Karen Martirosyan, Affigates: “Operators can no longer treat affiliates as an unmanaged channel”
Ahead of iGB L!VE 2026, Affigates CEO Karen Martirosyan discusses how operators can maximise affiliate revenue, why ecosystems are replacing standalone solutions, and the trends shaping acquisition, retention and compliance across global markets.
Exclusive interview.- As operators continue to navigate rising acquisition costs, increasing regulation and more competitive markets, affiliate strategies are becoming a key driver of sustainable growth. Ahead of iGB L!VE 2026, Focus Gaming News spoke with Karen Martirosyan, CEO of Affigates, about the company’s ecosystem approach, new product launches, regional expansion strategy and the evolving role of affiliate management in the global igaming industry.
iGB L!VE 2026 is expected to bring together operators, affiliates and technology providers from across the industry. What are your main objectives for attending the event, and what key conversations do you expect to have with operators this year?
For us, iGB L!VE is all about real, meaningful conversations. It’s that time of the year when operators, affiliates, and tech providers all gather under one roof—and we’re coming ready to listen just as much as we are to share. With operators specifically, I expect the conversations to centre on one theme: how to grow affiliate revenue without building a large in-house affiliate team to do it. That’s the question we hear most. We’re also showing two new features — an affiliate loyalty system and a tool that lets players become affiliates — so a lot of conversations will start there.
Affigates positions itself as a complete ecosystem for the igaming industry. How would you define that ecosystem, and what advantages does it offer compared to standalone affiliate or marketing solutions?
When we say “ecosystem,” we mean three things working together rather than three products sold separately: the software platform, a managed service where we run an operator’s affiliate program for them, and a network that connects operators with vetted affiliate traffic. A standalone affiliate tool gives you software and leaves you to figure out the rest — the people, the relationships, the traffic. The gap between “we have a tool” and “we have a working affiliate program” is where most operators lose time and money. Our advantage is that we close that gap end to end.
From your experience working with operators across different markets, what are the most common challenges they face today when it comes to acquisition, retention and affiliate management?
Across markets the patterns are consistent. On acquisition, getting harder and more expensive means affiliate traffic matters more than ever — but good traffic is genuinely hard to find. On retention, operators are realising the relationship doesn’t end at the first deposit, and the same is true for affiliates — keep them engaged or they drift to a competitor. And on affiliate management, the biggest challenge isn’t strategy, it’s resourcing. Operators take the channel seriously, but it’s a full-time discipline — recruitment, terms, tracking, payments, fraud — and experienced affiliate people are hard to find and harder to hire. So programs get set up and then under-run, and performance quietly leaks.
Many operators are looking for sustainable growth in increasingly competitive environments. How does Affigates help brands improve efficiency and maximise the value of their marketing investments?
Two ways. First, the affiliate model is efficient by design — you pay on results, not impressions — so there’s far less wasted spend than in most paid channels. Our job is to make sure that channel is actually run well, because an under-managed program leaks value no matter how good the model is. Second, we help operators keep the value they’ve already paid for. Our new loyalty system retains affiliates rather than constantly re-recruiting them, and our player-to-affiliate feature turns an operator’s existing player base into a growth channel they already own — new traffic at no new acquisition cost.
Affigates has developed regional offerings tailored to different markets. Could you tell us more about these solutions and how they address the specific needs of operators in various jurisdictions?
We’ve put sharper commercial terms on the table for operators expanding into four regions in particular — LatAm, Africa, Asia and the CIS. These are the markets moving fastest right now, and the ones where the right terms can decide whether a launch works or stalls. The needs differ by jurisdiction — payment realities, traffic sources, local affiliate behaviour and regulation all vary — so this isn’t one offer applied everywhere; it’s terms calibrated to what drives growth in each region.
For instance, in LatAm — one of the fastest-growing regions in our industry right now — we offer operators improved commercial terms in the first months of a launch, when cash flow and player volume are hardest to balance. It means a brand entering Brazil or Mexico can scale affiliate traffic without the upfront margin pressure that usually slows a new-market entry. The simplest way to put it: bring us your target market, and we’ll show you terms built to make it work.
As regulation continues to evolve worldwide, how do you see the role of affiliate ecosystems changing, and what should operators be doing to stay ahead of these developments?
Regulation is pushing the industry towards accountability — and that plays to the strengths of a well-run affiliate ecosystem. As traditional marketing channels get more restricted market by market, compliant, performance-based affiliate traffic becomes more valuable, not less. But it raises the bar: operators can no longer treat affiliates as an unmanaged channel, because compliance risk now lives there too. My advice is to stop thinking of affiliate management as a back-office task and treat it as a core, properly-resourced function — in-house or through a partner. The operators who get ahead will build good affiliate oversight in from the start, rather than bolting it on after a problem.
What key trends do you expect to shape the affiliate and operator landscape over the next 12 months, and how is Affigates preparing for them?
Three things. First, the pressure on paid acquisition continues, pushing operators towards affiliate and owned channels — which is exactly why we built the player-to-affiliate feature. Second, retention becomes the real focus, for players and affiliates alike — that’s what our loyalty system addresses. Third, operators want unified platforms instead of managing a dozen different tools — which is why a unified ecosystem is so critical. We’re preparing by going deeper on all three rather than chasing everything.
