While I can't speak directly for Chad, based on my discussions with him, I believe he is talking specifically about the affiliate network model we applied with building, growing, and maintaining
PeerFly. The first two sentences in that paragraph are the most important in my opinion:
Affiliate marketing is alive and well. However, the particular model that PeerFly was built on no longer represents the most efficient or cost-effective method for generating new sales and leads for advertisers.
We simply cannot make the business model we created work anymore. It worked for years and was very successful, but because of decisions we have made along the way, that same model simply doesn't work today. We tried to fix it, but we weren't successful.
I agree with Chad that affiliate marketing is alive and well today. That's one of the things that makes closing PeerFly so hard. We've made it through multiple low points in the industry over the past 11 years. At one point, PeerFly was making a majority of it's revenue from email submits. Then, within just a few months, regulations were pushed through and many of the email submit companies we were working with shut down. PeerFly ended up paying out A LOT of money to publishers that we were never paid by clients who simply closed their doors. Both the industry and PeerFly adjusted to that change and continued forward. A similar thing happened with the dating vertical once dating mobile apps got more popular. It took awhile for the traditional dating sites to make that change. There was a drastic decrease in the revenue generated and the entire industry saw a bit of a lull.
I do not believe affiliate marketing is going anywhere. The model is too attractive to companies that know how to manage an affiliate program. Affiliates are the marketing backbone. We do all the work while the company we are marketing for gets a majority of the benefit. Want proof? Start marketing your affLIFT referral link and I'll pay you whatever you want whenever you want for new paying members lol
There are outside factors that will disrupt the industry. There are also outside factors that will make things better in the industry. A few years ago, Booking brought their affiliate program into our industry by creating a CPA offer. I know affiliates who literally made millions of dollars from that alone. Lately, people have been making a TON of money with push notifications.
I believe that Facebook overall has hurt the industry over the past year or two. But, prior to that, Facebook benefited the industry tremendously. Years ago, Google was a big benefit to the industry. Not as much today.
So, what will be the next Facebook/Google to help drive business in the affiliate marketing industry? I'm not sure, but I have a feeling we'll be ahead of the curve here on affLIFT because we have thousands of people looking for it and ready to execute