How come traffic in the afternoon is poop? (10)

More specifically 4-6PM PST. I'm finding the ctr drops substantially, from 15% to 5%. This is for native.

Can you elaborate? I assume you are referring to your landing page CTR...

How much spend is this over? Is this a specific day or how many days are included in this data set? Are you able to see the referrers from this source? In the past, if I have seen a drop in CTR that's out-of-the ordinary I check to see if it's traffic coming from a different site or something of that sort. People could be day-parting campaigns and the bid landscape fluctuates which changes the traffic quality you are receiving. I'd also not pay too much attention to the CTR if your EPC is holding steady, but since you posted this here I am assuming it isn't.

Yeah lp ctr.

Originally Posted by mrmarketer

How much spend is this over?

Originally Posted by mrmarketer

Is this a specific day or how many days are included in this data set?

Originally Posted by mrmarketer

Are you able to see the referrers from this source?

Yeah, sounds like it is traffic source specific. On some of my sources I'll have great quality day and night and sucks during the middle. And the breakdown can be different on others, just really depends.

Yup, that sounds placement-specific, in fact. Sounds like you have a placement where the traffic changes during those times - maybe the visitors at that time are much more focused and less casual-browsing.

Like caurmen said, those placements must have a huge visitor change around those hours. Try to think of what people could be doing at those hours... and what type of site/app your placement is.

In South Africa I noticed that from 2pm til 3pm my Traffic decreased by nearly 50%... I assumed people were having lunch or something hehe.

If you have the possibility to time target just avoid those low converting hours.

Like with TV for example, there are prime time hours on the NET too, sometimes they actually collide with the TV prime-time. This is always dependent on the time-zone and GEO specific habits. Also don't forget the vertical, that can have a big impact too.

There are some patterns you can spot in almost every GEO - traffic goes down at night, during lunch and in many GEOs during prime time TV hours - when the major news air for example.
Vertical specific patterns : adult traffic pikes in the evening, and falls of at 1-2 am, mainstream traffic starts to rise after lunch and is on the top when the work hours come to an end, then falls down as the TV primetime approaches.
GEO specific factors : For example Germany is very sensitive to Bundesliga (football) matches - I talked with a guy from the biggest dating company in DACH markets and he said it totally dies during that time Try to target LATAM when their countries play football on some championship ... There are many GEOs like this.

When traffic pikes, the conversions usually come in nicely too, when it falls off, the CVR usually goes down too.

What you are seeing is most likely related to the daily routine of people : native is mostly "for fun" sort of sites, so as the working hours come to an end, people browse these sites more - so I guess the traffic is rising the more the work day comes to an end. But as soon as they leave work, they have other things to do so the traffic falls off and the CTR will fall too as they loose interest into anything. I would expect the CTR to rise again later in the evening as the people settle down at home and spend more time on the net again.

Originally Posted by matuloo

Like with TV for example, there are prime time hours on the NET too, sometimes they actually collide with the TV prime-time. This is always dependent on the time-zone and GEO specific habits. Also don't forget the vertical, that can have a big impact too.

There are some patterns you can spot in almost every GEO - traffic goes down at night, during lunch and in many GEOs during prime time TV hours - when the major news air for example.
Vertical specific patterns : adult traffic pikes in the evening, and falls of at 1-2 am, mainstream traffic starts to rise after lunch and is on the top when the work hours come to an end, then falls down as the TV primetime approaches.
GEO specific factors : For example Germany is very sensitive to Bundesliga (football) matches - I talked with a guy from the biggest dating company in DACH markets and he said it totally dies during that time Try to target LATAM when their countries play football on some championship ... There are many GEOs like this.

When traffic pikes, the conversions usually come in nicely too, when it falls off, the CVR usually goes down too.

What you are seeing is most likely related to the daily routine of people : native is mostly "for fun" sort of sites, so as the working hours come to an end, people browse these sites more - so I guess the traffic is rising the more the work day comes to an end. But as soon as they leave work, they have other things to do so the traffic falls off and the CTR will fall too as they loose interest into anything. I would expect the CTR to rise again later in the evening as the people settle down at home and spend more time on the net again.

Hi bluecrayon,

This can happen due to several reasons. First, you can work on a country in which – on these specific hours – the general traffic trend is that of a decrease in performance. Even so, you always need to check this pattern and maybe adapt your buying strategy. For example – in case your traffic source gives you that option – you can use a day-parting in order to exclude this period.

Another reason for this to occur: a specific website. First, it can be related to a different user profile during these hours. Second, it can be caused by the website's technical conditions - the server load can be very high during these hours which means the site becomes unable to show your ads. You should test different sites and check if you see the same pattern.

Moreover, competition can also be another reason for the CR drop. In fact, there may be someone stealing your traffic during these hours. Why? Because they can be the most profitable ones. Therefore - if your competitor is using day-parting and bidding higher than you during these hours – you’re obviously losing your position. Know what that means? Your CTR drops. Simple.

Hope this answer helps!

Let’s see if your traffic can become better in the afternoon!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Mobidea

Moreover, competition can also be another reason for the CR drop. In fact, there may be someone stealing your traffic during these hours. Why? Because they can be the most profitable ones. Therefore - if your competitor is using day-parting and bidding higher than you during these hours – you’re obviously losing your position. Know what that means? Your CTR drops. Simple.