Why advertisers are moving affiliate programs in-house
In recent years, many advertisers have been bringing their affiliate programs in-house — a major shift compared to the early days when most relied entirely on networks. The reasons are understandable:
Control and efficiency
With affiliate revenues growing, advertisers want direct control: the ability to interact with affiliates directly, adjust commissions immediately, and view performance data without a middleman. All valid.
In-house expertise
No one knows your business better than you do. When you have all the data across all channels, you're best placed to interpret it and act accordingly.
No one-size-fits-all solution
Affiliate networks often don't know your business, your vision, or your long-term goals well enough. They suggest affiliates, channels, and traffic sources that may generate clicks — but don't necessarily fit your brand or deliver valuable customer actions. Leading advertisers build tailored partnerships aligned with their strategy instead of relying on generic network solutions.
Transparency
Knowing exactly where traffic is coming from is essential for understanding what drives long-term customer value. Some networks provide zero transparency on publisher identity. Others use this opacity as a gatekeeping mechanism between publisher and advertiser — which serves the network, not the advertiser.
The problems with going fully in-house
While the arguments for in-housing are valid, going 100% in-house isn't without its own challenges. Technology providers often oversell what their platforms can deliver. The basic tools available across all affiliate platforms are more similar than different — it's not rocket science.
More importantly, many advertisers who try to in-house everything quickly realise that mundane account management tasks — publisher payouts, recruitment, tracking, reporting — are things affiliate networks simply do better at scale.
The truth is in the middle: The Partnership Hub
Combining the best of both worlds is the way forward. What works is a hybrid model — a Partnership Hub — that takes the strengths of both in-housing and networks and discards the weaknesses.
In a Partnership Hub:
Control and efficiency — You can control everything either directly or through your account manager. Data is consolidated. Publishers are monitored. Payouts happen on time.
In-house expertise — You bring your deep business knowledge. GrowthLift brings affiliate industry insights and access to partners you wouldn't have on your own.
Tailored strategy — The best results come from combining the expertise of all parties under one roof, with a clear division of labour.
Full transparency — Any partner that doesn't give you complete transparency — including full contact details of publishers when needed — is either suspect or not serving your interests.
Conclusions
The current debate is too polarised. Neither 100% in-house nor 100% outsourced is optimal for most advertisers. The truth is in the middle: a balance and synergy between the advertiser's insight, the publisher's reach, and a platform that connects both transparently.
GrowthLift is built on this Partnership Hub philosophy — giving advertisers full control, complete transparency, and the infrastructure to make it work at scale.
