The Future of Poker Affiliate Programs

Here are my thoughts

Poker Affiliate Programs - The Future of Poker Affiliate Programs

[Ritch111]

Jeremy,

Great article. Look at the banner above. 30% revenue sharing.

This will never change with the little guys. As for companies offering $150+ per sign up, they are switching to revenue sharing now. Poker Rooms understand that a lot of the whales are taken at this point and are offering revenue sharing on a nickle and dime player is well worth it over a $150 CPA bonus, plus potential bonanazas.

I still feel that rakeback is where the market is going. Companies have already tried to cancel their rakeback programs, only to find the max exodous of players to a different room.

Rolling with the punches in this industry is one of the most difficult things.
Search Engine rankings, Chargebacks, CPA cancellations, Player moves, Poker room buyouts, etc.

It's a great business, but always keep your options in front of you.

Ritch

[NeverBeg]

Great article jeremy, sounds like everything your saying in it is right on. I too find the industry as being a great one for all of us but still very far from perfect. As you said in your article someone really needs to set the 'gold standard' for affiliate statistics, everything right now is very much on an 'honor system' which eventually should be kinked out if this industry wants to progress. It will also be interesting to see what rake back affiliates influence on the market will be in the months and years to come.

[PPP]

Originally posted by Ritch111@Dec 17 2005, 04:38 PM
I still feel that rakeback is where the market is going. Companies have already tried to cancel their rakeback programs, only to find the max exodous of players to a different room.

Not anywhere I've seen. Sorry, but the reverse is plainly obviously true (people aren't fleeing Party to go to the old skins, its the other way around). The bigger get bigger and more powerful, and all the bigger cardrooms have no interest at all in rakeback. It's an bizarre concept (if they want to have lower rake, they can just lower the rake, duh).

Most of the rest of the bigger rooms are joining Party and the sites that have had good business models from the beginning (Paradise, Pokerstars). The desperate and marginal cling to rakeback as a hope to become competitive, but they don't. The fact that you can run a skin these days with little money means that marginal sites will continue with more outrageous efforts to gain player's attention, but that ignores the basic rule of running poker games, which is players mostly want good games. Everything else pales in comparison.