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CPM vs CPA? Which model works the best? (11)

05-31-2016 08:24 PM #1 grandslam ()
CPM vs CPA? Which model works the best?

Hello everyone, just wanted to start up some convo regarding traffic and to see everyone's opinions and thoughts

So, which model has brought the greatest success rate for you? Do you prefer CPM, CPC or CPA (etc) forget which one is "better" in theory which one do YOU prefer and which has brought you the greatest ROI? Let's get a convo going!

05-31-2016 10:51 PM #2 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

Really, I would imagine the answer to this question is ... whatever generates a profit.

06-01-2016 09:20 AM #3 cbrughmans (Member)

CPA is the least risk, CPM is more risk but can lead to bigger margins when you have optimized the media buying part on a profitable campaign. CPC is really only good when its mandatory (e.g. adwords).

06-01-2016 09:41 AM #4 caurmen (Administrator)

Depends entirely on the traffic source, its bidding model, its algorithm for distributing views, etc.

06-01-2016 10:11 AM #5 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by caurmen View Post
Depends entirely on the traffic source, its bidding model, its algorithm for distributing views, etc.
^^ This ^^

Talking about personal preferences, I like using the CPM model the most since 95% of traffic I buy are banner clicks.

06-01-2016 10:30 AM #6 ivancy (Member)

- CPM/CPC to CPA/CPI/CPL: Best ROI if you are good at media buying, know optimize, to block bad sources, etc. For me it's the real media buying, based on performance.

- CPM/CPC to CPM/CPC (arbitrage): Usually low ROI, need huge amounts of traffic and it's short term business. Profitable if you are good and expend the time exploiting the ad networks inefficiencies when setting up prices and slow reacting to the offer/demand changes. I have done it in the past and brings good money and can even be fun for a while, but imho not worth the time expended long term.

Right now the most profitable way I would say is buying from FB and Native to a blog where you have Adsense and other native ads, but Adsense will probably end blocking your account for doing arbitrage, so again short term as everything blackhat with Google and Facebook (but high ROI if you know how to do it).

- As for CPM vs CPC (when buying) it depends on how good you are creating high CTR banners as the factor between CPM and CPC is just the ctr. In both cases you will need to have good antifraud features.

06-01-2016 11:41 AM #7 gijsvipresponse (Senior Member)

CPA is best for both parties, if you aim for a long term relationship, simple as that.
CPA triggers a publisher to understand the product and the way to the actual conversion. So he/she is way more involved and dedicated what will result in a better relationship. This way he/she will help you optimize the product, and you (advertiser/network) can help to optimize the best sales funnel.

And yes their are exceptions, ofcourse.

06-01-2016 07:19 PM #8 grandslam ()

Quote Originally Posted by cbrughmans View Post
CPA is the least risk, CPM is more risk but can lead to bigger margins when you have optimized the media buying part on a profitable campaign. CPC is really only good when its mandatory (e.g. adwords).
Couldn't agree more - esp. regarding the CPM being a bigger gamble but in the end having more of a payoff!

06-01-2016 08:37 PM #9 grandslam ()

Quote Originally Posted by ivancy View Post
Right now the most profitable way I would say is buying from FB and Native to a blog where you have Adsense and other native ads, but Adsense will probably end blocking your account for doing arbitrage, so again short term as everything blackhat with Google and Facebook (but high ROI if you know how to do it).
Agreed! FB and native are really popular right now but we're having a lot of success with members area traffic. Are you doing well on that traffic type?

06-01-2016 08:47 PM #10 grandslam ()

Quote Originally Posted by gijsvipresponse View Post
CPA is best for both parties, if you aim for a long term relationship, simple as that.
CPA triggers a publisher to understand the product and the way to the actual conversion. So he/she is way more involved and dedicated what will result in a better relationship. This way he/she will help you optimize the product, and you (advertiser/network) can help to optimize the best sales funnel.

And yes their are exceptions, ofcourse.

I wouldn't agree that CPA is necessarily best for both parties because someone still has to pay for the traffic, unless they own the website themselves and can drive traffic organically. For example, if a CPA network came to us and asked us to promote their offers, it would be a risk to us because we don't know how well their offers convert. Instead, what we do is offer traffic on a CPMv model which ensures that the ceiling for profitability is higher although slightly riskier and we're the only adult traffic network that uses this model as far as I know

06-01-2016 08:48 PM #11 grandslam ()

Quote Originally Posted by matuloo View Post
^^ This ^^

Talking about personal preferences, I like using the CPM model the most since 95% of traffic I buy are banner clicks.
So then wouldn't CPMv be even better since you're not paying for impressions that aren't even seen?

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