Anna Mashchenko, PR Specialist at Makeberry Affiliates, is part of a company that has enjoyed a standout year within the iGaming affiliate sector. Operating as a performance ecosystem for affiliates and operators, Makeberry combines direct advertiser relationships, proprietary analytics, in-house media buying, SEO, PR, and influencer marketing to help partners scale across competitive markets. The company’s momentum has been reflected in recent industry recognition, including Best Affiliate Network at the SiGMA Europe Awards 2026 and Affiliate Management of the Year at the AffPapa Awards 2026.
In this CasinoRank interview, Mashchenko discusses how affiliate partnerships are evolving. She shares Makeberry’s perspective on integrated acquisition ecosystems, the growing importance of traffic transparency and localization, the industry’s shift toward more sustainable partnership models, and what separates high-performing affiliate brands in 2026.
Makeberry entered 2026 with strong visibility across the affiliate space. From your conversations with operators and affiliates this year, what has changed most in how partnerships are evaluated beyond pure volume metrics?
Anna Mashchenko: In 2026, the biggest shift has been moving away from evaluating partnerships purely through traffic volume or short-term FTD numbers toward focusing much more on traffic quality, retention, and long-term sustainability.
Both operators and affiliates have become far more data-driven. Strong partnerships today are evaluated through metrics such as LTV, redeposit behavior, retention, traffic transparency, and ROI stability rather than acquisition volume alone.
Affiliates increasingly value direct communication, fast decision-making, flexible deal structures, and detailed analytics that help optimize campaigns more effectively. At the same time, operators are paying much closer attention to compliance, fraud prevention, and source verification.
Another major shift is that partnerships are becoming far more collaborative. Affiliates now expect customized approaches — including localized creatives, landing pages, exclusive bonuses, tailored promotions, and strategic support for specific GEOs or traffic sources instead of one-size-fits-all deals.
Overall, the industry is clearly moving toward smarter, long-term partnerships built on transparency, data quality, and sustainable growth rather than simply scaling volume at any cost.
In an industry where many affiliates still operate through fragmented traffic models, why do you think integrated acquisition ecosystems are becoming more valuable for operators in 2026?
Anna Mashchenko: From our perspective at Makeberry Affiliates, this creates several major advantages:
Faster optimization cycles because all teams work with shared data. Better traffic quality control through deeper analytics and cross-channel evaluation. More stable scaling opportunities since operators are not dependent on a single acquisition source.
Stronger brand positioning through the combination of performance marketing, SEO, analytics, and PR. Greater flexibility for partners because integrated ecosystems can adapt offers, creatives, landing pages, funnels, and retention strategies much faster.
Across Makeberry’s brand partnerships, where are operators currently putting the most pressure on affiliate teams — retention quality, compliance, localisation, or something else entirely?
Anna Mashchenko: Operators are no longer evaluating affiliate performance purely through acquisition volume. The focus has shifted much more toward traffic sustainability and operational quality.
Retention quality is probably the strongest priority right now. Operators pay close attention to redeposit rates, long-term LTV, Day 30 and Day 60 cohort performance, deposit frequency, and one-time depositor ratios. A partner delivering lower volume but stronger retention can now be far more valuable than a high-volume source with weak player quality.
Compliance requirements have also become much stricter. Operators expect affiliate teams to actively monitor source transparency, traffic methods, GEO restrictions, brand safety, and fraud risks. As a result, many operators now prioritize verified, long-term partnerships over aggressive short-term scaling.
Localization is another major focus area. Affiliates increasingly expect us to adapt creatives, landing pages and bonuses for specific GEOs rather than using one universal approach globally. At Makeberry, we support partners with localized creatives, landing pages, and exclusive bonuses tailored to their traffic and GEOs.
Affiliate management today is becoming much closer to performance consulting than traditional partnership management.
How is Makeberry adapting its traffic evaluation and partnership models to meet industry expectations without sacrificing scale?
Anna Mashchenko: The industry is clearly moving toward a more sustainability-focused acquisition model, and pure volume-driven CPA strategies are becoming harder to maintain long term under increasing regulatory pressure and higher expectations around player quality.
At Makeberry, we’ve adapted by focusing much more deeply on retention and behavioral analytics rather than relying only on FTD volume or short-term acquisition costs. Today, we evaluate traffic through Day 7, Day 14, Day 30, and Day 60 cohort performance, redeposit behavior, LTV stability, one-time depositor ratios, and overall traffic consistency.
This also changes how partnership models are structured. Instead of aggressively scaling every source on pure CPA, we increasingly prefer flexible structures such as Hybrid and RevShare models that encourage long-term traffic quality rather than short-term deposit volume alone.
Another important adaptation is stricter traffic validation. Over the last few years, the market has seen a noticeable increase in fake statistics, manipulated acquisition metrics, and misleading traffic presentations. Because of that, verification and transparency have become a core part of onboarding and scaling decisions.
With AI-generated content flooding the affiliate market, what separates high-performing affiliate brands from those that simply generate clicks?
Anna Mashchenko: AI has dramatically lowered the barrier to producing content and launching affiliate projects, but at the same time it has made the difference between simple traffic generation and real affiliate brand building much more visible.
Today, almost anyone can generate large volumes of SEO pages or automated reviews. The problem is that clicks alone no longer create sustainable value — especially in iGaming, where operators increasingly evaluate partners based on retention quality, player behavior, and long-term profitability rather than pure acquisition numbers.
The affiliate brands that continue to perform well are usually differentiated by trust, audience understanding, and traffic intent quality. Strong affiliates build ecosystems, not just pages. They create localized user journeys, maintain clear brand positioning, and develop traffic sources that users genuinely engage with rather than simply pass through.
We also see a growing separation in operational maturity. Serious affiliate businesses work much more deeply with analytics, compliance, GEO-specific optimization, CRM collaboration, and long-term monetization strategies instead of simply scaling generic content.
AI itself is not the problem — it has become an important operational tool for many companies. The real difference is how it is used. The strongest affiliate brands use AI to improve efficiency, analytics and localization.
Final Thoughts
With operators and affiliates placing greater emphasis on quality, sustainability, and long-term value, the industry is entering a new phase of partnership-driven growth. We thank Anna Mashchenko for offering us a closer look at how Makeberry is navigating this evolution and helping shape the future of affiliate marketing in iGaming.
With a background in digital media and a keen eye for emerging technologies, Ronaldo bridges the gap between players and platforms through clear, insightful reporting to the iGaming industry.
