Mr. Gamble Q&A: Interview with Lee-Ann Johnstone, Founder of Affiverse

Mr. Gamble Q&A: Interview with Lee-Ann Johnstone, Founder of Affiverse

To work in affiliate marketing is to wear many hats. No one is more aware of that than Lee-Ann Johnstone, founder of Affiverse, who organises events, leads an affiliate training program, and hosts the immensely popular Affiliate Marketing Podcast every week.

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule, Lee-Ann! Take us back to the beginning. What inspired you to start Affiverse, and how did the idea evolve into what it is today?

After almost two decades of working in the affiliate marketing industry, I saw that there is a gap for continuous education and keeping up with the latest trends and insights as to how to run and manage an affiliate program properly. So I decided to launch a platform and portal where people can come together to learn more about the complexities of running a successful affiliate program.

Our mission is simply to help the world do affiliate marketing better. We do that via our agency support services, our media outlet, The Affiliate Marketing podcast, and through our online Affiliate Manager Training Program.

Affiliate marketing has changed drastically over the last decade. How has the iGaming landscape evolved since you first entered the space?

When I started, affiliate marketing was very performance-focused but quite simple: drive traffic, get conversions, optimise and get paid. It was one-dimensional. Customers came in from SEO engines, email and offline to the same landing page, liked what they saw, and either took it or bounced off.

Now there are hundreds of access points, multiple platforms, and you have to be tracking all of it in minute detail to extract the attention value and optimise to convert!

What’s evolved since then is the sophistication of the entire digital marketing ecosystem. We've gone from basic CPA and rev share deals to highly nuanced partnership models that include content, influencer, programmatic, and even hybrid structures.

What’s surprised me the most is the speed at which regulation and compliance have reshaped how we engage with affiliates. Markets are fragmenting, and what works in one region might not even be allowed in another.

That, combined with the rise of AI, data privacy changes, and the shift toward creator-led marketing, has completely redefined how we grow and scale partnerships and programs. Affiliate marketing is now complex!

In your opinion, what are the biggest trends shaping the future of iGaming and affiliate marketing over the next 3–5 years?

First-party data ownership. Affiliates and brands both want more control over their audiences.

Next, creator monetisation and community-led growth. The rise of short-form video and faceless influencer content on TikTok and Telegram is changing how brands and offers are distributed. Private Discord and Telegram groups for tips, bets, and exclusives are becoming powerful performance channels.

Finally, automation and AI. For reporting, optimisation, and even compliance.

Many brands struggle with launching or scaling their affiliate programs. What’s the first thing you typically look at when assessing a program’s health?

I start with data integrity and tracking. If you can’t trust your numbers, you can’t scale. Then I look at membership in the program, traffic source distribution, and relevance to the customer ICP. Are the partners, the offer, and the promo competitive? Finally, I assess the relationship layer. Are affiliate managers actively nurturing their partners or just pushing out comms? Program health is a balance of tech, trust, and team.

Recruiting quality affiliates is one of the biggest hurdles. What strategies do you recommend for finding and attracting the right affiliate partners?

First, get clear on your ideal partner profile. Then be present in the spaces they frequent — iGaming-specific forums, vertical-specific groups, Telegram, events. Offer value before you pitch. Share exclusive data, conversion tips, or market insights.

Don’t underestimate personalised outreach. Mass emails are dead. Real relationships drive results. If you’re not sure how to sell, get on my AMPP training course. We deep dive into everything about this over a series of weeks in the program, as it’s such an important tactic affiliate managers don’t often “get”.

What are the most common mistakes operators make when trying to grow their affiliate programs?

Treating affiliates as disposable rather than strategic growth partners. Underinvesting in affiliate tech and programmatic reporting. Failing to localise: one-size-fits-all doesn’t work in a market where players and laws vary so much.

Not training their affiliate managers properly is also bad. Relationship-building is a skill that requires mentoring and nurturing. I’ve just done a podcast about this coming out in a few weeks with Stefan from AffPapa, where we give seven top tips for building successful partnerships, courtesy of Mate Affiliates who are this season’s sponsors! Check it out.

What are some challenges affiliates face when working with brands or networks? How can operators improve collaboration?

Affiliates often face poor communication, delayed payments, and vague T&Cs that can shift without notice. To improve collaboration, operators need to act with transparency and provide real-time reporting, fair contract terms, and proactive and experienced partner account management. Affiliates are business owners. Treat them with respect and offer them tools to grow, not just a banner and a link.

In your view, what defines a standout affiliate brand or website in 2025?

The top-performing affiliates are niche, fast, and data-driven. They build trust with communities, whether that’s through expert content, Telegram betting groups, or AI-curated odds tracking. Key elements include:

• UX that’s mobile-first and frictionless.
• Personalisation at scale (content tailored to betting preferences or regions, like top casinos in Europe).
• Speed of delivery: pages that load fast and update odds or offers in real time.

Some of the crypto-native affiliates using real-time wallet data and AI content generation to tailor pages to visitor preferences are quite cool. There’s a tool that’s doing this for influencers called Inflektion.

KPIs are crucial in affiliate marketing. What are the key metrics you focus on to ensure affiliate programs are delivering performance?

For me, these are:

• Conversion rate (click to sign up, and sign up to FTD)
• Player value/LTV over 30/60/90 days
• Churn rate. Are you acquiring stickiness or short-term spikes?
• ROI per affiliate traffic segment. What’s really working? Are you tracking that?
• And increasingly, engagement metrics, like time on site or content interaction, help assess affiliate quality beyond just volume.

You’ve worked with brands globally. How do affiliate marketing strategies differ between mature markets and emerging regions?

In mature markets, you're dealing with saturated channels, compliance overload, and highly educated affiliates. You need precision and innovation. In emerging markets, it’s more about education, localisation, and building trust first (branding) and educating to build loyalty (sales) later.

As someone leading a global business, how do you approach building and managing high-performing teams across different cultures and time zones?

Clear goals. Weekly check-ins. A lot of tools like Slack and Asana. Most importantly, empathy. Understanding how people work best in their own context and giving them space to deliver. We don’t micromanage at Affiverse. We collaborate and empower. We also hire only the best of the best, which obviously helps!

Any tips for affiliate managers looking to level up their leadership and build stronger internal or partner teams?

Learn to read data, but also read people. This is a humanistic business; people buy people, not just offers in this game.

Always be teaching, whether that’s training junior team members or educating affiliates.

Stay visible in the community and keep learning. The best leaders evolve constantly and build their brand and profile within their space, they give more than they ask, and they are open to new ideas and opportunities to learn from others.

Too often, I’ve met someone with five years of experience, and they tell me they are an “expert”. My friends, I’m 20 years in this game, and I still don’t refer to myself as an expert!

Nobody in this industry can ever stop learning. Be humble. Be courteous, and your career will go far with you!

You’ve been a strong voice for women in the iGaming industry. How has the space changed for women since you started? What still needs to improve?

There are more women in leadership, more representation, and more voices being heard right now than there were two decades ago, and I think that’s a great thing! But we still need to improve equity in funding, visibility at events, and career support, especially for working mothers and women in tech roles. It’s getting better, but there’s still more work to do!

Right now, only something like 3% of female founders in the UK get access to VC funding. We can do better, and if my voice and experience help people to see that and make change, so be it!

The Affiliate Marketing Podcast is a huge resource for the industry. What’s been one of your most memorable or game-changing interviews?

So many, there isn’t just one. But anytime we have a debate on AI, partnerships, tracking or fraud, our numbers just light up!

For someone new to affiliate marketing, what’s the best advice you can offer to get started and stay relevant?

Keep learning. Find a mentor, pay to fast-track your knowledge, and invest in yourself. The industry moves fast, and the people who win are the ones who adapt. Oh, and listen to our podcast. It’s free wisdom on tap :)

And finally, what excites you most about the future of affiliate marketing and your vision for Affiverse over the next few years?

I’m excited by how community and performance are blending, and we’re seeing affiliate marketing become more human again, even as tech automates many of our tasks. For Affiverse, our goal is to keep educating, connecting, and empowering both sides of the affiliate equation.

Whether that’s through events, our agency/consulting, or content marketing services, we want to help the industry thrive ethically and sustainably and keep everyone in it growing with the right tools, knowledge and insight to grow!

Lastly, what is your favourite online slot game and why?

It has to be the Book of Dead by Play’n GO. It’s a classic, but I also used to love Mermaid Millions when I worked at the casinos. I don’t really play slots anymore, I’m more of a blackjack queen.