Scaling without sacrificing traffic quality is becoming one of the main challenges facing iGaming affiliate teams as competition and acquisition costs increase, according to Daria Smirnova, Affiliate Team Lead at N1 Partners Group.
Speaking with iGaming News Editor Abigail Welch during a six-minute exclusive interview at iGB Live 2026, Smirnova said affiliate businesses seeking sustainable expansion should build around repeatable models instead of focusing solely on increasing traffic volumes.
“The biggest challenge I see today is scaling without losing quality,” Smirnova said. “As competition grows, acquisition prices, they also rise. And sometimes it’s not about only buying traffic. You need to understand how it performs and to find this high-quality traffic. And my advice is to build something repeatable, master it, optimize it, and grow from this point. And from my point of view is the way affiliate businesses are built.”
Smirnova described her role as helping N1 Partners’ affiliates identify opportunities to expand across the group’s brand portfolio.
“I’m an affiliate team lead at 1Partners, and my role is to help our partners grow and find the right opportunities to scale across the portfolio of our brands,” she explained. “And over the last few years, 1Partners has grown significantly; we have more than 14 brands across over 10 tier 1 markets. We expanded our portfolio of brands, we invested a lot in technology, and we also tried to build really good communication and partnerships with our partners.”
At iGB Live 2026, which brought together affiliates, operators and suppliers from across the ecosystem, Smirnova identified sustainable growth, higher-quality traffic, retention and longer-term performance as prominent areas of discussion.
The pressure is particularly evident in Tier 1 markets such as Canada and other mature regulated jurisdictions, where affiliates face stronger competition, tighter compliance requirements and higher user expectations.
“Tier 1 markets reward quality, not shortcuts. Competition is higher, compliance is stricter, and user expectations are much stronger,” the expert said. “So success comes from optimization and high-quality traffic, not aggressive scaling.”
Traffic diversification is also becoming more important across affiliate marketing. Smirnova said stronger-performing affiliates are combining multiple acquisition channels, while sports traffic and artificial intelligence-based optimization could provide further growth opportunities during the second half of 2026.
“The best results come from a diversified approach. So as we know, leading affiliates, they combine COO traffic, paid traffic and other sources. And looking ahead, we see growth in sports traffic and also in AI optimization.”
She also pointed to mistakes on both sides of affiliate relationships. Affiliates can place too much emphasis on headline commercial terms, while operators risk weakening partnerships when transparency and communication are lacking.
“I think that affiliates sometimes spend too much time chasing a high CP or revenue share,” Smirnova stated. “It’s better to choose strong products and trusted brands. This, it will help to find the right audience and keep in touch with the affiliate manager instead of reaching out only when there is a problem.”
“And on the operator side, it’s all about transparency and responsibility because the affiliates, they really like this quick feedback, this honest communication. And we all need to understand that to every partner, we need to find a different approach as all partners are different.”
Despite the industry’s reliance on digital communication, Smirnova said in-person meetings remain important for building affiliate relationships.
“Digital communication is a very important part of our industry, and it helps us stay connected every day. But as we all understand, it’s really necessary to meet each other face-to-face, as strong partnerships start from this face-to-face connection. And also, one really good meeting at the conference. It has more opportunities to get to know each other well instead of these dozens of online calls.”
N1 Partners invested in its iGB Live presence through collaborations with artists, including Klim Erveden and Yomota. The activation included live art, limited-edition merchandise, interactive illustrations, a special merchandise drop and a new collectible toy.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/08/18/125910-n1-partners-39-daria-smirnova-says-traffic-quality-and-retention-are-driving-igaming-affiliate-growth
