Daily Mail begins to roll out affiliate initiative
The Mail Online has begun rolling out an affiliate initiative which will link editorial content to online vendors.
The move will see links provided to fashion items and other products mentioned on the website, and comes as owner DMGT looks to drive revenue growth.
Mel Scott, commercial director at Mail Online told the FT: “The feeling was that we wanted to give something back to the reader, who was asking us: ‘Where does Amanda Holden’s silver skirt come from?’ We will make affiliate revenue around it but the editorial integrity will be absolutely key.
“We have had massive click throughs to look at the product and massive click throughs into the suggested products.”
Discussing the affiliate inititative, Mark Haviland, MD at Rakuten Marketing commented: “The popularity of online shopping coupled with an extremely powerful media platform like Mail Online, which attracts over eight million users a month, will create an invaluable channel for retailers selling online. This affiliate marketing platform is a fantastic compliment to the existing players in the CPA space, combining a content rich experience, that is highly sociable and relevant, but also connected to popular fashion and shopping trends.
“The ‘Kate effect’ shows that celebrity endorsement isn’t going to go out of fashion and this latest industry development allows brands to make it easy for shoppers to instantly buy the same items as their favourite celebs or designers. Looking ahead, I’m sure that traditional publishing houses will continue to see the CPA model as a valued compliment to existing revenue streams, not just for the commercial opportunity, but also for the richness in experience it can offer readers. The ‘Read, Share & Shop’ publishing model is in its early years, but has a bright future ahead.”