“It would kill affiliates, though.”
That just doesn’t make sense to me. If that line of thinking was correct, then why do most big businesses that seek to advertise online have a huge affiliate program? (Amazon.com?)
Online ad spend is on the rise, as people are spending more time online and less time parked in front of the TV or reading newspapers and magazines. To only advertise “online” gambling in “offline” media would be incredibly foolish.
Finally, from what I understand, affiliate advertising is a top preference among businesses looking to have an online ad presence, because affiliate advertising is slanted in favor of the merchant. They don’t have to pay for traffic to their site… they just have to pay when they make a “sell.” It’s like the exact opposite of cost per impression which is slanted in favor of the publisher (the gambling site/portal owner) where the merchant is paying for just eyeballs. The most fair online advertising model is cost per click IMO… but I digress.
Bottom line is, if B&M brands go online, you can bet they’ll be paying high traffic, gambling related sites to publish their ads, one way or another.
Frankly, I’d be happy to run ads for Harrah’s on my sites, as long as I felt I was getting compensated fairly, be that CPM, CPC, CPA or revenue share….