Please note that affiliate links may be included in some posts.
Netflix is a streaming behemoth. It boasts over 167 million subscribers with the average user watching over 2 hours a day (Source). Statistics like these demonstrate the indispensable popularity of this streaming service.
But, does it have an affiliate program?
At the time of this writing in the summer of 2020, it does not.
Apparently, it used to have an affiliate program. A Quora user has some of the backstory: 
If you love blogging about streaming content, there are some other affiliate programs you can join and some different means of monetizing this content.
Netflix Keyword Research
If you’re Googling around for the Netflix affiliate program, you’re obviously looking to generate an online income by referring people to streaming content.
It makes sense, then, to check out exactly what Netflix ranks for in Google.
Below, I extracted 1,000 of Netflix’s top-performing organic keywords. Scroll through the list below to get a sense of some of the biggest search queries they rank for.
You can see that they rank for many of their original content titles like Jessica Jones and Stranger Things, both of which have six and even seven-figure search volumes.
If you wanted to make money online writing about streaming content, keyword research like this is absolutely vital.
Just look at this Black Mirror Vulture blog post:
It’s raking in tons of organic traffic. Ahrefs estimates 63,000 sessions a month:
TV Blogging
I have written before about starting an authority site in the TV niche (Read: The TV Niche). That free niche report is definitely worth a read if you’re interested in becoming a streaming affiliate.
If I were starting a TV or streaming blog, I consider niching down into a particular content theme like action and adventure, science fiction, or even just Netflix originals.
If you dive even deeper behind some of these keywords, you’ll discover that characters from the shows get significant search volumes.
As well, episode guides, which I have written about before (Read: Ranking For TV Episodes), also get tons of search traffic.
The good thing about episode guides is that they have huge search volumes, are very low competition, and as new episodes emerge, you can quickly and dependably get a lot of traffic for these new search terms.
Netflix Affiliate Alternatives
Amazon Prime Video
Apple TV Affiliate Program
AMC Networks Affiliate Program
AT&T TV
CBS All Access Affiliate Program
Hulu
Hulu has an affiliate program inside of Rakuten Linkshare that is paying $2 per action. It’s not entirely clear what actions they are referring to – whether that is $2 for every paid or free sign up or $2 for purchases that occur. You can email their affiliate support for clarification at affiliate@hulu.com.
Roku Affiliate Program
Many Affiliate Options
There are even more streaming services and television networks that offer affiliate programs. I’ve only listed probably 20% of them.
Depending on what you’re interested in, you can likely find a match. The thing to remember, before you embark on building a website, you’ll want to have a clear picture of the different affiliate options available to you.
So, for example, say you want to blog about sports and monetize by promoting streaming services like ESPN or AT&T. Make sure you sketch out the different affiliate options for that niche beforehand so you don’t accidentally paint yourself into a corner with a streaming site that lacks affiliate monetization.
When I started a small niche site in the ink cartridge niche, before I began, I did a lot of research to figure it out the available affiliate programs:
Running Ads
It doesn’t just have to be an affiliate play. With a niche TV blog, running ads is easier than ever. Once you hit a certain traffic threshold, you can sign up with Mediavine or AdThrive.
Both of those networks do require a significant minimum threshold of traffic, but once you are approved, their ads seamlessly plug-and-play directly into your website.
If you don’t meet their traffic requirements, and need a little bit more time to grow, you can join Ezoic or apply directly to Google’s AdSense program.
What I Would Do
If I were going to start a site that could theoretically monetize with a Netflix type of affiliate program, I’d map out all of the different affiliate options, their commission potential, as well as conversion percentages, if available.
Go With Your Passion
I would definitely pursue a streaming niche that interests me. All things being equal, if you’re passionate about science fiction, but not about action and adventure, there’s no real reason to choose the latter over the former. There are so many different TV shows, TV characters, and TV actors that you can rank for that it doesn’t make sense not to pursue the sub-niche you have a genuine passion for.
Ads, Ads, Ads
While I love affiliate marketing, I think the best monetization option here is going to be display ads. I don’t think you can generate a ton of revenue getting people to sign up for a Hulu subscription for $2 as opposed to getting a $15, $20, even $25 CPM on TV site traffic. And you can do both- they’re not mutually exclusive.
I definitely like the opportunity here. Mainly because if you have a passion for the topic it’s likely that you’ll be motivated to work on your site, make it high quality, and persist past difficulties.
Content Costs
Another good thing about this niche is you could probably get away with hiring cheap writers for a lot of the content. For example, you could easily HireWriters to rewrite episode guides. On the other hand, you might want to invest in better quality writing for more in-depth show or character profiles. I would experiment with both, seeing which ones attract the most traffic and Revenue.
Last Updated on August 23, 2020 by Ryan Nelson
