Affiliate Roundup: Ask.com Shuts Down, Reddit Ad Revenue Surges, Creator Marketing Goes Mainstream, & More

This week in FMTC’s Affiliate Roundup: Ask.com has shut down after nearly 30 years. Reddit’s ad revenue is surging as AI boosts performance. Creator marketing is becoming a core media channel.

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• Rakuten and impact.com are forming a strategic alliance to create a unified global affiliate platform, combining technology, data, and managed services, signaling further consolidation in partnership marketing.

• Ask.com, one of the web’s earliest search engines, has shut down after nearly 30 years, marking the end of a pioneer in conversational search that predated today’s AI assistants.

• Reddit reported a 75% jump in ad revenue as user growth and AI-powered ad tools boost performance, showing social platforms gaining as AI disrupts the broader web.

• Marketing mix models are structurally biased against affiliate, often undervaluing its impact due to steady spend patterns and multi-touch influence that’s hard to capture in traditional models.

• As agencies shift toward pay-for-performance models, the industry may need a neutral “referee” to validate outcomes and resolve disputes over attribution, pricing, and accountability.

• Creator marketing is now a core media channel, with brands shifting budgets as AI reshapes discovery and search growth slows.

• UK affiliate marketing spend has surged to £1.8B, delivering over £20B in revenue and reinforcing the channel’s strong ROI and growing role beyond last-click attribution.