The Performance Marketing Renaissance

Affiliate marketing may not have the same appeal it once had, but it looks to be poised for somewhat of a renaissance thanks to some high-profile and savvy acquisitions.

Affiliate network Clickbooth, for example, announced that it has acquired affiliate tracking dashboard Thrive. The product will reportedly be rebranded to ThriveTracker and Clickbooth is expected to operate it as a stand-alone division and as part of its current suite of performance marketing technology offerings.

What likely made Thrive/ThriveTracker so appealing to Clickbooth is that it offers a rather powerful geo-redirect/bot filter to keep traffic from being contaminated by bot clicks; while that's certainly appealing on its own there are still other features which surely caught the attention of the performance marketing network.

The "Branches" feature, for example, allows for conversion funnels to incorporate multiple rotations and split-testing of steps in the funnel, as well as multi-variable reporting with day/week parting abilities and an API for true programmatic access to all reporting and campaign management functions.

"Adding ThriveTracker to the growing portfolio of services Clickbooth provides its clients was a no-brainer," said Erin Cigich, CEO of Clickbooth.

"It acts as a 'home base' for affiliates to monitor the performance of their campaigns and is a vital tool we see all of our top affiliate partners using to increase the quality, consistency and volume of traffic they can drive."

Screenshot of the Thrive Tracker Dashboard