A sub-affiliate is an affiliate recruited by another affiliate (the master affiliate or super affiliate) who earns a cut of the sub-affiliate's commissions without doing the end-customer acquisition themselves. It creates a two-tier affiliate structure.
Sub-affiliate programs are used to incentivize high-volume affiliates to recruit and mentor smaller publishers. The master affiliate typically earns 5–15% of sub-affiliate commissions. Networks offering sub-affiliate tiers attract super-affiliates who see recruiting as a scalable revenue stream alongside their own direct promotion activity.