Self-Serve platforms pretty much dead? (11)
So Im starting to come to the conclusion that self-serve platforms for traffic are pretty much not profitable any more (correct me if Im wrong).
I guess these are more for testing and then eventually you gotta go with a flat-rate somewhere?
Seems like bids are through the roof these days, I don't see how people can profit in the current climate.
Even smaller geos are flooded with advertisers, so Im thinking I need to look for other traffic sources.
I am able to still squeeze out a small profit on these, but it seems like that is short-lived, or too much effort for the amount of $$$.
Sorry for the rant, just kind of what I'm feeling right now.
Curious to your thoughts! 
The game is becoming increasingly difficult from year to year but the self service platforms are still very profitable.
The answer is in your offers or generally in your campaigns but take into account that the Christmas periods disrupt the advertising markets
As you know, affiliate marketing is dead.
Sorry just venting some frustrations.
It just seems like every time I get something going some brand advertiser or newb comes in and jacks up the bids to ridiculous heights.
Like I was running this campaign and cruising along (already the #1 bidder) than an advertiser came in and literally outbid me by 40% lol
I guess back to the drawing board.
Originally Posted by jabong82
I am not really fond of this, but yeah, the bullies show up everywhere to annoy you!
This forces you too to become more creative and rely less on ripped stuff. Unique content/ads will win at the end, since it's all about CTR/relevance. Thereby the spytools are spoiling the party often ofcourse. Don't give up, use your strengths and use that to beat the crap out of the rippers and bullies! Go get 'em!
Yes the arrival of conccurents disturbing your campaigns is continual, the advantage is that it is often targeted on certain sources
Every campaign dies and you have to be reactive but scaling can compensate the punctual arrival of new conccurents, concretely certain days this traffic source will drop but not the other, etc ... The goal is to be profitable at the end of the day/month/year/...
Originally Posted by pavel_apostolov87
I guess it's true you just have to have multiple profitable campaigns so if something drops you don't really miss it.
However I've been trying to narrow my focus to only a few campaigns so I can really be 100% on my game.
It did just bite me in the arse though as a major profitable spot for me was just crushed by a brand advertiser, and he's across multiple spots Im on from what I see lol.
Hopefully he dumps his spend and leaves soon lol
Right now, I only buy from self serve platforms ... flat deals can work, but it's often too much pain in the ass. At some point, I also started to believe that flat deals and private buys are the only way, but it's not true.
There is one area where we, independent media buyers, usually win over direct advertisers ... they can't optimize as effectively as we can. They employ mediocre mediabuyers and use a limited set of creatives to convert all traffic. So even though they get to keep the whole margin, I'm often able to bid higher than them, simply because my funnel is better.
Another thing, whenever I get outbid by a big amount, it usually doesn't last, because its someone who doesn't really know what they are doing. So watch the spot and reclaim it, when the time is right.
And lastly, it has been mentioned already, the end of the year tends to be harder, traffic levels will start to decrease soon and the budgets were still not depleted ... the only possible result is higher bids for a few weeks. Usually it stops around the 20th.
Originally Posted by matuloo
I guess maybe I'll try to wait it out and see how it goes.
Originally Posted by jabong82
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