PartnerCentric, an outsourced affiliate program management company that works with some of top merchants and affiliate marketing partners in the industry, today released the results of its annual survey of affiliate marketers.

Dedicated to sharing the latest research with others in the affiliate marketing industry, including merchants and affiliates, PartnerCentric conducts an annual survey to elicit response from the company's own pool of affiliate marketing partners. Previous PartnerCentric surveys have been published through Marketing Sherpa.

"We find it extremely helpful to talk to our partners about important industry issues so that we can continue to find ways to overcome challenges and explore new opportunities," said PartnerCentric President Linda Woods. "By listening to our partners and sharing what they have to say about important issues of the day, we can make a contribution to the industry as a whole."

The 2008 PartnerCentric Affiliate Survey of Network Preferences, conducted in April, asked some of the industry's top performing affiliates to share their opinions about the largest affiliate networks by participating in a short 10-question survey.

"We focused our survey on network preferences this year because we wanted to understand a number of things from the affiliate perspective," said Samantha Morris, Director of Client Services for PartnerCentric. "First and foremost, we wanted to better understand what factors influence affiliates when selecting a network. We also wanted insight into network popularity, strengths and weaknesses direct from the affiliates."

The majority of affiliates surveyed (76%) said that the top reason they join a network is the merchants or advertisers who are part of the network. Of all the major networks, Commission Junction is the most popular, with nearly all of the affiliates surveyed (87%) saying they are currently working with CJ.