Will the last affiliate network please switch out the light?
Google Affiliate Network is here. The end is nigh, time for networks to settle commission checks, book holiday and revamp the CV. Or is it? In certain camps people have suggested that this will impact affiliates more than networks but from where I’m standing it’s the networks that have just been bowled a googly ;)
Ok, so we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. It’s very very early days and besides, it wasn’t that long ago that Froogle was going to kill off Affiliate Marketing and look what happened there!
It appears to me that it could be the “traditional affiliate networks” that could feel the most impact if this thing ever gains enough momentum. Between Adwords and Adsense Google have the largest Merchant / Publisher network in the world. That’s one hell of a competitor to enter “your market”.
As it stands the Google Affiliate Network (GAN?) hasn’t even moved away from it’s performics / ConnectCommerce branding to an official Google Product yet but just thinking out load here…
If Google could leverage just a fraction of merchants who use Adwords and push CPA deals all under the same roof then the resulting number of merchants available to affiliates would be huge!
On the flip side, the ability for small SME’s to run adwords and an affiliate programme all though a single account would be fantastic. Especially for those merchants that are unable to afford some of the larger setup up fees and overrides or simply don’t feel comfortable with affiliate marketing.
From an agency/merchant perspective I’m wondering if there will be some form of deduplication between the CPA’s on the content network and the CPC’s on the search network?
What kind of knock on effect might this have on existing affiliate networks? Will the management fees and overrides have to be reworked in order to compete with the CPA’s that Google Affiliate Network could produce?
What about support? I very much doubt affiliatesupport@google.com will ever be able to compete the face to face contact and support offered by some of the leading affiliate networks but who knows what tricks Google has up it’s sleeves.
So what are you’re thoughts? Good? Bad? Business as usual?
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Hi Paul,
Interesting article but I think we need to wait to see how this pans out over the long term. I see this as a positive move in that the big G have finally signalled their stance re affiliate marketing. The big danger was that Google would decide that they didn’t like affiliates and effectively kill the industry overnight. However this move seems to indicate that they believe in the channel and will look to “support” it going forward.
We obviously all appreciate the power that Google holds and whether they will initiate a sea change in the industry as we know it going forward remains to be seen. However this is a resilient industry and at least they seem to be condoning the model.
If it goes as you say Paul, then the networks will indeed need to sharpen up their game. However I think the Google network will always be an auxiliary channel for both merchants and affiliates, rather than the be all and end all. I think that the large networks will need to more visibly be seen to add value through their account management and individual relationships with merchants and affiliates.
It’s an interesting development though, and one that I’m sure we’ll all be watching intently. An interesting point to note will be whether Google set themselves up as an affiliate on the network and look to be rewarded on a CPA basis rather than CPC??
Matt
Not sure about this new Google affiliate network thing. Really do not think it will greatly change the way we do business. The big affiliate networks have been around for a while and have established a relationship with their affiliate army
I am watching this space
I think it is an interesting move by Google, there has always been the chance that they would turn their back on affiliates and shut them out but setting up their would suggest that they support affiliate networks and their promotion long term. I do think as said networks will need to watch Google and try and stay ahead of the game. Hopefully everyone can stay happy!