EGR announces Power Affiliates 2011

For the second consecutive year, leading online gaming publication eGaming Review (EGR) has announced plans to rank the world’s “most powerful and influential” gaming affiliates.
So, what’s the criteria for choosing those affiliates? The criteria is staying similar to last year, EGR explains, focusing on “monthly income and traffic, conversion from registrations to new depositors, and quality of website and traffic.”
In addition, this year’s awards will look at payment processing, as well as other finer points of affiliate networks and affiliate performance.
“While research for this piece reinforced affiliates’ continuing centrality and importance to the egaming sector today, ongoing developments in the past year look set to pose challenges to the tried-and-tested affiliate model in the next 12 months,” EGR explains.
“Paramount among these is the rise of regulated dot.country markets. Affiliates, after all, proved their value to the industry by acquiring customers in grey territories yet to formulate egaming regulations which characterised the industry’s first dot.com era. With operators’ ability to openly market and acquire periodically being disputed and constrained, this was where affiliates came into their own.”
“Affiliates can still promote in regulated markets but they may have less choice of who they promote, while those that promote the commission structures may or may not be equal to what they’ve experienced before, depending on the commercial approach the operator has taken,” said Nicky Senyard of Income Access.
The EGR article points out that regulated markets present opportunities to affiliates just as they present difficulties, and points to French affiliate Rue des Jouers as an ideal example of an affiliate succeeding quickly in a newly regulated market.
Also expected to impact this year’s decision is the action by Full Tilt and PokerStars last year to cap rakeback commissions and purchase affiliate portals (including PokerPages.com).
The Power Affiliates list has begun publication on the EGR site; check out the first installment here.