I am frequently asked how many active affiliates are out there, but I’ve never seen any definitive number.
The LinkShare site says they’ve got “over 10 million partnerships”, but what does that back into in terms of active affiliates?
In the past, Amazon touted having nearly a million or so affiliates, but I’ve got to wonder how many ever put up a single link, and beyond that, how many earned a commission check?
Personally, I’d guess there are 100,000 or so affiliates that are making some money, any money – say a check at least once a year.
Recently, I posed this question on my affiliate manager forum, and nearly 50% of affiliate managers pegged the number of active affiliates at less than 100,000.