A sub-affiliate is a publisher who joins a program through another affiliate rather than directly. The recruiting affiliate, often called the master or parent affiliate, earns an override (a second-tier commission) on the sub-affiliate's results, while the sub-affiliate earns their normal commission. The setup is known as two-tier or multi-tier affiliate marketing.
How it works
The brand gives each affiliate a recruitment link. Publishers who sign up through it are recorded as that affiliate's sub-affiliates. When a sub-affiliate earns commission, the platform credits an override to the parent, commonly a percentage of the sub-affiliate's commission that the brand pays on top rather than deducting it.
A related model is the sub-network or media agency that bundles many small publishers under one account and redistributes payouts itself. In that case the brand often sees only one affiliate and relies on sub-ID data to tell the underlying sources apart.
Example
Example: a brand offers a 5% override on sub-affiliate commissions. An affiliate recruits three publishers who earn $10,000 in commission in a month. The three receive their $10,000, and the parent receives 5% × $10,000 = $500 from the brand.
Why it matters
For brands, sub-affiliates are a cheap recruiting channel, but they add a layer of traffic the brand never vetted. Fraud, incentivized traffic and non-compliant ads from a sub-affiliate still land on the brand. In regulated markets that exposure is concrete: the UK Gambling Commission makes licensees responsible for the actions of third parties they contract with for licensed activities. Brands running sub-affiliate programs should require sub-ID transparency, pass program rules down through the affiliate agreement, and keep the right to remove individual sub-sources.
For affiliates, overrides reward recruiting partners, but the parent's reputation and account can suffer if a recruit breaks the rules.
Related: affiliate agreement, sub-ID, incentivized traffic, RevShare.