DealMaker Europe 2026 Recap: Key Trends Shaping Performance Marketing

DealMaker Europe brought together brands, publishers, creators, and industry experts for a day packed with insights on affiliate marketing, measurement, AI, and cross-border growth. If you missed the event, here is your recap of the biggest themes, standout sessions, and practical takeaways. 

Performance marketing is entering a new measurement era 

The day opened with executive remarks from Nick Fletcher, who set the tone with a clear message: the consumer journey is changing faster than ever, and performance marketing must evolve with it. 

The central challenge he posed was simple but important. How do you optimise a CPA-based channel when you cannot track its full influence? 

His answer focused on three priorities: maximising tracking, embracing probabilistic measurement, and enhancing optimisation strategies. 

Nick also highlighted how Rakuten Advertising is helping advertisers adapt through solutions including Fraud & Compliance Monitoring with Detect, user journey analysis with Affiliate Conversion Journey and Incrementality Reporting, AI automation with Prompt for analysis, Partnership Discovery for affiliate recruitment, and creator tools like Storefronts and PartnerHub. 

One of the biggest announcements of the day was the news that Rakuten Advertising and Similarweb are now powering LLM visibility and performance intelligence for advertisers. That move reflects a growing reality for brands: visibility in AI-driven discovery is becoming just as important as visibility in traditional search. 

Media mix modelling is moving into the affiliate spotlight 

Measurement remained a major theme throughout the event. Rory Sale, Head of Partnerships at Fospha, took to the main stage to explore the role of media mix modelling in affiliate marketing and why it matters for full-funnel measurement. 

The key message was that great measurement sits upstream of great decisions and better results. Rory encouraged affiliate marketers to make the case for investment and to ensure they are using a media mix modelling approach that can properly account for affiliates. 

As affiliate marketing continues to influence multiple stages of the consumer journey, more brands are recognising that last-click measurement alone is no longer enough. 

AI is changing search, discovery, and validation 

One of the most talked-about panels of the day, Pioneering Performance: A New Affiliate Era, explored how search and discovery are evolving. Moderated by Rakuten Advertising’s Ben Cox, Head of AI Operations & Stategy, the panel featured Andrew Bonnici, Director, Solution Architects from Similarweb and Dunia Silan, SVP MENA & JAPAC from Skimlinks. 

A major discussion point was whether marketers should stop thinking about search in silos and instead consider a more holistic view of discovery. The panel examined the rise of the AI decision loop, from prompt to response to validation, and where affiliate fits into that journey. 

A clear takeaway emerged: trusted publisher content plays a critical role in what users do next. In an AI-led environment, being a cited and credible source can directly influence outcomes. 

Publishers were encouraged to: 

• Track how often they appear in AI-driven experiences 

• Understand how consumer behaviour is evolving 

• Adjust content strategies based on what they own and can measure 

• Contextualise AI search alongside other channels rather than in isolation 

Creator partnerships are becoming a core growth driver 

Creators were another standout focus, especially in the panel Creators to Cross-Border Growth. Deepti Vashee, Director of Client Services at Rakuten Advertising was joined by Joey D’Urso, Paid Media Lead from Depop and Grace Davies, Global Digital Marketing Manager from FitFlop to discuss how brands can build creator programs that scale across markets. 

The panel emphasised the importance of balancing short-term campaign goals with long-term partnerships. Sharing that long-term creator relationships are essential for sustained brand presence and trust, while short-term activity is best aligned to product launches or promotional moments. It was noted that short-term campaigns should support a larger brand story, with creator partnerships often developing over three to six months for stronger alignment and impact. 

The conversation also covered: 

Global vs local creators 

Panellists agreed that there is value in using a mix. Global creators can amplify major brand moments, while local creators often drive stronger engagement and market penetration. 

Measuring creator performance 

The importance of focusing on action, not just attention, looking at tangible behavioural shifts was highlighted, noting the value of using clear efficiency benchmarks such as CPM and CPR to show leadership how creator spend delivers measurable outcomes. 

Industry-specific insights highlighted where affiliate is headed 

Afternoon sessions brought more vertical-specific discussion, particularly in finance and travel.  

In finance, speakers explored how AI-driven search is reshaping product discovery. The conversation then moved on to how compliance is changing relationships between brands and publishers, and why in-wallet transaction data is becoming increasingly valuable. 

In travel, the focus turned to changing user journeys and the shift away from traditional search. A key insight shared was that travel users are far more likely than retail users to move between competing brands in the same browsing flow with 48%-80% of outgoing referrals. That signals a highly research-driven, multi-touch journey where discovery is anything but linear. 

A strong finish for the industry 

The day also featured Speaker’s Corner, where publishers including Shout, Envolvetech, Shoparize, TransactMediaGroup, and Boostworks shared recent case studies and performance results from across Europe. 

DealMaker Europe closed with the European Golden Link Awards, celebrating excellence across the industry. The LEGO Group was named Advertiser of the Year, while Linkby took home Publisher of the Year. 

For anyone who missed the event, the message from DealMaker Europe was clear: affiliate marketing is becoming more measurable, more intelligent, and more central to growth strategies shaped by AI, creators, and evolving consumer journeys.