The Affiliate Leaders Summit will place SEO, AI, content, and performance marketing at the heart of its 2026 conference agenda as it debuts as a standalone event co-located with SBC Summit.
Taking place at the Feira Internacional de Lisboa and MEO Arena in Lisbon from 29 September to 1 October, the event’s conference programme will feature two dedicated stages and six tracks examining the forces reshaping affiliate and performance marketing.
The Affiliate Leaders Stage will focus on three key themes: Platforms & Performance, the Future of Affiliate Strategy, and Content & Discovery. It will explore how affiliates and performance marketers can adapt to changing traffic sources, tighter regulation, new audience behaviours, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence on affiliation and performance marketing
Alongside it, the Conversion Conf Stage will be delivered in partnership with Conversion Club, a global community for affiliate and performance marketing professionals. Its three tracks, Scale, Growth and AI, will address the practical challenges of building and operating successful marketing businesses, from sales systems and team structures to media buying, automation and artificial intelligence.
Rasmus Sojmark, CEO and Founder of SBC, said: “Launching the Affiliate Leaders Summit as a standalone event lets us build the entire programme around what affiliate and performance marketing professionals are actually dealing with right now.
“Affiliates are under pressure to perform better while relying less on any single platform, as search, paid media and social all shift the ground beneath them, and AI reshapes how people find content.
“We’ve brought together the people tackling these issues day to day, so delegates leave with practical insight into what’s working now and where the next opportunities for sustainable growth are likely to come from.”
Day one of the Affiliate Leaders Stage, Platforms & Performance, will open with a focus on breaking down the silos between SEO, paid media, CRM and content to build funnels that convert and audiences that stick.
Delegates will then hear how behavioural data and stronger loyalty strategies can turn attention into retained players, even as traffic sources fragment and audiences move away from search towards AI and social aspects of discovery. The conversation will then turn to the decline of third-party cookies and why first-party data matters more than ever.
Over on the Conversion Conf Stage, the Scale track will examine what businesses need to move beyond their early stages without losing control. Topics will include full-funnel B2B marketing, predictable sales systems, product-market fit and scalable operations, alongside how founders can retain top talent and build leadership structures that support continued growth.
Day two of the Affiliate Leaders Stage, Future of Affiliate Strategy, will examine how tighter advertising rules, greater platform control and rising acquisition costs are forcing affiliates to rethink what sustainable growth looks like. Delegates will hear how businesses can diversify across markets and revenue streams while remaining compliant, protect their operator relationships and adapt as AI and fragmented player journeys place established affiliate models under pressure. The conversation will also explore which content formats are still earning attention and where the sector’s next major commercial opportunities may emerge.
Over on the Conversion Conf Stage, the Growth track will focus on the channels and creative strategies delivering results in 2026. Discussions will cover scaling media-buying teams, creating user-generated content that converts and deciding whether influencer partnerships are better managed in-house or through external specialists. Delegates will also gain insight into Telegram, TikTok, PPC as well as the changing balance between professional production and AI-generated content.
The final day of the Affiliate Leaders Stage, Content & Discovery, will explore how affiliates can remain visible as the balance between SEO and paid media shifts and generative platforms such as ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews change how audiences find information. Delegates will hear how AI can support traffic quality, fraud detection and compliance, while further discussions will examine short-form content, generative engine optimisation and how affiliates can build new audiences without sacrificing trust or quality.
Alongside it, the Conversion Conf Stage will look at how AI is reshaping affiliate businesses from the inside out: from the tools and agents automating entire workflows to the creative and trust-building challenges that AI cannot fully solve alone. The focus throughout is on where automation provides a genuine advantage, and where human judgement remains essential.
Affiliates can apply for complimentary VIP passes, while a VIP Pass is available for operators, agencies, suppliers and other professionals working across acquisition and performance marketing.
Explore the full Affiliate Leaders Summit conference agenda and secure your place through the official event website.
