Competition in affiliate marketing is expected to increase significantly in 2023. The sphere is growing steadily and every day newcomers try their luck solo or in teams. To stay afloat, affiliates have to explore new traffic sources, extraordinary approaches and, of course, GEOs.
Buckle up and enjoy the ride: we're arranging an in-depth tour!
Gambling and betting
Gambling is one of the most trending niches of the past five years. Let’s take a closer look at the fast-growing gambling and betting GEOs.
Brazil
In 2022 Brazil became a classic. This GEO was flooded with hundreds of new affiliates but it still hasn’t been squeezed dry. It’s a developing country with venturesome people who love betting. The thing is that online gambling is prohibited in Brazil, but sports betting is still available. That’s why the betting niche is much easier to enter: the demand is higher, the audience is wider and more active, and the moderation process on Facebook is less problematic. The main disadvantage of this GEO is that everyone knows about it.
Africa
According to the expert from CPA#1, this tier-3 GEO is truly a discovery of the year.
“Gambling is a goldmine for many GEOs. Let’s not forget about tier-3 countries where the majority of people are struggling financially. Despite that, the low-income strata of the population gamble in the hope of winning and thus getting new opportunities for making money. The same applies to sports betting: they place bets quite actively”, confirms the mentor and affiliate manager from MyLead, the multi-vertical CPA network.
Apparently, in 2023 Africa might become “second Brazil”. Here are the characteristic signs: huge target audience, predominant mobile traffic (as computers are an expensive purchase not everyone can afford), low income, and lack of tradition of land-based casinos. The main thing to remember is that in most African countries gambling is illegal. That’s why their citizens opt for licensed foreign casinos or places with social proof (for instance, reviews of real people on websites or socials).
USA, Uruguay and Thailand
These are the countries where the legalization process of gambling is underway.
The USA is the most challenging GEO on the list due to high competition and fat check per lead. The Alfaleads business development team lead has something to say about the situation:
“The first thing to note is that driving leads to the iGaming niche is possible in a limited number of states, so organic traffic is not the best option for now. Here is why “for now”: we see that the government is actively marching towards the legalization of gambling and there are more and more states legalizing it.
Another thing is that everything in the US operates officially, period. Only licensed products are available, and every ad should be displayed strictly in accordance with the law. Studying American laws inside out before taking up this GEO is a must.”
As for Thailand and Uruguay — these are promising areas, where an abrupt influx of traffic and affiliates is expected, if gambling legalization is approved. So keep your eye on the ball and don’t lose this whipped-up audience to the competitors.
Nutra
An expert from MyLead believes that nutra offers work well in the UK, USA, France and Asian countries. Why so? For the US, Great Britain and France the reasons are practically the same: expensive treatment and limited access to prescription medication, as well as high cost of living in comparison with other countries.
Co-founder of Offer.store also shared his views on nutra expansion in 2023:
“It’s the finest hour for Asia, India and Latin America. USA also looks promising for nutra. Sooner or later everyone will realize that the US market is much bigger than in any other country and people are used to overconsumption. If we talk numbers, let’s say ROI, then the following question arises: what would you choose: 5% of a billion or 50% of a million?”
For Asia (India, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, China and other GEOs) the deep-rooted cult of health and beauty comes to the forefront, along with heavy study and work load and long hours. And if we speak about poor neighborhoods and small Asian towns, then nervous system overload is usually coupled with hard physical labor.
Dating
According to the mentor and affiliate manager from MyLead, dating is a big hit in Poland, Germany and Slovenia. There's just one caveat, though. Adult offers perform better in Eastern Europe. As for mainstream, it’s preferable for tier-1 countries: USA, Canada, Finland and New Zealand.
Adult
This niche shows the best results in Europe where prostitution is legalized. For example, in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Latvia and others. In the above-mentioned GEOs, leads can be easily driven from dating apps (from Tinder to Pure).
It also works well for countries with poor sex education and prevailing puritanical views. Take Poland, for instance. Complicated historical background resulted in a lack of social acceptance of female sexual freedom and abortion crackdown. It gives a good chance for attracting leads to adult offers as intimate relations are getting hard to find.
Mainstream
As for mainstream offers, they are more popular in countries with high standards of living. Typically, people in those GEOs have no trouble finding sex partners, hence the demand for adult offers is quite low. It’s getting harder to start a family or find a steady relationship in a highly competitive environment along with advancing women’s emancipation. That’s why mainstream dating is a perfect match for the USA, Canada and New Zealand.
Besides, mainstream offers can be surprisingly profitable in China with the male target audience in their thirties. Due to the “one child per family” policy, 33 million Chinese men were left without female partners. Yes, this is what appears to be the current demographic situation: women of the same age are 33 million less. In traditional society, a successful marriage is a central issue that’s why the search for a wife becomes the top priority.
Conclusion
“Trending GEOs is a burning question everyone keeps asking, some people prefer acting on a hunch without even analyzing the market situation. But the thing is that any GEO can be trending. It depends on many factors: availability of products and services in certain countries, economic and demographic situation, Internet speed, and other such aspects.
For tier-3 countries (meaning impoverished regions or those below the poverty line) that gradually go digital, the offers with an easy-to-complete flow (sweepstakes, installs and mobile subscriptions) will do the job. The reason is that the level of technology in those countries prevents people from viewing content with larger files (like videos or high-quality images) online.
As for other GEOs where everyday needs are satisfied and there are no obstacles accessing the latest technologies, trends will depend on the product range available in each GEO and consumer behavior”, concludes a MyLead expert.
To sum it all up:
All niches will perform well across the USA in 2023 if you focus on a narrow target audience or come into play when the interest to gambling is at its peak. This is especially relevant considering that more states are planning to legalize it this year.
The same goes for Thailand. There is a serious possibility that affiliates opting for nutra and gambling niches in this GEO will be generously rewarded. It’s also important to monitor the situation in Uruguay.
If you aim at scoring big with adult dating offers, try Eastern Europe, especially the countries where sex work is legal. Most often the main target audience, in this case, is male tourists from Western Europe, the USA or Canada.
