Affiliate Tracking in the Privacy Age
Vol. 171: Plus NEW stories for Yahoo, NewZ, and FunnieZ!!
HelloZ
I don’t know why I start almost every Substack talking about the weather, but alas here we are. IT’S ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS in New Jersey, with a high of 77F today and sensational weather for our little trick or treaters tomorrow, too. It’s just a cute little tease before we get f*ckd but the ridiculousness of Daylight Savings Time and Local Standard Time. This Sunday, November 3 at 2am, we turn clocks back one hour. On the plus, you’re getting more sleep (parents excluded). On the super duper minus, you’re losing daylight (hello seasonal depression!). We will now be in Standard Time, and no longer in Daylight Savings Time. It’s 2025. Can we stop with this already?
As a gift to you all, I’m going to make this MEGA Affiliate post FREE today! There’s a ton of valuable information about tracking and you’ll learn what one of my fave affiliate networks AWIN is doing about it. As always, here for questions.
Also up for today: NEW CALL FOR PITCHES for Yahoo and FunnieZ are back. It’s a long newsletter, but it’s a good one, so let’s do this damn thing.
Feel like being as supportive as my new Spanx bra? Subscribe below for a monthly or annual subscription. Usually the Affiliate section would be paid, so you’d be missing those types of gems. You can write it off as a business expense. Yay!
Agency-Wide Subscription
If you want your agency to have access to my paywalled posts, I’m happy to provide you with a custom quote. I currently do that with a few agencies and it’s worked out great! Just email z@zlatapr.com and we’ll chat. Thanks!
NewZ and ShowZ
Nickelodeon Studios has greenlit “My Weird School,” a feature-length movie based on the book series by Dan Gutman. The movie will follow a middle school student as he finds himself joining forces with faculty and friends to save the world from an alien invasion.
The latest addition to “The Real Housewives” franchise will be set in London. Obviously no better place to spill the tea. Eh?? Eh?!
Jon Stewart is extending his run as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” through 2025. It’s been nine months since Stewart returned as Monday night host, with the stated intention of sticking around through the election. Not sure I care.
Netflix is making it easier to save clips from TV shows. Using the Moments feature, users can save a scene from a Netflix series or movie by clicking “moments” at the bottom of the screen, and it will be saved to their My Netflix tab to rewatch or share on social media. We are living in the FKN future, people.
As a girl who LOVES her some freestyle, I’m super pumped to learn that singer and actress Lisa Velez (Lisa Lisa) will serve as executive produce and star in Lifetime’s “Can You Feel the Beat: The Lisa Lisa Story.” The biopic will premiere in 2025 as part of the network’s Voices of a Lifetime movie slate. Velez is playing her character’s mother.
Chapter VI of Apple TV+ drama “Disclaimer” premieres Friday, November 1. The psychological thriller stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Season ten of “Southern Charm” kicks off Thursday, December 5 at 9pm on Bravo. The friend group takes a trip to the Bahamas while you sit in your pajamas half-watching, half-scrolling.
Hey marketers, this one’s for you! Netflix doc “Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy” drops Wednesday, November 20, with whistleblowers exposing the tricks that make consumers buy what they don’t need.
Paramount+ documentary “Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands” debuts Tuesday, November 12. The film delves into the evolution of the genre that includes The Beatles, The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC and more.
The History Channel will premiere its new nonfiction series “Mysteries Unearthed with Danny Trejo” on December 6 at 10p. Hosted by Trejo (“Machete,” “Heat,” “Spy Kids”), the eight-episode series will reveal the history behind some of the world’s most significant discoveries. To note: I thought this guy was Danny from Nickelodeon’s “Hey Dude” for the longest time.
NEW!! Call For Yahoo! Pitches
Please email zlatapitches@gmail.com with the appropriate subject line. Thanks!
Shoes comfortable enough to wear while slaving over a hot stove all day.
Herbal teas to try if you’re feeling X (what tea helps with what ailment)
Best snacks for Gluten Free Awareness Month (November)
Funniez
We’re BACK and unformatted. Thanks, Substack developers! Can we bring back the option to embed Twitter/X posts, please?
Affiliate Tracking in the Privacy Age
In today’s privacy-obsessed version of the internet (RIP AOL chatrooms), tracking conversions has gone from a straightforward process to a cat-and-mouse game. For years, affiliate marketers relied on simple tools like cookies to track user behavior and attribute conversions. I’ve talked before about how the threat of cookie obsolesce might be a little overblown, but even if it is, we can all agree that it is getting harder to track conversions. Between rising privacy standards, ad blockers, and new data restrictions, our nice and neat, straightforward process has morphed into an obstacle course.
How we got here:
Privacy Regulations are Tight AF: With GDPR in Europe, CCPA in California, and a slew of similar data laws springing up globally, user privacy is the new sheriff in town. These regulations limit what data can be collected and how it can be stored, and they also require strict user consent. For affiliates, this means critical data points are getting harder to capture, which means it’s hard to track which marketing efforts actually drive conversions.
Ad Blockers are Spoiling the Party: Ad blockers are in full force. It’s estimated over 40% of internet users worldwide now use some form of ad-blocking software, and it doesn’t just block ads. These tools also interfere with tracking pixels and cookies, meaning a significant chunk of conversion data isn’t even getting through. For affiliates and advertisers, these blockers make it difficult to attribute or measure conversions accurately, putting campaigns and ROI at risk.
Increasing Scrutiny on Data Transparency: Users are rightfully savvier about data collection, and many are quick to question how their information is being used. In response, advertisers and affiliates are tasked with proving that their tracking methods align with privacy standards, which is no small feat, especially when they keep changing.
Altogether, these obstacles can leave brands and marketers in the dark about which campaigns convert and which don’t. And that’s really not good when you’re charged with minding the ship. A lack of reliable tracking means wasted ad spend, missed opportunities, and ultimately, weakened affiliate programs. When you’re trying to sell yourself and your services and deliver a clear ROI, you need accurate reporting.
While this is our new reality, there is good news on the horizon. Awin’s Conversion Protection Initiative tackles these issues head-on, with a privacy-first approach built for reliable tracking even in our increasingly tricky environment. This is super good news for anyone worried about losing data and justifying ad spend.
Here’s what CPI’s packing, why it matters for you, and why I think it has the potential to be a great option for the mounting privacy concerns cropping up across the industry.
Why Awin Developed the CPI and What It Means for You
The Conversion Protection Initiative is two-fold. The first factor of the CPI focuses on getting advertisers to upgrade two fundamental parts of deterministic tracking — S2S and App Tracking.
Server-to-Server, or S2S, is an existing technology that, unlike third-party cookies and tracking pixels that follow people around the internet to build detailed profiles, only tracks cookies and purchases on the advertiser's own site. S2S transfers data directly from server to server, and this limited scope complies with regulations because the tracking is attached to the publisher and not the shopper, and because of this, it can avoid the effects of ad blockers and privacy-first browsers.
App Tracking tracks purchase activity across shopping apps, which are becoming increasingly preferred by shoppers.
Awin’s current recommendation is to deploy a hybrid approach to deterministic tracking that includes these two components along with MasterTag, their decade-old first-party tracking solution. While these upgrades are recommended and upgrade requirements will be enforced starting next year, Awin also knows even then, some advertisers may not be able to comply, or it may be cumbersome to do so. So, they’ve created a backup solution, and it’s the second part of the new CPI: probabilistic tracking.
Recognizing the changing landscape with regards to privacy concerns — and that some advertisers may not upgrade — probabilistic tracking aims to give the program credit for sales it likely made but did not get recorded. This will ensure affiliate partners get paid for their efforts and that advertisers can accurately understand program performance. The probabilistic tracking model uses thousands of daily tracking calls across affiliate programs worldwide to build a massive data set. They then combine that data with industry benchmarks to build a custom tracking estimate for each advertiser, capturing additional sales that are automatically added to their program.
The new initiative goes into effect April 2025.
I Have Zlata Thoughts
Ultimately, I see this new version of tracking filling in the gaps when traditional tracking fails. With privacy rules blocking cookies and other tracking methods, this data-driven approach helps ensure that client campaigns get credit for conversions, even when direct tracking isn’t possible.
With tighter accuracy across campaigns, you can confidently report on performance and demonstrate the true ROI of all your affiliate efforts. Which is… you know… why they hired you. :)
OK that’s all for today!
Thoughts of your own? Questions? Pop ‘em and drop ‘em in the comments as you wish! As always, thanks for your support and for reading along. If you enjoy catching up with me — you know I love catching up with you! — please consider sharing me with a friend!
Talk soon!
-Z
Thank you for this amazing update, Z!