Performance Marketing Unlocked

Affiliate marketing represents a significant piece of the UK's performance marketing pie, generating over £19bn in sales last year alone. However, despite its ongoing growth, the affiliate space continues to polarise marketers.

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlcoked podcast, PMW's Editor Robin Langford joins host Joe to discuss affiliate marketing's latest setback, namely Paypal's ongoing payments scandal surrounding its Honey Browser extension.

The pair detail the story and assess how it underscores the broader challenges affiliate marketing is facing, specifically, measurement, visibility and trust.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Deputy Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~

(1:53) What has Honey done wrong?

(10:56) How can affiliate marketing improve its perception among marketers?

~ Further reading ~

Awin announces 'confirmed breaches'; becomes latest affiliate network to update stance on Honey

Rakuten cuts ties with Honey following commissions scandal

Despite generating £19bn in sales in 2025, UK affiliate marketing is only just scratching the surface

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an era built around creating automated efficiency, the ultimate competitive advantage isn't a better algorithm – it’s a deeper understanding of the human behind it.

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, behavioural psychologist Lea Karam, founder and CEO of Mindscope, exposes the invisible forces driving consumer decisions that your dashboard is currently missing, revealing how you can fill the gaps and future-proof your performance strategy.

For more of Lea, she will be taking the stage at PMW Unlocked 2026 from 3-4 March at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London – find out more and get your tickets here.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Deputy Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~

(3:20) Bridging the gap between hard data and human psychology

(18:32) Which marketing trends are overrated or underrated?

(27:11) PMW's Resell Me a Pen Challenge

~ Further reading ~

‘GEO becomes a core capability for staying visible’: 17 marketers on how AI will change adland in 2026

An AI would never design Cannes Lions – and that should give us all some comfort

Riding the TikTok algorithm: with great power comes great responsibility

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast is back for another season! PMW's editorial team kick things off with a quickfire round-up of all the biggest advertising stories to open 2026, from Reddit's boom in reach to how FMCG brand's can navigate the UK's junk food advertising ban and everything in between.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Deputy Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~

(2:45) Reddit surpasses TikTok in UK reach

(10:40) The UK's less healthy food ad ban is here

(17:15) Quickfire review of the newsdesk's biggest headlines

~ Further reading ~

Reddit overtakes TikTok to become UK’s fourth most visited social platform

UK junk food ban goes live: How FMCG brands can win in a restricted ad landscape

The Guardian and Buzzfeed headline first Publishing Partners for The Trade Desk’s OpenAds

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

PMW's editorial team is back for its annual Christmas Special. A podcast where we reflect on the biggest themes, trends and stories from the year and look ahead to the future, making some predictions for what the next 12 months might hold.

From AI's impact on search to Amazon's booming DSP ecosystem and everything in between, PMW's Editor Robin Langford, News Reporter Reem Makari and host Joe leave no stone unturned, also revealing some hot takes and fast favourites from 2025.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~

(3:57) Reflections on 2025

(21:50) Predictions for 2026

(35:01) The PMW team's fast favourites from the past 12 months

~ Further reading ~

‘We are still only at the tip of the AI iceberg’: Adland’s 2026 predictions

‘Marketers don’t care where consumers buy, only that they buy’: Adland’s 2026 predictions

‘People won’t trust AI – but they’ll use it for everything’: 15 expert marketing predictions for 2026

‘2026 will drop a brutal marketing truth’: 18 experts on adland's biggest challenges

Performance Marketing World Awards: All 26 winners announced

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Consumers are more concerned about privacy than ever before and yet they are demanding more personalisation from advertisers. How can brands walk this tightrope and balance privacy and transparency with an effective strategy for gathering and utilising data? The answer is simple, trust. Unfortunately, building trust is not quite so simple.

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, Zac Eller, General Manager, Global Partnerships & Business Development at ExpressVPN, joins host Joe to detail exactly how marketers can make privacy a unique selling point for their brand and crucially, use it to build and maintain customer loyalty.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~ 

Why has privacy become even more important in 2025? (1:55)

What exactly does a VPN do? (14:59)

PMW's Resell Me a Pen Challenge (26:35)

~ Further reading ~ 

AI browsers, Netflix's advertising boom and Apple's privacy warning

85% of agencies are turning to third-party data to reduce reliance on advertisers

Could 2025 be the start of the golden age of marketing measurement?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The annual Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend is regularly bookmarked on marketers' calendars as one of the biggest sales opportunities of the year, but with 2025's edition coinciding with tax increases from the UK Labour Government's latest budget and increasing levels of "sales fatigue" among Brits, are consumers going to be willing to spend?

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, PMW's Editor Robin Langford joins host Joe to talk about Black Friday 2025, and why retailers' fears over whether or not shoppers will respond to their advertising is not the biggest talking point of the upcoming event, positing that a much bigger trend is looming over the weekend – AI-fuelled shopping.

With AI agents such as Amazon's Rufus now at consumers' disposal, we are about to see an early litmus test for the AI-era of commerce.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~ 

How are brands feeling ahead of BFCM 2025? (2:15)

Is AI about to uproot everything we know about shopping? (8:19)

Are marketers losing the freedom to experiment? (15:22)

~ Further reading ~ 

OpenAI introduces shopping research within ChatGPT

Almost half of consumers 'trust AI summaries without clicking'

Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend set to deliver £9.52bn for retailers

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Product sampling has often been maligned as one of marketing's dirtiest habits – simply palm off your samples to whoever you can find and call it a day.

However, on this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, Matthew Huntly, co-founder and CEO of Sampl, explains exactly how the practice has modernised and why the digital-first reinvention of Sampling is one of the best kept secrets for advertisers to leverage ahead of 2026.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~ 

What happened to product sampling's reputation? (1:47)

Digital sampling in action (17:43)

PMW's Resell Me a Pen Challenge (29:27)

~ Further reading ~ 

‘Digital sampling is a great way for brands to get data’: Q&A with Matthew Huntly, Sampl

Top 5 adtech tools this week: VideoAmp, Hightouch, Sampl, DoubleVerify, and Unilever

Matthew Huntly

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New data has revealed that retail media adspend is set to surpass $200bn by 2027, but where does this place the channel compared to others such as connected TV and social media?

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, PMW's Editor Robin Langford joins host Joe to talk about the future of retail media, from its potential to hit an investment ceiling to whether or not it, and other popular advertising channels, are becoming too fragmented.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~ 

Is retail media about to hit its peak? (1:54)

How will agentic AI impact retail media? (13:03)

~ Further reading ~ 

Retail media adspend to clear $200bn by 2027 – but is a plateau on the horizon?

Are you ready for retail media 2.0?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Where have marketers missed out in 2025? And more importantly, how can they avoid leaving growth opportunities on the table in 2026

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, Esme Robinson, Director of Platform Solutions at Epsilon, and PMW 2025 Powerlist member, reveals where marketers have gone wrong this year and how they can remedy things over the next 12 months.

From neglecting the basics to building out AI models on incomplete data, she details the areas marketers are over-emphasising and where their attention should be going instead.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~ 

What has been the biggest missed opportunity in 2025 for marketers? (2:30)

How can marketers avoid missing out in 2026? (17:41)

~ Further reading ~ 

How to stop survivorship bias haunting your marketing efforts

Esme Robinson

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

AI browsers are here, streaming giants have become ad platforms and tech giant's are warning of being 'forced' to remove privacy regulations – how's that for news?

On this episode of the Performance Marketing Unlocked podcast, PMW's News Reporter Reem Makari joins host Joe to discuss several of the industry's biggest headlines from the past couple of weeks. In an attempt to help you keep up with a news cycle that never stops, consider this a quick-fire round-up of everything marketers need to be aware of heading into November.

This podcast was hosted by PMW's Multimedia Editor, Joseph Arthur.

~ Episode breakdown ~

Does the introduction of ChatGPT Atlas represent a paradigm shift in search? (2:17)

Netflix's ad sales are booming, so why are its earnings down? (11:43)

~ Further reading ~

OpenAI launches ChatGPT’s first web browser, Atlas

‘A new milestone in the AI browser arms race’: What ChatGPT Atlas means for marketers

Netflix records ‘best ad sales quarter ever’ despite disappointing earnings

US and China ‘nearly finalise’ TikTok sale deal

Apple claims it may be ‘forced’ to disable ATT across Europe

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.