Here's the way I see it...
With revshare, affiliates are being paid for the revenue generated at the direct processor level only. That means initials, conversions and rebills, and that's it. So if on average, an affiliate's members generate $28.66, they receive the % cut of the average $28.66 per member. Now if their users happen to generate only $14.33 on average, then in this case, it sucks to be the affiliate. The revshare program had no risk in paying $7.16 (50%) on these joins, and in a sense the affiliate took on the risk by sending traffic to the program.
Now a PPS program may also generate only $28.66 in average revenue per member. However, in calculating a payout, a PPS program will also add the ancillary revenue per user which may include cross sales, exits, upsells, mailings and countless other ways to generate revenue per member. If the PPS program figures out they can generate another $12 revenue per member on average, then it might make sense for them to offer a $35 payout. Here the program would be looking at a profit margin of about $5 per join.
Obviously these aren't real numbers, but you can see how if a revshare program is generating ancillary revenue per member the same way a PPS program is, then the affiliate is getting screwed because all they're receiving is revenue at the processor level on the trials, conversions and rebills.
In theory a PPS program can even take a hit at the processor level and still afford to pay an affiliate MORE than if they were paying out on revshare. You may also notice that a revshare program could potentially have higher profit margins (guaranteed 40-50%) however a PPS program will push substantially more volume because they are paying a higher rate for the traffic.
Volume is the key to a successful PPS program operating at a lower profit margin per join, the same way it is with Walmart
And just so it's dead clear, a lower profit margin for the program means that a greater portion of the money goes into the affiliate's pocket
