Apple Slashes Affiliate Commission From 7 Percent To 2.5 Percent Starting May 1

Effective from May 1, 2017, globally Apple Affiliate Program will pay only 2.5% as against 7% of commission that was in effect previously. All other content types like music, books, movies and TV will retain the current commission of 7% in all markets.

While Apple Affiliate Program is used by quite a number of app-focused sites, it's a source of income for app developers to earn additional revenue. Appadvice stated that Apple didn't offer any reason for the change in affiliate commission.

To this effect, Apple sent an email to all members informing about the improvements to the iTunes Affiliate Resource of the App Store Affiliate Program stating that App Store commissions will be sliding from 7 percent to 2.5 percent with effect from May 1. With nearly 64 percent slash, the new rule is not likely to cause any effect on App store users, while some implications continue on the App Store environs.

Techcrunch reported that the modus operandi is, many websites from the Apple community exchange link to App Store downloads with a unique referral ID in the link. When customers buy apps or in-app purchase with the help of link, Apple shares a small percentage to its affiliate partner. App Developers receive 70 percent of sale while partners get incentives.

As for many, the lowering of commission gives a negative impact on source of revenue stream. Leaving a huge impact on affiliates about the 2.5 percent commission rate, previously, this was only applied to the Japan store for apps and in-app purchases.

"We will also continue to pay affiliate commissions on Apple Music memberships so there are many ways to earn commissions with the program," Apple says.

It's also not clear why Apple made the change otherwise to retain more App Store sales. This program calls for to claim a small portion of the proceeds from linked apps without how much developers earn.