Shirin Mammadov, N1Partners: “One of the biggest mistakes affiliates make is copying and pasting a strategy”

Shows & conferences - 28 July, 2026

During the latest edition of iGB L!VE, Focus Gaming News sat down with Shirin Mammadov, Senior Affiliate Manager at N1Partners, to discuss how affiliate partnerships are evolving, the growing importance of traffic quality and why long-term collaboration has become more valuable than ever in an increasingly competitive market.

For Mammadov, while the affiliate business has become increasingly data-driven, personal relationships remain at the heart of the industry. He believes that exhibitions such as iGB L!VE continue to play a vital role because "gaming is a business built on relationships and nothing can beat building trust face to face." That philosophy was reflected in N1Partners' presence at the event, where exclusive merchandise and artistic collaborations were designed not simply to attract visitors, but to create memorable interactions and strengthen relationships with existing and prospective partners alike.

According to Mammadov, the strongest affiliate partnerships are those built on transparency and constant communication. Sharing campaign performance metrics allows both operators and affiliates to optimise their strategies together, noting that "when you are open to communication and when you are also sharing some metrics of your campaign results, it helps both sides to optimise the campaigns and increase the results and scale up further."

However, he also warned that many affiliates continue to prioritise short-term commissions over sustainable growth. Rather than discussing how to improve traffic quality or scale campaigns, some partners focus only on immediate earnings, something Mammadov considers a warning sign when evaluating long-term collaboration opportunities.

Traffic acquisition was another major topic of discussion. While he described "high-intent SEO traffic" as "king right now", Mammadov also highlighted the increasing contribution of Facebook and other social media campaigns. Nevertheless, he stressed that generating large traffic volumes means little unless operators can quickly assess player behaviour, deposits and retention, sharing those insights with affiliates to improve campaign performance over time.

Looking at the wider affiliate landscape, Mammadov believes the industry's biggest challenge is sustaining growth as traditional acquisition channels become increasingly saturated. At the same time, he sees affiliates becoming more sophisticated, arriving with creative proposals involving exclusive bonuses, dedicated landing pages and new ideas for scaling campaigns while maintaining healthy conversion rates.

When discussing traffic quality, Mammadov argued that operators should look well beyond registrations alone. Instead, he encouraged businesses to "focus on the process after registration", analysing player activity, deposit attempts and retention to understand the real value of incoming traffic and identify opportunities for optimisation.

Drawing on his experience working on both the affiliate and operator sides of the industry, Mammadov also identified two common mistakes made by affiliates expanding into Tier-1 markets. The first is applying successful strategies from emerging regions without adapting them to local conditions. The second is overlooking localisation, emphasising that "every GEO has specific characteristics" and that even small cultural or linguistic mistakes can significantly reduce campaign performance. For Mammadov, understanding each market individually remains one of the keys to achieving sustainable international growth.