Unconventional high-ROI affiliate marketing niches

Just like in an ocean, there are numerous currents and directions in affiliate marketing. To navigate the high seas, pirates of old used sextants, compasses, and maps to determine profitable routes where they would find ships laden with lucrative cargo, and, likewise, today affiliate marketers are almost always searching for unconventional niches where competition is not fierce, yet ROI is high.

In this article, we will explore several interesting affiliate marketing niches that 95% of marketers needlessly overlook, but where substantial profits can be made.

Before talking about unconventional niches capable of providing high ROI, let's discuss the key criteria that webmasters should consider when choosing a niche.

According to Statista, the affiliate marketing industry is becoming increasingly popular each year, with CPA traffic expenditures reaching more than $8 billion in 2022 in the United States alone. This means that there is money to be made in this industry, but the most important thing is choosing the right niche.

Numerous cases show that even long-exploited affiliate marketing offers are capable of providing high ROI. However, there are several key indicators that point to high success chances with an offer:

Let's move from theory to practice and list attractive affiliate marketing niches where you can achieve high ROI and earn just as much as in gambling and betting.

This niche is somewhat similar to the more popular gaming market, where webmasters receive payouts for installations of a game and/or in-game balance top-ups with real money.

Normally the Entertainment market involves payouts for subscribing to various streaming platforms that provide access to music, movies, or shows. In rare cases, this also extends to websites with paid access to various kinds of literature.

Among the representatives of affiliate programs in this niche, we can highlight:

The legal services niche is quite large and lucrative, yet it is not as popular among webmasters. The main reason for such low competition for these offers in Eastern Europe is their absence in affiliate networks, as well as low rates. However, the legal niche is quite popular among webmasters and media buyers in Tier-1 countries, as local legal companies and solo specialists are willing to pay significant sums or percentages for attracting new clients.

Depending on the type of legal service or the complexity of the client's case, a webmaster can earn up to several thousand dollars per lead.

This niche is indeed promising, as in 2022, the American legal services market alone was estimated at $372 billion according to GVR. In Europe, as of 2024, according to a Mordor Intelligence report, the market volume exceeds $190 billion and continues to grow.

The Services niche (which includes online services) consists of services proper, consultations, and online training sessions of various kinds.

Such offers include ritual services, device repairs and building renovations, veterinary services, cleaning, etc. Since such services are “white,” it won't be difficult for an affiliate marketer to work with them. Both conditionally free and paid traffic is fine. Even classifieds can be used as traffic sources, but multi-accounting will be necessary to achieve high ROI, and for this, you will need an anti-detect browser; Octo Browser is one of the best solutions on the market today.

The education and ready-made student assignments niche will always be relevant, as people have been, are, and will continue receiving education. However, while the niche of student assignments fluctuates in demand depending on exam periods, the education niche is always sought after, especially when it comes to online education and private tutoring.

This niche is relevant both for Eastern Europe and Western countries, but keep in mind that there is a difference in the size of payouts and audience ready to make the desired action.

Another conditionally white niche currently gaining popularity is offers in esoterica and astrology. Currently, the competition in this niche is not as high, and the main audience consists of women. This is an advantage for this niche, considering that according to statistics, about 80% of all consumer spending in the world is attributed to the female audience. Additionally, women tend to trust esoteric practices and horoscopes more. Therefore, even inexperienced beginners in this niche have every chance of achieving high ROI in their first campaigns. Moreover, the audience can be attracted using sources of conditionally free traffic, such as Pinterest.

Travel is part of modern lifestyle, making the sphere of tourism services, international and domestic travel tickets, and hotel booking relevant. During the COVID-19 pandemic this niche experienced a noticeable decline, but travel operators and transportation companies have adapted fairly quickly to the new realities.

Today webmasters can earn in this niche up to several thousand dollars per month as before with relatively low costs, as the niche is white.

The most well-known offers in this niche include Booking.com, TripAdvisor, GetYourGuide, AviaSales.

The insurance niche is another promising vertical market for working with traffic. The age range of the target audience is quite large, as insurance is most often purchased by individuals aged 26 to 55. The main goal of obtaining insurance for the target audience is to secure assistance to themselves and their families in unforeseen situations.

Although this niche boasts high payouts, a webmaster needs to spend a minimum of $3,000 to $5,000 on test advertising campaigns to achieve high ROI, as insurance services are more popular in expensive Tier-1 GEOs. According to Statista, the leaders in this regard are the USA, Taiwan, South Africa, South Korea, and the United Kingdom.

People will always want to earn more and work in prestigious positions. At the same time, successful companies always need qualified personnel. The BizOps niche is designed to help meet the needs of every participant in this chain.

In this case, the affiliate marketer receives payouts for attracting the target audience to offers for earning money online, job offers, and employment opportunities.

The size of payouts in this niche largely depends on the complexity of finding specific specialists, but as the niche is white, the webmaster can always count on a positive ROI.

We have provided just a few examples of unconventional niches where webmasters can expect a good profit. In reality, this list is almost endless and is limited only by the webmaster's imagination, because even if an offer is not available in an affiliate network, it does not mean that the advertiser is not willing to cooperate by purchasing traffic directly even in the narrowest of niches. Today, webmasters are not limited in their actions and can promote anything from pet care products to booking private jets and multimillion-dollar mansions.