publisher: cashback, creators, good deals, comparators, etc.
- Advertiser testimonials.
This year’s Affiliation Barometer 2025 paints a picture of a dynamic and promising market, but one that is also facing profound changes. Adaptability, technological innovation and responsibility will be the keys to success for those players who know how to take advantage of these transformations.
A look back at the previous edition of the Affiliation Barometer
If you’d like a comparison, you can also download the 2024 Affiliate Marketing Barometer. As a reminder, the results revealed a positive year for this channel, with strong growth from the first half of 2023, with an increase of 10% on the previous year according to the SRI (Syndicat des Régies Internet). This performance places affiliation at the top of the list of digital acquisition channels in terms of growth. By the end of the year, the affiliation market was showing annual growth of +7% compared with 2022, well above the +2% recorded the previous year. In addition, despite a slight drop in the average shopping basket from €100 to €80, the number of sales was up 37% on the previous year. Another reason for the good health of affiliate sales was the successful management of the end of third-party cookies. As a result, 2024 proved to be a record year in terms of sales generated by the affiliation channel.
