Apologies if you already read this, but I just saw this interesting article over at InsuranceDaily (not part of my usual reading I might add!) reporting on several big name insurers quitting affiliate marketing or scaling down their activities.

The article fingers the "credit crunch" as the likely trigger for this, but also suggests that companies are instead deciding to invest in SEO rather than affiliate marketing although I guess the obvious rebuttal might be that affiliate marketing is a sales channel and it's possibly short sighted to think that SEO is something that can replace affiliate marketing activities.

I'm not sure if I have seen any effects yet of the economic slowdown. Certainly, contract mobile sales are down for me but I don't know if it's just me or sector wide. Has the so called credit crunch had any impact on you yet? I can imagine it would actually be good news for sites which help customers find better value for their money, so comparison sites, code sites, utility switchers etc may well benefit as consumers tighten their belts and look at ways of making their money go further.

Virgin Money Withdraws Insurance Affiliate Schemes