As the influencer industry matures, marketers everywhere are emphasizing control and accountability in their creative marketing strategies. Advertisers starting or growing affiliate creator programs is one sign of that change.
Walmart’s creator affiliate program has expanded “exponentially” in the two years since it was introduced in October 2023, according to Sarah Henry, head of social commerce. With both the overall income generated through the program and the amount of money distributed to participating creators rising over the past year, the retailer’s creator program has grown in significance within the company’s larger creator marketing strategy, she added.
It’s not just the retailer. Between 2025 and 2026, affiliate marketing spending—which includes both traditional affiliate spending and creator affiliate spending—will rise by 10.1% to $13.2 billion. According to eMarketer, affiliate income for artists quadrupled from $570 million to $1.1 billion between 2021 and 2024.
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Walmart’s creator program now has “tens of thousands” of creators, ranging from mega-celebrities to micro-creators with a few thousand followers, according to Henry, who declined to provide exact numbers.
“We’ve seen a significant increase in our affiliate activity across our influencer affiliate networks, content partners, and Walmart Creator as our own platform,” she said. “Walmart Creator undoubtedly plays a significant role in that.”
“A vital part of a contemporary marketing strategy”
In summary, affiliate programs operate differently from a regular creator roster in that brands pay influencers based on sales commissions or another conversion metric rather than the content they produce or the reach they can provide. According to Mae Karwowski, founder of the WPP-owned creative firm Obviously, the strategy frequently appeals to retailers with direct-to-consumer business models or to marketers who are otherwise focused on performance channels.
For instance, the denim company American Eagle launched its “Live Your Life” affiliate program in March. Under this program, designers can create unique internet storefronts with carefully chosen American Eagle merchandise and get a percentage of every sale.
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The affiliate program will be implemented this week as part of a larger campaign that includes CTV, sponsored social investments on Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat, as well as creator engagement, as the brand launches a significant summer campaign spearheaded by a collaboration with actress Sydney Sweeney. “For a retailer, this is the next frontier,” CMO Craig Bommers told Digiday.
In April, the big-box retailer Best Buy started a similar initiative. The brand’s chief marketing and design officer, Jennie Weber, told Digiday’s sister site Modern Retail that “creators are a critical component of a modern marketing plan.” “We observed that the market was trending in this direction, with an increasing number of customers using social media platforms for search.”
“Affiliate was viewed as [just] a caption and a coupon code.” According to Krishna Subramanian, co-founder of Captiv8, “it’s much more of a broader strategy now to drive measurable outcomes, incentivize conversion, and really extend the value of creator content.”
Competition among the creators
In other instances, companies are growing their affiliate programs, frequently by elevating the money offered, to attract more influencers to join. For instance, Amazon’s retail division increased the income it provides to creators who have joined its affiliate network in the lead-up to the four-day Prime Day event. According to Adweek, sales commissions for grooming and beauty products increased from 3% to 6%, signifying a notable rise in the platform’s influencer expenditure.
The main tool accessible to marketers seeking to expand their affiliate creator operations is raising the remuneration offered to creators. Ryan Detert, CEO of the Publicis Groupe creator agency Influential, added that there is fierce rivalry among retail companies to hire enough of the proper kind of creative.
“The purpose of spending more money is to draw in more scale,” Detert stated. “You’re vying for customers’ attention to purchase your goods, as well as affiliates’ attention to persuade customers to do so.”
After all, creators who are in the sweet spot of having between 50,000 and 100,000 followers are not found on trees. In other words, “Every beauty brand in North America has an ambassador and affiliate program,” according to Joe Gagliese, co-CEO of Viral Nation. You must pick one if you are a little or mid-sized maker and that is how you earn your living. You’re not capable of doing 85.
They face competition from the larger creator economy in addition to traditional shops. The maturation of the industry may be pushing businesses to demand greater rigor from their creators, but it also means that influencers have other sources of income that aren’t all related to brand work. According to Thomas Markland, CEO of the creative agency HYDP, “they’ll become far less dependent on brands.”
Yet, companies like Walmart continue to view affiliate creator programs as a crucial tool for expanding and closely examining creative marketing.
Compared to upper-funnel choices like non-affiliate branded content, affiliate programs enable marketers to more accurately assess the effectiveness of their influencer marketing expenditure because they produce easily measurable conversions in the form of clicks and transactions.
“The truth is that Walmart Creator, in particular, and creator marketing in general wear many hats and play many roles across that funnel and across our objectives,” Henry stated. “We are seeing very direct GMV [gross merchandise value] and sales come from creators’ social posts that they are then paid out of commission on, so in some cases, it is driving performance-oriented conversions.”
It is worthwhile to compete for every dollar in an economy where marketers must account as precisely as possible for each one.
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