Run the Regions, Rule the World: High-Performance Regional Deep Dives
You’re sitting on a goldmine, but only if you stop treating the world like one giant audience. And the truth is brutal: the reason your global campaigns flatline isn’t budget, it isn’t competition… but it might be generic funnels in non-generic regions.
SEA users tap their screens differently from LATAM users. African users trust ads for very different reasons than Europeans do. And if you don’t adjust, you burn money fast.
That’s where a regional marketing deep dives can flip the script.
When you understand how each region behaves, scrolls, clicks, doubts, buys, and engages, you stop testing traffic and start engineering conversions.
Ready? Good.
Let’s dive into the regions where affiliates scale fastest and hardest, with the biggest competitive edge. All in the order of the payout potential for affiliates and media buyers.
Africa
In the Africa region, you’re dealing with very different dynamics: younger populations, mobile-money dominance, and emerging regulatory frameworks.
What you must do:
- Build mobile-first flows, low-bandwidth creatives, and use local payment/withdrawal options (mobile money)
- Use community-driven, trust-based messaging. Affiliates often serve as local guides to the ecosystem
- Niches & verticals: iGaming, Fin-tech/micro-loans
- Regulation – patchy and evolving. Emphasise sustainable value (not just sign-ups)
- Localisations: Language, imagery, and mobile UX must serve multiple regions in Africa (not a one-size-fits-all).
South Asia – India-Led Growth Engine
South Asia doesn’t show up as a single affiliate region in most reports, but India dominates the picture. Its affiliate market is projected to reach $639 million by 2026, citing smartphone growth, cheap data and online shopping as drivers.
How you play South Asia:
- Treat India as your primary testbed
- Test multiple funnels and angles before cloning to neighbouring South Asian GEOs
- Go mobile-first, language-aware – mirror that in ad copy, LPs and support
- Use events as intel hubs. SiGMA South Asia and SPiCE South Asia are built specifically around South Asia’s gaming and iGaming ecosystem
- Track regulations and monetisation patterns by checking evens content
South America – Sub-Region Inside LATAM
Most research tracks South America as part of Latin America in the affiliate context, but it’s best to break it out, for a more targeted approach.
South America is effectively the core of the LATAM affiliate cluster. Even when your campaign planning treats Mexico and Central America separately.
How you play South America (beyond the usual BR/MX LATAM focus):
- Look at Argentina, Colombia and neighbours as growth pockets. GEOs where competition is still lighter than in Brazil or Mexico.
- Tie your angles to social + mobile commerce. Rising internet usage and fast-growing e-commerce. Prioritise mobile-friendly flows and social-driven traffic sources.
- Treat the region as emerging Tier-2/Tier-3 mix. Building early presence before the market matures.
Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
Middle East & Africa currently contribute around $0.37 billion in affiliate revenue, but are forecast to grow a lot more.
How you play MENA:
- Follow the vertical mix that the region already buys: retail/e-commerce, travel, health & beauty, finance/crypto, telecom & electronics as key affiliate advertiser verticals in the Middle East
- Plan for Tier-2 / Tier-3 dynamics. Treat it as an emerging cluster where you can accept lower ARPU in exchange for cheaper traffic and future upside
- Build culturally aligned creatives: consider cultural sensitivity, localisation, and adapting imagery to local values
Southeast Asia (SEA)
In the Southeast Asia cluster (ASEAN + East Timor), you’ve got roughly 690 million people, a median age of 30, and mobile-first behaviour.
What you must do:
- Use mobile-optimized flows, light landing pages. In SEA, internet speed and device specs vary
- Localise creatives: multiple languages (Thai, Viet, Bahasa, Tagalog) matter
- Niches & verticals: Gaming & iGaming, Fin-tech & mobile utility
- Compliance/cultural tips: Use culturally neutral messaging – Buddhist, Muslim, and Hindu influence, local sensitivities apply
- Less saturated than Tier 1, localisation wins
Latin America (LATAM)
In the Latin America region, you’ve got 660+ million people, mobile adoption is high, and affiliate marketing is picking up steam.
What you must do:
- Focus on Android mobile traffic: carrier billing, PIN-submit offers can work
- Localise Spanish/Portuguese: tailor creatives to major markets (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia). gamingtec.com
- Niches & verticals: iGaming, eCommerce/health-wellness
- Compliance/cultural tips: check local licences, ad restrictions
- Messaging: emphasise entertainment, bonus, community rather than get-rich quick appeals (in many markets that backfire).
Oceania – Tier-1 Quality
Most affiliate sources cluster Australia and New Zealand inside Tier-1, alongside the US, Canada and Western Europe. Mostly due to high income and advanced digital infrastructure.
Active affiliate conference scene through events like DigiMarCon Oceania/New Zealand & Australia, signalling a performance-driven market.
How you play Oceania:
- Use AU/NZ as Tier-1 validation markets. Test your highest-quality funnels here when you want strong purchasing-power signal, even if volumes are smaller
- Work through established networks. Lean on their inventory and tracking rather than trying to build everything direct from day one
- Keep creatives brand-clean and value-led. Tier-1 best-practice content emphasises sophisticated, discerning users. Clear value, strong UX, minimal gimmicks
Europe holds roughly 30% of the global affiliate market, with an estimated $5.55 billion affiliate market in 2024 and projected 6.5% CAGR through 2031.
Influencers and affiliates together drive about 60% of player acquisition in Europe. However, regulators are tightening the leash on affiliate activity.
How you play Europe:
- Anchor on compliance-first funnels. iGaming and Finance affiliates are explicitly facing stricter promotion rules
- Keep creatives transparent, avoid aggressive claims, and follow local ad codes market by market
- Invest in localisation, not just translation. eCommerce and changing consumer tastes as key growth drivers. Adapting language, offers and value props per country, not just per region
- Treat Western Europe as classic Tier-1: high purchasing power, strong digital infrastructure, and intense competition that demands premium creatives and refined targeting
North America – Largest & Most Competitive Arena
North America is still the largest regional affiliate market, at $7.40 billion in affiliate revenue in 2024, accounting for over 40% of global revenue.
How you play North America:
- Expect Tier-1 costs, Tier-1 returns. Lucrative but highly competitive countries, requiring sophisticated strategies and high-quality content
- Enter with your best funnels, not your experiments
- Lean into regulated verticals: iGaming and Finance.
- Consider growing scrutiny around tactics and compliance, follow official rules closely
- Use NA results as your global benchmark. The biggest spend & mature tracking/reporting – the control before rolling the same funnels into lower-cost regions
Tier-ing & Ad Formats: What You Need to Master
You already know the tier classification: Tier 1 – wealthiest markets, Tier 2 – emerging, mid-cost, and Tier 3 – developing.
Prioritise Tier 2 and emerging Tier 3 geos for scalability: fewer competitors, cheaper traffic, good conversion potential. MoreLogin+1
Format strategy:
- Popunder & Push dominate emerging regions (Africa, South Asia, SEA, LATAM, South America) – they load fast, hit mobile users, and scale cheaply
- In-Page Push works everywhere mobile is king – especially SEA, MENA, South Asia, Africa
- Native (Telegram Mini App, In-Page Push, Survey Exit Ad) shines in Tier-1 regions (North America, Europe, Oceania) and Gulf markets in MENA – users expect polished, trust-first creatives
- Social-style/influencer-like creatives boost performance in SEA, LATAM, and South Asia – emotional, energetic formats convert hardest.
- Premium formats (Native In-Page Push & Interstitials) win in North America, Europe, and Oceania, thanks to strict compliance and higher user expectations
Your Regional Marketing Actionplan
- Pick 1 region and explore 2 target GEOs
- Create a localisation plan: language(s), creative adaptation, payment methods
- Choose vertical: iGaming, Fin-tech, Health, eCommerce depending on region
- Pick ad format based on device & market: mobile Popunder/Push vs desktop banner/native
- Ensure compliance: check local ad laws, licenses, payment regulations
- Track retention: especially in emerging markets where first-time users’ lifetime value matters
- Scale only after you’ve localised the funnel fully: traffic cost may be low, but if funnel is generic you’ll waste budget
Now Go Run the Regions – Not Just the Campaigns
You’ve got the map, the regions, the formats, the niches, the playbook. But none of it pays off until you move.
Because the affiliates who win aren’t the ones with the biggest budget. They’re the ones who adapt fastest, localize harder, test smarter, and hit every region with the format that speaks its language.
While everyone else is stuck fighting for scraps in the same Tier-1 trenches. So take the long route, and make it yours.
Treat every region as a new frontier. Every frontier as a new revenue line. And then you’ll see that the only difference between some results and global dominance is how aggressively you execute.
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