Is Affiliate Marketing Still Worth It in 2026? Every year someone declares affiliate marketing dead. Usually it happens right after a big platform update, an algorithm change, or a wave of new people entering the space. Suddenly timelines fill with the same message. It is saturated. It is too late. AI replaced it. Only influencers win now. Yet quietly, in the background, people keep earning. So the real question is not whether affiliate marketing still works. The better question is who it works for now and what changed. Because 2026 affiliate marketing is very different from what it was even three years ago. The Old Model Is Gone For a long time affiliate marketing followed a simple formula. Find a trending product Throw traffic at it Hope conversions happen People spammed links on social media, posted generic reviews, and chased whatever paid the highest commission that week. It worked for a while because the internet was less crowded and users trusted almost anything. That vers...