Shutterstock Affiliate Program Management
Launched and scaled Shutterstock's affiliate program from $0 to $10M annual revenue run rate in two years.
- Client
- Shutterstock
- Objective
- Launch and scale an affiliate program.
- Strategy
- Recruit high-potential affiliate partners, manage API integrations, measure and optimize the commission structure, and pursue efficient growth.
- $0 → $10M
- Annual revenue run rate in two years
- 75%
- Of program revenue from exclusive contracts
- Top
- Source of web traffic and new customers
The challenge
Shutterstock had no affiliate channel. Building one meant launching across multiple networks, recruiting publishers from scratch, and giving the channel a technical foundation strong enough to scale into a meaningful source of revenue and customers.
The strategy
Recruit high-potential affiliate partners, manage API integrations, measure and optimize the commission structure, and pursue efficient growth.
The work
- Launched the program across multiple affiliate networks
- Negotiated exclusive contracts that secured 75% of program revenue
- Developed a custom WordPress plugin to empower publishers
- Led creative strategy and landing page testing to maximize performance
- Contributed to product development to strengthen the channel's technical foundation
The outcome
Shutterstock's affiliate program grew into one of the company's top sources of web traffic, revenue, and customer acquisition, reaching a $10M annual revenue run rate within two years of launch.
Building Shutterstock’s affiliate program from the ground up
While at Shutterstock, Matthew Bell, founder and CEO of Bell Interactive, was the primary driver behind launching and scaling the company’s affiliate marketing channel into one of its top sources of web traffic, revenue, and customer acquisition. Starting from nothing, he built the program to a $10M run rate while also contributing to product development to strengthen the channel’s technical foundation and long-term growth potential.
Through a combination of strategic partnerships, technical innovation, and creative optimization, Shutterstock’s affiliate program grew into a powerful and sustainable revenue channel.
