It's Time for 2024 to Die Hard #60

2024 Recap

2024 has been a great year, but not without its challenges.

It was an improbable 🇺🇸 election year, with the Paris 🇫🇷 Olympics, 🎤 Swifties, a challenged but resilient US economy 🏦 grappling with higher inflation rates, quality job scacity, and, of course, more investment, wins, and momentum for the affiliate marketing industry and our team at RBL.

E-Comm, Performance Marketing, and Agencies got hit with their share of challenges, and RBL was no different.

2024 was challenging and rough at times. In some ways, 2024 reminds us of the brilliant - fierce nemesis John McClain faced in Die Hard - Hans Gruber.

TL;DR

• 🔍️ Google came after many content affiliate partners

• 🛍️ TikTok Shops continue to rip while facing an existential crisis in the US

• 🗞️ PR, Affiliate, and Influencer marketing are competing and aligning.

• 🤑 Costs went up across the board in performance marketing, especially in Google and Meta.

• 💼 B2B Partner Marketing is thriving

• 🏆️ RBL won Boutique Agency of the Year, reached its tenth anniversary, and was named a top-30 global affiliate agency.

• 🙏 Ultimately, we prevailed, scoring some big awards, building a world-class, talented team, landing some whale clients, and growing profitability yet again.

Content Challenged

Google continues to roll out algorithm updates that negatively impact content affiliates, underscoring the importance of diversification/ and supporting our long-held thesis that you cannot overly rely on one partner or even one type of partner in affiliate marketing.

The RBL team analyzed a cohort of content sites in 2024, and we observed a 10% traffic decline - almost the same as Kevin Indig and other SEO experts in the field looking at more extensive data sets. We outlined our findings here:

1. March 2024 Core Update:

   • This was one of Google's most significant updates, focusing on reducing low-quality and AI-generated content cluttering search results. Google aimed to cut spammy content by 40%, penalizing sites engaging in "scaled content abuse," where large volumes of unoriginal material were produced primarily for search rankings.

   • The update also emphasized aligning content with user intent and rewarding high-quality, relevant material while demoting pages that lacked depth or originality.

2. September 2024 Changes:

   • Google began penalizing sections of websites that deviated starkly from their central theme. This targeted affiliate-heavy or off-brand sections, such as product reviews or lifestyle advice, which were seen as disconnected from the site's core identity.

   • The algorithm prioritized expertise over general authority, affecting publishers with diverse subdomains or affiliate-driven content

3. AI Overview (AIO) Changes:

   • AIO updates introduced larger shopping-related panels and ads, pushing organic search results lower on the page. This reduced visibility for traditional organic content, particularly in shopping and research-phase queries.

   • AIO became more precise in displaying concise answers and prioritized educational over step-by-step guidance, further shifting traffic patterns away from traditional organic results

4. Negative Impact Several major publishers experienced declines in search visibility and organic traffic throughout 2024:

   • CNN Underscored: Search visibility dropped by 63%.

   • Forbes Advisor: Declined by 43%.

   • WSJ Buy-Side: Fell by 77%.

   • Fortune Recommends: Decreased by 72%.

   • Time Stamped: Suffered a staggering 97% drop

   • BBC News Lost 37% of its visibility score during the March update.

   • Screenrant: Experienced a 40% decline in visibility.

   • Other affected outlets included Marketwatch Guides, AP News, and Buyline.

Notably, even established names like The Guardian (-10%), Mail Online (-14%), and the New York Times (-8%) suffered visibility losses during the March update, indicating widespread impact across the media landscape.

But, content is far from dead. It's challenged, and it will evolve.

Ok, now that you have the SEO and Content Pro approach, you need the affiliate approach:

Diversify, Diversify, Diversify.

This content challenge from Google underscores the need to tap into all of the many affiliate marketing partner types here:

This is a great snapshot of top partners in each vertical. Still, our team has a proprietary partner database of over 10,000 partners with data performance to inform the right outcome and partner matchmaking for clients.

AI

• AI is eating the world, and it is coming for marketing.

• I hosted a panel here in Austin during Tech Week at the Capital Factory, and we highlighted just some of the tools and where we are now

Gartner Hype Cycle: Where Are We?

Leaderboard

Convergence of PR Affiliate Influencer

More and more teams are aligning and consolidating. There is some hype and excitement here. This is business as usual for those who have been in this game for 20 years. We have always encouraged and facilitated wins and a complementary team approach to dividing and conquering across PR, Influencers, and Affiliates. The secret here is tech tracking and attribution alignment, role clarity, and clearly defining each vertical with specific, measurable goals.

Trust & Authenticity Wins

This may be the biggest change we are witnessing, among many others, in technology, growth, media, and business.

A tectonic shift is taking place, and people are no longer as trusting in brands, media, government, authority, and businesses. This downward trend has led to a Trust Gap, which requires a new way of thinking about communication and marketing.

If you are not fully tapping into affiliates, influencers, and creators to get individual authentic voices to talk about your brand, then you are doing it wrong.

The need for trusted third-party partners to speak highly of you and your brand is having a moment and it has gone beyond affiliate and performance marketing circles.

Consider yourself up to speed! Stay tuned, as we will have a lot more to come on the topic of TRUST to unlock growth for your brand.

RBL Wins!

2024 was our BEST YEAR YET!

• We won Boutique Agency of the Year

• Reached 10-year mark

• Named top 30 global affiliate agency

• RBL flywheel newsletter drops our 59th issue

• Always Be Testing podcast hits 65 episodes

  • Spotify

  • Apple

  • YouTube 

• Client Hit List: Grammarly, Atlassian, Maximus, Future Fit, Ritual, Hunter Bell, Sticker Giant, YouMail, TextNow, Allivet, DoorLoop, Hemmings, Scotch Porter, Cruise America, and Swissklip to name a few!

TikTok Shops continues to thrive.

We have some TikTok enthusiasts on the team and have secured some sizable wins for clients. While their future is at risk due to legislation in the US, the platform continues to perform.

TikTok Shop said it raked in over $100 million in sales on Black Friday this year.

• According to Polymarket, the estimated likelihood of a TikTok ban in the U.S. by the end of 2024 is approximately 5%, while the chance of a ban occurring before May 2025 is slightly higher at 28%.

• As the possibility of a TikTok ban increases, it presents a significant opportunity for Meta and TikTok, right?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Results

We analyzed the RBL client portfolio results for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Traffic was costlier, but results (revenue CPA ROAS North Star metrics) were better.

The window of discounts and buying seems to be changing from the day after Thanksgiving to Nov + Dec.

Black Friday + Cyber Monday —> Cyber 5 —> November December.

Black Friday ROAS was up 162% YOY
Cyber Monday ROAS was up 90% YOY

AWIN shares some of their key data points with how Cyber Performed versus 2023:

B2B Is the fastest-growing vertical in affiliate

We see fascinating and positive signals from Atlassian, Grammarly, and others in the SaaS and B2B space.

Long Form Meme

We invented the long-form meme genre. 😉 

The Barnstormers

We rolled out an epic partner program to reward fans of the newsletter, pod, and our great work over the past 10 years. Are you a “barnstormer”?

Earn 10% of revenue for 6 months for clients you send our way, and you'll get Free Merch!

Treat Yo’ Self to the Merch

Head to our Shopify store and Enter code RBL50 at checkout to get 50% as a RBL Flywheel subscriber 🙂 

That is all for now! It was a great year, but it’s time to turn the page…