AdTech Study on Payment Hurdles Affecting Publishers and Affiliate Marketers

Publisher Loyalty Is Heavily Correlated with Seamless Payment Experiences

San Mateo, CA, July 13, 2017 – Tipalti, the leading global payments automation solution, today released findings from a new survey of publishers and affiliates that showcases the biggest complications faced when receiving commissions from their digital media networks. The research highlights how critical the payment experience is to ensure loyalty and maintain long-term relationships between publishers, affiliates, and their advertising network partners.

In a study conducted between January and April 2017 and spanning over 150 publishers and affiliates worldwide, the “Publisher Payment Satisfaction Survey” revealed that 69 percent of publishers are ready to drop or have already dropped an advertising network because of a payment issue.

With over 50,000 different media buying destinations for advertisers, there is extensive competition for affiliate and publisher mindshare. Tipalti’s study suggests that if a publisher is unsatisfied with their payment experience, they will likely switch to another network, because there are so many options available.

A wide range of improvements must be made to the publisher and affiliate payments experience.  51 percent of publishers say that current payment processes need improvement and an additional 10 percent say they’re unsatisfactory. The study also indicated the need for greater communication and self-service tools, particularly around payments.

These key findings include:

• 95 percent of publishers expect to be paid on time to ensure loyalty, however only 38 percent of respondents were completely satisfied with the way their payments were currently being handled.
• 76 percent of publishers want multiple global payment method options, including ACH and PayPal, with the majority of non-US publishers desiring the ability to be paid in their local bank transfer (Global ACH) and currency.
• 93 percent of responders said that communications such as email notifications on payment status updates are crucial, while 96 percent would like the ability to view payment status online.
• 96 percent state that being notified of payment issues in advance is important.

Early payments are also key to deepening publisher loyalty. 85.7 percent of respondents showed significant interest in being able to easily access early payments offers. They would also be willing to pay for it; 29 percent of respondents are willing to pay up to 5 percent in fees for the capability and 13 percent of them are willing to pay up to a 9 percent fee. As more networks are moving to pay in greater frequencies, an implementation of early payments is something publishers expressed considerable interest in.

“As advertising networks around the world battle to compete with Facebook and Google for market share of the digital media landscape, the quality of those networks’ publishers and affiliate marketers becomes their essential differentiator,” said Chen Amit, CEO of Tipalti. “Publishers and affiliates have an abundance of network choice, and networks must clearly step up their payments offerings to attract and retain the best partners. Those networks that settle for low quality partners will likely not survive this shakeup.”