Affiliate Roundup: Instacart Ends AI Pricing Test, Affiliate Delivers £19B but Lacks CMO Recognition, Creator Predictions for 2026, & More

This week in FMTC’s Affiliate Roundup: Ten predictions examine how creators, platforms, and brands may evolve in 2026. Instacart ended its AI pricing test and returned to uniform pricing and promotions. Affiliate marketing delivered £19 billion in 2025 but still lacks CMO recognition.

• impact.com and Evertune are collaborating to help brands track and act on AI search visibility by linking AI Brand Monitoring data with partnership activation tools.

• A set of 2026 predictions explores how creators will monetize, collaborate with brands, and adapt to new platforms, formats, and AI-driven discovery.

• Instacart is discontinuing its AI pricing experiment that allowed variable pricing for identical products, opting instead for stable pricing and promotions amid consumer trust concerns.

• Affiliate marketing generated £19 billion in 2025 yet remains undervalued at the CMO level due to ongoing perception, measurement, and investment gaps.

• Ten defining creator economy trends in 2025 spanned platform revenue shifts, brand collaborations, creator storefront growth, algorithmic control, and AI-generated content.

• Facebook is testing a $9.99 monthly subscription that allows users to share more than two links per post, a move that could matter for affiliate marketers navigating link restrictions on the platform.

• More brands are adding affiliate and hybrid, commission-based compensation into creator partnerships this holiday season as tighter budgets and demand for measurable results push marketers away from flat-fee deals.

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