My experiment with recurring affiliate programs and whether they actually feel passive

Last year I decided to test whether recurring affiliate programs could realistically become passive over time. I wrote a couple of detailed posts around tools I was already using for content and ads, then mostly left them alone to see what would happen.

One of the programs I included was the HeyOz Affiliate Program because it had a 20 percent recurring commission for up to twelve months. I was curious whether the retention element would make a difference compared to one time payouts. For the first few months nothing dramatic happened. Then a few steady subscriptions started compounding, and the income felt more predictable than the usual spike and drop pattern.

It was not fully hands off. I still had to answer comments and occasionally update content. But compared to chasing new offers constantly, it felt closer to passive.

For anyone here testing affiliate income as a passive stream, have you noticed recurring models behaving differently over time?