Revenue Share (RevShare)

Revenue Share pays the affiliate a recurring percentage of the net revenue a referred customer produces over time, rather than a one-off bounty. It is the backbone of subscription, SaaS, iGaming and trading affiliate programs, where lifetime value matters more than the first transaction.

Revenue share pays the affiliate an agreed percentage of the money a referred customer generates, for as long as that customer keeps generating it. Instead of a one-time bounty, the affiliate holds an ongoing stake in the account's activity, so earnings compound as the referred user spends, deposits or subscribes over months and years. The advertiser attributes the customer's revenue back to the referring affiliate through a persistent account tag.

The model aligns incentives more tightly than any flat payout: an affiliate earns more by sending customers who stay and spend, not merely those who sign up once. Advertisers value this because it discourages low-quality volume and rewards partners who bring genuinely profitable users. It is the dominant structure in iGaming, subscriptions and financial trading, where customer lifetimes are long and revenue is recurring.

The catch is the exposure to how that revenue is measured. In gambling, revenue share is calculated on net gaming revenue, meaning player winnings and bonuses are deducted before the affiliate's cut, so a big winning month can shrink or zero the commission. Affiliates also carry churn risk — if referred users leave, the income stream dries up — and must watch for negative-carryover clauses that let losses roll forward.

Revenue share rewards patience over quick wins, and its value depends heavily on customer retention that the affiliate cannot fully control. As subscription businesses proliferated, rev-share migrated well beyond gambling into SaaS and creator platforms, though percentages vary widely with margin and lifetime value.