Affiliate Hypothesis

Turn Every Commercial Link into Revenue Despite processing billions in transactions, affiliate marketing remains misunderstood and underutilized. Many advertisers leave money on the table by ignoring this performance-based channel, while content creators miss opportunities to monetize the value they generate. The Affiliate Hypothesis: Universal Link Monetization to Save the Open Web presents a bold vision: the Affiliate Hypothesis argues that every commercially relevant link should generate fair compensation for the creator who shared it. Inside, you will discover: How affiliate marketing compares to walled gardens and programmatic advertisingWhy traditional media buyers overlook this channelHow to evaluate platforms, networks, and affiliate typesWhat separates high-performing programs from mediocre onesHow AI and zero-click search will reshape digital marketing.Written by an industry pioneer with experience spanning Zappos, Shoes.com, Edmunds.com, the Performance Marketing Association, the agency Schaaf-PartnerCentric, and FMTC, this book provides the knowledge advertisers, agencies, and creators need to capture the full value of their commercial content.

BROOK SCHAAF is CEO of FMTC, a provider of content, data, and workflows for affiliate marketers. The company has served the ecosystem since 2007, working with over 20,000 merchant programs and most top-tier deal and reward affiliates in English-speaking markets. Schaaf began his affiliate marketing career at Zappos in 2000 and later cofounded Schaaf-PartnerCentric, which became a leading affiliate management agency. He cofounded the Performance Marketing Association and served as its second president. A UC Berkeley graduate, he resides in Texas Hill Country.