A year in review
This year has been a breakout year for impact.com and for the partnership economy as a whole. The way people discover, research, and buy continues to evolve rapidly, and in this shifting landscape, trust has emerged as the most valuable currency. Brands that listen, learn, and connect authentically with the communities that shape them are the ones that win.
Our global team of over 1,200 people across 20 offices has been at the center of this evolution, helping brands expand into new types of partnerships, from creators to customer advocates. With nearly 350,000 active partnerships and over 5,000 clients on our platform this year, we’ve connected brands with the voices that drive real decisions and deliver measurable growth.
This past year has reinforced a simple truth: the old ways of marketing no longer suffice. Consumers are in control, and they turn to peers, creators, and communities for guidance more than ever before. This fundamental shift is pushing brands to reassess their approach to performance marketing entirely—not just how they spend, but how they invest in building influence, trust, and meaningful connections.
Reimagining performance marketing
Before we look to the future, it’s important to recognize the moment we’re in. Marketing is changing rapidly. Reaching audiences is more expensive, and earning trust is more challenging than ever. In 2025 alone, global ad spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion, with more than $600 billion of that pouring into performance channels like paid search, social, and programmatic display. Yet even as brands spend more, audiences are tuning out, and returns are shrinking. It’s a massive disconnect, and one of the biggest misallocations of resources in modern marketing.
Consumers no longer respond to brands’ claims of being “the best.” They want proof and authentic recommendations. In fact, 89% of people trust personal recommendations over any ad, and 70% of Gen Z and Millennials won’t trust a brand without doing their own research. AI is accelerating this shift, reshaping how consumers discover and interact with products. Personalized, AI-powered search is reducing web traffic by up to 25%, and forcing marketers to rethink their approach to reaching audiences.
All of these trends point to one thing: the center of gravity in marketing has fundamentally altered. The old linear AIDA funnel—awareness, interest, desire, action—has given way to a more dynamic, flywheel-like journey that spans discovery, research, engagement, conversion, retention, and advocacy. Marketing is no longer a one-way conversation from brand to consumer; it moves peer-to-peer through communities, and it extends a consumer’s journey post-conversion. Winning a sale is no longer enough to drive self-sustaining growth.
Creators, affiliates, and customer advocates are central to this ecosystem. Consumers spend nearly 19 hours per week on social platforms, and every interaction adds momentum. Today, the word “creator” extends beyond influencers with millions of followers—anyone producing commerce-related content, from reviews to affiliate articles, shapes discovery and drives measurable impact across the journey.
And the results speak for themselves. OLIPOP, the prebiotic soda brand, generated a 1,000% ROI on creator campaigns, with 12% of total sales driven by creators. PUMA doubled engagement and reduced CPA costs by up to 30% while scaling partnerships across Asia. Hamilton Beach increased reach by 20% through a mix of organic posts and targeted boosts. Even Unilever is shifting half of its media spend to social and creator partnerships, up from 10%. The future is clearly creator- and partnership-led.
At impact.com, we help brands reimagine performance marketing for this new reality. Our platform makes it easier to identify the right partners, optimize campaigns, and measure every interaction—turning partnerships into growth engines. Brands that succeed today listen more than they speak, earn trust rather than demand attention, and build authentic, lasting connections in the communities their customers value.
The influence of creators and AI
Two forces are powering this next chapter of marketing: creators and AI. Creators amplify authentic voices that guide purchase decisions, while AI provides the insights and intelligence to act faster and at scale. Together, they’re reshaping how partnerships are formed, measured, and optimized.
In 2025, we focused on turning trust into action through innovation. On the Creator side, product gifting is now faster and more intuitive. Brands can share entire product lines at once, while creators can quickly find what resonates with their audiences. Expanding partnerships is also easier: brands can invite out-of-network creators through Extended Search and Social Listening, while automated Social Monitoring reduces manual compliance work. These tools enable creators to focus on what they do best: building trust and sharing recommendations that influence purchases.
AI, meanwhile, is transforming performance across the ecosystem, but only when fueled by rich, connected data. Models alone aren’t enough; the advantage goes to those who leverage the most complete and integrated insights. impact.com processes more partner-referred revenue and partner payouts than our closest competitors combined, giving unmatched visibility into how consumers discover, decide, and make purchases. Every day, we capture signals across more than half a million websites, apps, and social properties, analyzing 250,000 new pieces of commerce content. This allows us to understand not just purchases, but the steps leading up to them: what people see, read, research, and share.
Our AI doesn’t just describe what happened—it predicts what’s next and prescribes the best course of action. Tools like ask impact, our AI-powered conversational interface, deliver instant guidance on partner selection, campaign optimization, contracts, integrations, and best practices. By automating heavy lifting, teams can focus on strategy, creativity, and relationship building.
The combination of creator influence and AI-driven intelligence is creating a smarter, faster, and more trusted partnership ecosystem. With insights from 5 billion e-commerce transactions and tens of billions in partner-referred revenue, brands can act on opportunities at scale. And this is just the beginning—2026 will bring even more AI innovations to help brands and creators work more efficiently and capture new opportunities across the global partnership economy.
A year of product innovations
While AI and creator innovations set the stage, we didn’t stop there. In 2025, we built on that momentum with new tools and capabilities to help brands manage relationships more seamlessly and unlock value across all types of partnerships.
This year, we added our foundational Creator and Advocate products to our core Performance solution. By integrating all three directly into the platform, our clients now get access to all capabilities with zero added friction—so teams can start working with creators and advocates right away. For enterprise teams ready to take their collaboration to the next level, our Premium versions unlock advanced workflows and tools.
Across the Performance product, we introduced tools to protect, optimize, and simplify affiliate programs, including automated partner re-engagement and Event Risk reporting. Platform flexibility also improved with Scope API Access Tokens and Shopify consent management enhancements.
Advocate received a major refresh with a redesigned Program Editor, offering guided setup and a cleaner interface to simplify referral program management from start to finish.
We also launched our Retail Media Solution, entering one of the fastest-growing frontiers in digital advertising. Retail media spending in the U.S. is projected to more than double, from $60 billion in 2024 to over $130 billion by 2028. Yet most of that investment flows to crowded, bottom-funnel ads. Our solution establishes a performance-driven channel that connects brands, retailers, and partners through trusted content and measurable results. Brands can drive sales directly on retailer sites, leverage premium partner networks, and measure the impact of creators and publishers at scale with tools like Product Boost, Placement Campaigns, and Creator Accelerator.
Every update this year reflects our mission: to give brands and creators the tools they need to manage all partnerships more effectively and with measurable impact—unlocking their full potential in the process
Industry recognition
Our pioneering work hasn’t gone unnoticed. So far, impact.com has secured more than 30 awards and been shortlisted for a dozen more—a true testament to the innovation, creativity, and dedication of our teams and clients worldwide.
Some highlights include winning “Best Affiliate Marketing Program” at the Digiday Technology Awards for our partnership with Carhartt—our second consecutive win in that category—and being named “Best Overall Martech Company” by the Martech Breakthrough Awards, which celebrates the global leaders shaping the future of marketing, advertising, and commerce technology. The Partnership Economy podcast has also been recognized as a gold winner in the AVA Digital Awards, Signal Awards, and the Marcom Awards.
Awards are always that much sweeter when shared with our clients, whose collaboration and trust make these achievements possible. This year, we’ve been recognized for work alongside clients and agency partners, including Tombras and LaserAway, Hamilton Beach, Dreamday and ILIA Beauty, Acceleration Partners and TikTok, TUI, B&Q, Ellos, and many more.
Thought Leadership
And while awards reflect our impact, staying at the forefront of thought leadership ensures that we continue to drive innovation across the partnership ecosystem.
Our Partnership Economy podcast has surpassed 478,000 downloads as it wraps its sixth season, featuring insights from global brands like Getty Images, VistaPrint, and HelloSunshine, as well as creators like Brianna Doe. Each episode explores trends, strategies, and stories that help brands, creators, and publishers thrive.
Our flagship Partnerships Experience, or iPX, events also grew this year. Conferences in Austin, London, Sydney, and Shanghai brought together over 2,000 attendees and nearly 140 speakers, creating spaces for learning, sharing, and collaboration.
And research remains at the heart of our thought leadership. The “2025 Global State of Affiliate Marketing” report revealed key shifts in how partnerships are evolving. On average, brands now work with three to four different partner types, with creators driving the fastest growth. Most brands are increasing their partnership investments as marketing costs rise, and AI adoption has become nearly universal—powering customer experiences for brands, optimizing content for publishers, and enhancing creative workflows for creators.
We’ve also published additional benchmarks and insights, from the “2025 Mid-Year Industry Benchmark” report on consumer behavior, to the “Global Creator Shopping Survey” with eMarketer, the “Prime Day 2025 performance” report, and the “2025 eCommerce Influencer Marketing in Southeast Asia” report—arming brands with the knowledge to navigate market shifts and drive measurable results.
Every episode, report, and event is built to help our industry work smarter, make informed decisions, and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving world of partnerships.
Looking forward to 2026
As 2025 comes to a close, the partnership economy is stronger than ever, and the ways people discover, engage with, and buy products continue to evolve. Marketing is no longer a one-way conversation—trust, authenticity, and community are driving decisions.
Looking ahead to 2026, our focus remains clear: to help brands and creators harness this shift and reimagine performance marketing in a world where community-led influence and intelligent data-driven decisions define success. We’ll continue investing in platform innovations, expanding AI capabilities, and providing the tools, insights, and experiences that enable partnerships to thrive at every stage of the customer journey.
Thank you for being part of this journey. impact.com will be closing our offices for the final two weeks of the year, allowing our teams time to recharge and reflect. We’ll return ready to take on 2026 with renewed energy and a continued commitment to innovation, creativity, and measurable impact.
Here’s to a healthy, joyful, and prosperous 2026—where partnerships, trust, and authentic connections continue to shape the future of marketing.
