In a move to minimise the impact of Apple taking its iTunes affiliate programme in-house, Skimlinks, a content monetisation tool for publishers, has announced it will now automatically rewrite old iTunes affiliate links to the new format.
Skimlinks has crafted the feature to require as little input from the publisher as possible, according to Jen Langdon, the firm’s VP of Engineering, by building it into the pre-existing javascript and APIs.
“Skimlinks publishers have come to rely on us for an exceptional affiliate experience, and so we take it on ourselves to innovate, building products and tools that make their lives easier,” said Langdon. “As the leader in the space, we proactively build solutions that ensure publishers don’t miss out on revenue.”
PHG Brings More Reporting
PHG, introduced as Apple’s new affiliate partner platform, is bringing more reporting capabilities to the table using ExactView. The downside is that publishers will need to go through the task of creating a new affiliate account and updating all links by October 1 2013, which Skimlinks hopes it has alleviated.
Only the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand are moving to the new programme in what seems like a trial period for Apple and PHG. Tradedoubler will be continuing to provide iTunes affiliate tracking in Europe and South America.
Publishers not currently registered with Skimlinks can sign up to take advantage of the rewrite feature, which uses a similar concept to the one provided when Google Affiliate Network revealed its doors were closing.