thanks! well I started going direct my 3rd year I believe as an affiliate. It is much easier and make more money. You have control and even can get funding by the advertiser. You can white label their program to match your traffic source, and even help with lead distribution. Eventually you become an agency and not an affiliate because you help with monetization as it becomes some what as a partnership.
I was actually approach as I have branded myself well and from their I learned there are many ways to approach the direct advertisers and make more money than an affiliate. for example instead of making money upfront you can make more money 3 months later. instead of using your own money you can get funding, instead of using their low quality offer page, you can whitelabel it into their crm. lots of ways to work with advertisers, more control.