Trends in affiliate marketing: what the winners of the Golden Boomerang Awards 2025 are saying

Boomerang Partners celebrated the second season of the Golden Boomerang Awards 2025 with a spectacular awards ceremony in Milan. As a regional partner of the legendary football club AC Milan, bringing together top affiliate teams, industry leaders, media, and influencers at San Siro.. Awards were presented in 11 categories. Guests had the unique experience of immersing themselves in the atmosphere of one of the world’s greatest stadiums. They were treated to a rich entertainment program, a charity auction with AC Milan legend Andrea Pirlo, and a networking event.

Importance of Golden Boomerang Awards for the industry

Boomerang Partners attributes the decision to create the Golden Boomerang Awards to several factors. The key one is the lack of such a platform in the industry. It acts as a showcase for the achievements of affiliate teams worldwide. But that’s just one reason. For example, the brand aims to create a solid, loyal community, and this task is being accomplished. Suffice it to recall the growth of participants to 400+ teams compared to 2024. GBA can also be cited as one of the reasons for the fantastic partner growth for Boomerang last year: +120%!

Key trends in the affiliate marketing industry

Boomerang Partners is now actively targeting the sports direction in its business. This was motivated mainly by the brand’s decision to create two leaderboards within the Golden Boomerang Awards. One of them was dedicated only to the sports direction. It is rapidly gaining popularity in the industry, and Boomerang has been paying increased attention to this segment for a long time, seeing it as the future.

The winners of the ceremony confirm this trend, highlighting the growing popularity of sports-related affiliate marketing in 2025. This shift is driven by several key factors, including strong user engagement fueled by the global popularity of sports events, the accessibility and clarity of sports-focused affiliate marketing, and the increasing ability to make more confident predictions based on team performance and recent results.

The representatives of Datawave, named Best Rising Star 2025, are sure that sports-focused affiliate marketing is making a comeback in the industry: “Sport-related affiliate marketing is going to be the next big thing again. We also know that AI is going to drive the industry forward — no doubt about it. But we’re still sticking with good old manual PPC, just like in the early days, because that’s how we deliver real value.”

The representatives of TraffBand — winner in the Best SEO Traffic category — emphasized the rise of sports-focused affiliate marketing as well. “We believe that it is something to focus on, and we are going to do this together with Boomerang Partners,” said the company’s team, who also shared their impressions of the Golden Boomerang Awards: “It’s huge — we weren’t ready for something like this. It feels amazing!”

The winners of the Grand Prix 2025, Kajino Media representatives, shared their thoughts on current trends in affiliate marketing: “First of all, we believe in monobrand websites. Second is Facebook traffic, which keeps improving year after year. And third is PPC, as the quality of traffic from it is also getting better.”

The participants showed their expertise during the tournament and used all available tools to climb the leaderboards. Each team tracked the industry’s evolution and key trends, including AI-powered optimization, personalized engagement, and the growing use of cryptocurrency in affiliate marketing transactions. With Boomerang’s in-house analytics team and brand support, its partners can set their most ambitious goals.

For affiliate teams worldwide, participation in tournaments like the Golden Boomerang Awards 2025 is beneficial in several ways. So, they can demonstrate the quality of their work in a highly competitive environment. It’s also a valuable networking opportunity for business growth. Finally, GBA is an opportunity to prove themselves globally, declare themselves as a top player in the industry, and get the attention and recognition they deserve. Just look at what the award winners of the last tournament had to say:

“This award means to us the recognition of the work we put in every day. We’re trying to be innovative, to think outside of the box, and we have a beautiful partnership with Boomerang,” said the team of QQ Media Agency LTD, who won the Best Ambassador 2025 Award. “The secret of success is just to love what you do — to have a real passion for creating high-quality affiliate campaigns and delivering value to partners, and we definitely do.”

The representatives of AskGamblers, who won in the Best Marketing Solutions category, emphasized that the key to success is teamwork: “Every one of us has been doing our best, and we are very happy to receive this award. The Golden Boomerang Awards is one of the most impressive events we’ve attended, and we’re sure it will grow even more within the industry.”

Judging by what the winners shared, their formulas for success aren’t rocket science — it’s all about loving what you do, putting in the effort, and aiming for quality. And their thoughts on current trends like focus on sports affiliate marketing, monobrand websites, Facebook, and PPC traffic might be worth noting for anyone hoping to see their name among next year’s Golden Boomerang Awards winners.

The Pinnacle of Affiliate Marketing

The Golden Boomerang Awards are no longer just a tournament. It is a global industry event that attracts the attention of affiliate teams from different regions and allows them to be recognized on a world level. Today, the Golden Boomerang Awards can rightfully be called one of the industry’s most significant events. Boomerang Partners has already started working on the third season. More details will follow soon.