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Apple reduces commissions to App Store affiliates by 64%

Image source: Apple
Image source: Apple
Apple's App Store affiliates will now earn 2.5% for apps downloaded via their affiliate ID, down from 7%.
Sam Medley,
Apple Business Fail iPhone Smartphone Tablet

You may be seeing fewer links in this year’s “Best Apps for iPhone” lists.

TechCrunch is reporting that Apple sent a message to members of its App Store affiliate program. The email stated that Apple would be cutting commissions received by affiliates from 7% to 2.5%, which is a 64% reduction.

The App Store affiliate program allows outside sources to get a small kickback for including a link to a specific app on a webpage, Twitter account, or the like. Don’t confuse this with developers seeing a cut in income; Apple will keep the revenue sent to developers at 70% of the app purchase. This is only for those that advertise iOS apps with a specific referral ID, typically found in a tailored link to the App Store. When people navigate to the App Store through an affiliate link and make a purchase, Apple sends the affiliate attached to that referral ID a percentage of the revenue generated from the sale. Think of this program in a similar way as Amazon’s affiliate program.

While this shouldn’t affect the development of iOS apps much at all, it could have a heavy toll on one of the biggest advertisers for the App Store. Several major tech websites frequently publish iOS App lists and include affiliate links as a way to garner a bit more revenue, and some sites have built their entire revenue stream on these links. This cut in affiliate revenue share will hurt those sites quite a bit and may disincentivize others from putting much effort into future app reviews and lists.

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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2017 04 > Apple reduces commissions to App Store affiliates by 64%
Sam Medley, 2017-04-24 (Update: 2017-04-24)
Sam Medley
Sam Medley - Review Editor - @samuel_medley
I've been a "tech-head" my entire life. After graduating college with a degree in Mathematics, I worked in finance and banking a few years before taking a job as a Systems Analyst for my local school district. I started working with Notebookcheck in October of 2016 and have enjoyed writing news articles and notebook reviews. My areas of interest include the business side of technology, retro gaming, Linux, and innovative gadgets. When I'm not hunched over an electronic device or writing code for a new database, I'm either outside with my family, playing a decade-old video game, or sitting behind a drum set.