The Affiliate Marketing Podcast

Why Auto-Approving Affiliates in 2026 Is Like Leaving Your Front Door Wide Open If you're still auto-approving affiliate applications or letting every partner type into your program without a clear strategy, this episode explains exactly why that approach will cost you this year. Ishtvan Torpoi, known industry-wide as "that affiliate guy," joins Lee-Ann to unpack the MegaLag controv...

The Year Affiliate Marketing Proved Its Power While Rewriting All the Rules If you thought affiliate marketing was mature, predictable, or figured out, this year proved you spectacularly wrong. Lee-Ann Johnstone takes you inside the most transformative year our industry has ever experienced, where UK brands delivered £16 for every £1 invested while simultaneously watching 60% of searches end witho...

A Christmas Day Special Celebrating the Insights, Breakthroughs, and Bold Conversations That Defined Our Season Welcome to this very special Christmas Day edition of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast. Throughout Season 23, we dug deep into the engines behind impactful content, questioned the role of SEO and AI algorithms in a world that still craves human connection, and spotlighted the evolution of...

When Automation Becomes Dehumanisation (And How to Stop It Before You Lose Your Best Partners) If you're using AI to manage your affiliate program but wondering why engagement keeps dropping, this episode explains exactly what's going wrong. Leanna Klyne, Affiverse's Agency Director with 18 years in the trenches, joins Lee-Ann to dissect the hidden cost of over-automation. They expl...

Why Your Clicks Are Down But Your Impact Might Be Up If your affiliate traffic feels fragmented and you're wondering whether to panic about AI search, this episode cuts through the noise. Ewen Finser, CEO of ScaleVisible, shares battle-tested insights from managing over 100 websites through Google's algorithm upheavals and into the AI era. Lee-Ann and Ewen discuss why Reddit threads now...

Why Trading Programs That Move Fast Break Everything (And How Slow Growth Built a 115-Country Empire) If your affiliate program chases explosive growth with aggressive spend and flashy campaigns, this episode reveals why you might be building on sand. Yana Ivanova and Nir Iter from Exness share how they scaled from 18 to 115 countries not through brute force marketing, but through something radica...

Guest: Katie King , Author of AI Strategy for Sales and Marketing: Connecting Marketing, Sales and Customer Experience If you've been treating AI like a search engine or worrying you're falling behind, this episode cuts through the noise. Katie King, who's been tracking AI developments since 2019 and advises major brands like O2, Arsenal, and Virgin, joins Lee-Ann Johnstone to revea...

If your affiliate program has hundreds of inactive partners gathering dust, this episode reveals exactly how to bring them back. Alex Hitt, an affiliate marketer who built thriving communities of hundreds of active members, shares the hotel management principles he uses to create loyalty that goes far beyond commission payments. Lee-Ann and Alex discuss why most programs accidentally kill engageme...

In this episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with search industry veteran Colin Jeavons to unpack one of the most significant shifts in digital commerce since Google's CPC revolution.  With 25% of global search queries now bypassing Google in favour of AI-powered answer engines, affiliate managers and publishers face a crossroads: adapt to emerging channels...

In this episode, Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with Dennis Yu, CEO of BlitzMetrics and co-author of bestselling books on Facebook and TikTok advertising. With a billion dollars spent on social ads and clients including: Nike, Starbucks, and the Golden State Warriors, Dennis brings battle-tested insights on what actually works when technology threatens to commoditise every tactic.  This conversation...

What happens when passion meets persistence in affiliate marketing?  George Sullivan turned repeated program rejections into fuel for building The Sole Supplier—a content-first publisher that now drives millions in sales across Europe's biggest fashion retailers. In this candid conversation with host Lee-Ann Johnstone, George reveals the brutal early days of building an affiliate business, th...

In this essential episode, we sit down with Florin Simovici, CEO of TrafficManager and author of the industry's most comprehensive guide to building and managing affiliate programs. With 15 years of experience across multiple verticals—from iGaming to e-commerce—Florin shares the hard-won lessons that separate scaling programs from struggling ones. Florin pulls back the curtain on what actual...

What if everything you've been taught about promotional content is backwards? In this explosive Season 23 opener, host Lee-Ann Johnstone welcomes Saurabh Singh, co-founder and CEO of Flickstree and Zanopy AI, who drops a truth bomb that's making affiliate managers and content creators rethink their entire strategy: for every promotional post you publish, you should be creating six educat...

After eleven episodes dissecting partnership dynamics from every conceivable angle, this season finale doesn't just recap — it crystallises the precise tactical moves separating forgettable affiliate relationships from decade-spanning strategic alliances. Industry veterans have shared frameworks that actually work in the trenches, not theoretical models that collapse under real-world pressure...

Building successful affiliate partnerships isn't just about sending cold emails and hoping for responses. In this episode, Lee-Ann sits down with Leanna Klyne, Affiverse's Head of Agency and an 18-year veteran of affiliate marketing, to reveal the exact five-step framework their agency uses to build lasting partnerships that actually convert.  This isn't theory—it's the battle-...

Get ready for an insightful conversation about the evolution of affiliate marketing from the operator perspective to the affiliate side. Tero Paivarinta, Business Development Lead at humbl.ai joins host Lee-Ann Johnstone to share his fascinating journey from iGaming customer support in 2006 to becoming a key figure in affiliate relationship management. With nearly two decades of industry experienc...

From self-proclaimed "software engineer introvert" to confident industry connector, Julia Draghici, Co-Founder & CEO of CPV Lab and CPV ONE, has mastered the art of turning authentic relationships into business growth.  In this candid conversation with host Lee-Ann Johnstone, Julia reveals how she transformed from someone who believed "building good software and having good cust...

This week, Lee-Ann Johnstone welcomes Alanas Ivšinas , iGaming Affiliate Marketing Expert, to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast for an insightful deep-dive into what truly makes partnerships thrive in one of the most competitive sectors of affiliate marketing.  With over a decade of experience working across both sides of the table - from affiliate networks to major operators like GG Media Group - A...

This week, Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with Paul Puolakka, CMO of Mr. Gamble, who brings a rare dual perspective to affiliate marketing having worked extensively on both the operator and affiliate sides. Fresh from burnout in telecoms to becoming one of iGaming's most respected voices, Paul shares unfiltered insights on what separates thriving partnerships from those that crash and burn.  Thi...

From the "wild west" days of online sports betting to today's heavily regulated landscape, few have witnessed the industry's transformation like Dimitry Voelkle. Host of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, Lee-Ann Johnstone is joined by Dimitry, Founder of Zelda Consulting and one of the original architects behind Tipico, Germany's first major sportsbook.  In this fascinating...

What if everything you think you know about affiliate partnership management is actually costing you millions in untapped revenue?  In this eye-opening episode, host Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with Gali Hartuv, CEO and co-founder of WarriorLab, to unpack why treating your affiliate partners like VIP players could be the game-changing strategy your program needs.  From a jaw-dropping case study th...

Get ready for an absolute masterclass in partnership building! This week, host Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with industry legend Moshe Adir, Founder of Vegas Kings and one of the most successful agency owners in the iGaming space. With decades of experience spanning from the early days of DOS programming to building multi-million pound partnerships, Moshe shares the hard-won lessons that separate s...

Welcome to this week's Affiliate Marketing Podcast with host Lee-Ann Johnstone, where we explore how to build successful partnerships in affiliate marketing. This episode features some real talk from Stefan Muehlbauer, CEO of Affpal Consulting and affjobs.com, a seasoned industry veteran with 15+ years of experience who has transformed from running affiliate programs to becoming one of the in...

In this compelling episode, Lee-Ann Johnstone sits down with Richard Dennys , CEO of Game Lounge , for his second appearance on the podcast. Richard brings a unique perspective to partnership building, drawing parallels between his 30-year relationship, his passion for boating, and running a successful affiliate business with 60 live websites generating 15-20,000 new players monthly. This conversa...

Welcome to a brand new season of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast with your host, Lee-Ann Johnstone. Our guest this week is John Wright, Co-Founder and CEO of StatsDrone , whose unique journey gives him rare insight into what makes partnerships succeed or fail.  In this conversation, we tackle the contentious issue of data ownership in iGaming, explore why trust remains the biggest barrier to effec...