Beyond the Surface: How Undisclosed Sub-Networks Are Reshaping Affiliate Marketing

In the dynamic world of digital marketing, affiliate marketing serves as a cornerstone for customer acquisition and brand expansion, with a projected market growth exceeding $23 billion in 2025, according to the Global Growth Insights report on Affiliate Marketing.  

With an estimated 81% of brands said to have an affiliate program and the increasing use of technology used to promote brands, trust and transparency have never been more important. Beneath the surface of most, if not all, affiliate programs lies a complex web of unknown sub-affiliate networks that can obscure revenue opportunities and expose brands to regulatory risks.

The Hidden Layers of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing often extends beyond direct partnerships. Sub-affiliate networks—third-party affiliates promoting offers through approved affiliates—can introduce additional layers of complexity when undisclosed.

These sub-affiliates may operate under different unvetted marketing channels, utilise unauthorised or outdated promotional offers, or target inappropriate audiences, making them challenging to identify and manage.

The opacity of these undisclosed networks can lead to revenue losses, missed growth opportunities, or even damage to brand reputation.

At Rightlander, we’re examining this issue to gauge its scope across multiple industries, with a few cases that illustrate the trend. Our October 2025 data reveals how far-reaching the challenge is.

Recent research from the Affiliate and Partner Marketing Association (APMA) reinforces these findings, identifying sub-networks as one of the fastest-growing — yet least transparent — components of affiliate marketing.

Sub-networks now represent a significant portion of overall channel spend, often acting as intermediaries between brands and the affiliates actually driving traffic. This additional layer makes it harder for brands to maintain full visibility over who is promoting their offers and how their campaigns are being executed.

Case 1: Leading US Sportswear Brand:

• 18% of marketing partners were sending traffic to the site without the brand’s knowledge, thereby operating in relative obscurity, and risking being exposed to unvetted channels.
   
• Implication: These hidden sub-networks may be utilising unapproved promotional content, methods or appearing on unwanted platforms, which could impact brand reputation and ROI tracking.

Case 2. Leading iGaming Brand:

• 44% of traffic sources were undisclosed and unknown to the brand.
   
• Almost half of the entire affiliate ecosystem was invisible to internal teams.
   
• Implication: This level of opacity poses significant risks from both a brand reputation and regulatory compliance angle. The brand can be exposed to potential markers of harm, including targeting underage audiences and advertising next to illegal or unregulated sites. Not only would this be a costly compliance risk, but it would also represent a costly marketing investment into unknown channels..

Why this matters:

• Financial Impact: As mentioned above, undisclosed sub-affiliate activity can be in breach of regulations, resulting in high penalties.  It could also expose a brand to misallocated budgets due to a lack of transparency on traffic sources. Compliance and Reputation Risk: Hidden networks may inadvertently use non-compliant messaging, targeting, or platforms, leaving brands exposed to regulatory scrutiny or public backlash.
   
• Missed Strategic Insights: Without visibility, brands cannot accurately identify and leverage legitimately high-performing partners or channels that could drive growth.

By quantifying these hidden streams, the data demonstrates that even well-established brands with large affiliate programs are operating with significant blind spots. Transparency isn’t just a regulatory concern—it’s a performance imperative.

Regulatory Scrutiny and Financial Implications

The lack of transparency in affiliate marketing has caught the attention of regulators. In 2023, the UK’s igaming regulatory authority, UKGC, for instance, imposed fines of over £214 million on its members, much of which was tied to the marketing practices of third-party affiliates.

In July 2025, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint against a UK sports betting brand after an affiliate advertisement appeared on an esports site and was viewed by a registered underage user. This incident illustrated the potential consequences of inadequate affiliate transparency, including reputational damage and regulatory action.

The Strategic Value of Transparency in Affiliate Marketing

Transparency in affiliate marketing is more than a compliance requirement—it’s a growth engine. When brands gain a clear view of their affiliate networks, including any undisclosed sub-affiliate activity, they can uncover previously invisible marketing practices.

These insights can directly translate into risk mitigation, avoidance of potential regulatory failure and fines, improved brand control, and more effective partnerships that ultimately contribute to increased revenue.

Here are some tips on gaining transparency and leveraging it for positive outcomes:

Discover Untapped Placement Opportunities

Not all pages where your brand could be promoted are being utilised. Approved affiliates and their known sub-affiliates often manage multiple websites or pages, some of which may not currently feature your offers. By mapping these properties, brands can ensure they are represented across every relevant page, increasing visibility and click-through potential.

Identifying Pages for Higher Rankings

In many cases, affiliate links are placed on pages that are under-optimised or not receiving sufficient traffic. Transparency tools enable brands to see where their campaigns appear and identify higher-potential placements or targeted areas. This ensures your marketing investment reaches its full potential.

Uncovering Additional Websites and Assets

Many affiliates operate multiple websites or subdomains that are not immediately visible to affiliate managers. Without full transparency, these sites remain risky as well as untapped sources of revenue. By discovering these additional properties, brands can extend their promotions to reach new audiences without needing to find new affiliates from scratch.

Optimising Existing Relationships for Growth

When brands have full transparency and a good understanding of their affiliates’ assets and reach—including their networks of sub-affiliates—they can better negotiate terms, provide tailored creative assets, and incentivise performance.

Transparency transforms affiliate management from a reactive process into a proactive strategic partnership that drives growth for both parties.

Mitigating Missed Revenue and Compliance Risks

Beyond growth, transparency ensures that affiliate-driven traffic is tracked, accounted for, and compliant with regulatory standards. This prevents lost commission payouts from unauthorised or hidden links while protecting from potential fines or reputational damage due to non-compliant placements.

The Bigger Picture

The growing presence of sub-networks — highlighted both by Rightlander’s monitoring data and the APMA’s industry research — underscores a critical challenge for performance marketers: the balance between reach and control.

As affiliate ecosystems expand, brands need deeper insight into the layers of their partner networks to safeguard compliance, protect reputation, and ensure spend accountability.
In essence, transparency equips brands with a level of insight that helps to efficiently turn hidden opportunities into measurable revenue growth while protecting them from potential risk.