Affiliate Leaders Summit maps future of affiliate marketing
Table of contents
- The Future of Affiliate Strategy track runs on Wednesday, 30 September 2026 as part of the Affiliate Leaders Summit in Lisbon.
- Four panels will cover advertising crackdowns, AI-driven disruption, new growth markets and changing content formats.
- Access is reserved for Affiliate Leaders Summit VIP Pass holders, with free passes available for affiliates and regulators.
SBC has unveiled the Future of Affiliate Strategy track for its Affiliate Leaders Summit, bringing together affiliate executives, operators, media leaders and performance marketing specialists on Wednesday, 30 September 2026 to address rising advertising regulation, AI disruption and international expansion.
Confronting ad crackdowns
The track opens with Ad Crackdowns = Affiliate Minefield, examining how affiliates can protect conversion as advertising restrictions and platform enforcement tighten. Panellists include Vadim Aidlin, CEO of Mamuta Media; Laila Bertagnolli, CEO of Deal Machines; Rene Gabriel, Sales Director at Livesport; and Leanne Muleba, Chief Operations Officer at Matching Visions.
Discussion will focus on which traffic sources remain viable, how affiliates keep content compliant as rules shift, and the commercial fallout of falling behind new advertising requirements. Two recent examples frame the pressure: Bulgaria’s new affiliate licence rules, and platforms such as X restricting gambling from paid partnerships.
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Questioning old models
Attention then shifts to Future Shock: The Predictions Affiliates Don’t Want to Hear, featuring Pierre Cadena, COO of Catena Media; Stephen Clibbon, Head of Affiliates at VL Partners; Jenny Gonzalez, Co-Founder and CEO of Rocahead; Elena Granishevskaia, Head of Affiliate Marketing at M88 Mansion; Milorad Matejic, COO of Gentoo; and Yonit Shvinkelstain, Co-Founder of Leverage.
The panel will challenge assumptions about which affiliate models, markets and traffic sources still deliver, covering the future of SEO, attribution and CPA structures as traditional acquisition strategies lose effectiveness.
Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, said:
“Affiliates have always been quick to adapt, but right now there’s just so much coming at them at once. AI is changing how people find brands. Regulation keeps shifting. Attribution is getting harder to pin down. Having the right knowledge has never mattered more.”
“The Affiliate Leaders Summit, and this track especially, is about looking ahead, helping affiliates arrive prepared and ready to make the most of these changes.”
New markets, formats
The Future of Affiliation: Where Is the Next Billion Dollar Opportunity? looks at how affiliates can position for a lucrative exit, with Chris Duncan, COO of Spotlight Sports Group; Karina Ferraioli, Founder and CMO of Master Affiliates Network; Elaine Gardiner, Managing Director at TAG Media; and Esko Rissanen, Director of Revenue at Gentoo, exploring opportunities across prediction markets, sweepstakes, AI search and creator economies.
A fourth panel, Content That Still Cuts Through, examines shifting audience habits as long-form reviews compete with short-form video, live streams and creators. Speakers include James Connelley and Jamil Qanai of LiveScore Group, Greg Lacan of UniK SEO, Javier Rodríguez of Afiliapub, Rui Costa of Gentoo, and Sue Dawson of FTD Digital.
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Further sessions will address compliance across multiple jurisdictions, growth opportunities across Latin America, Africa and Asia, and a dedicated presentation on attracting new bettors to horse racing. The track sits alongside SBC’s wider Lisbon programme, which this week also gained a new Marketing & CX track.
Attendance at the Future of Affiliate Strategy track requires an Affiliate Leaders Summit VIP Pass, with free passes available to affiliates and regulators. The event builds on the summit’s growth since it became a standalone event co-located with SBC Summit this September.
Lisbon will put that growth to a practical test. The affiliates who benefit most are likely to be those who have already moved from watching AI and ad restrictions unfold to building content, traffic and revenue models designed around them, rather than arriving to hear the case made for the first time.
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