“But these new hybrid ad models do something radically different. A specific brand will work directly with a publisher to create a custom piece of content, paying some upfront amount for the creative aspect of the campaign. But then the brand will provide specific affiliate links that measure some kind of actionable KPI — usually a purchase, but also sometimes a user signup — and the publisher is then paid based on how successful it is at driving that action. Instead of linking to a third party site like Amazon, the publisher often drives readers to a landing page on the brand’s own website.”