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Need Native Ad Strategy Advice (9)

09-30-2019 03:04 AM #1 taormina (Member)
Need Native Ad Strategy Advice

Currently running an offer that the aff rep states does well in the afternoon. It does.

On a $500 per day budget, do you guys like pacing to spread the spend, or just hit it hard and fast??


Thoughts on pacing in general??

09-30-2019 04:37 AM #2 caseyxz (Member)

May I assume you are referring to Revcontent? Pacing is a newly implemented feature, to spread traffic more evenly across the network. One of the big placements over there is Mobile Posse. I was hitting hard on that placement previously, it had alot volume. Before they have this pacing feature, tons of traffic came, unstoppable no matter how hard I try to stop the traffic. It burned through ALL my budget, and it went further into negative -$500. I hit up my AM and expressed my anguish. I'd assume many other advertisers did the same. They implemented the pacing feature shortly after.

Once you got a campaign going well, yeah, you can toggle the pacing and monitor closely on your spend and how much more traffic you get. Just a heads-up on what could happen!

09-30-2019 05:17 AM #3 jack_l (Veteran Member)

If you are talking about Revcontent then I would use pacing when running a blacklist/run of network campaign so you don't experience what caseyxz helpfully outlined, and if you are running a Brands or Whitelist campaign on sites you know are good (or at least not terrible) then I would do non-pacing (at least that's what I do).

The other aspect of the question revolves around strict dayparting, which is another variable (and important one).

In my experience, Revcontent is fantastic for strict day parting- the campaigns are (at least when on non-pacing) literally like a light-switch, you can turn it on or off as many times as you like and do whatever you want to it and it literally will never 'break'. Only downside is you can't set up special schedules within the dashboard and have to run it on and off manually (or using something like TheOptimizer).

Taboola is a little bit more finicky than Revcontent in that it won't always go on and off as smoothly as you want when done manually, but if you set it to run a certain time every day (even a narrow window like 9 am to noon) it works great, and I think the traffic flows just as well as if it's all day. And, it's nice that you can set up really specific schedules within the dashboard.

Outbrain is the one platform where I think narrow day-parting negatively impacts performance, in that it seems like the campaigns just have a lot of trouble getting going... even running 9 to 5 M-F on Outbrain, I never feel like it flows as well as when you do 24/7. With that said, you can certainly do it though, and, like Taboola, you can set it up within the dashboard for each campaign.

Interestingly, I notice the exact same dynamic as far as state-parting or region-parting, in that you can run a campaign to say, 23 specific states or 47 specific states on Revc or Taboola just fine, but when I try the same on Outbrain I have trouble getting good traffic flows.

09-30-2019 02:14 PM #4 taormina (Member)

Yep, I was referring to Revcontent, I thought you guys could read my mind LOL.

Great advice, thanks to you both.

Another tactic I read about is using something like The Optimizer or similar programs to leave the campaign running 24/7 but reduce the bids in the off hours so that traffic basically slows to zero. Then the program ramps it back up when it's appropriate.

Thoughts?

09-30-2019 08:32 PM #5 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by taormina View Post
Yep, I was referring to Revcontent, I thought you guys could read my mind LOL.

Great advice, thanks to you both.

Another tactic I read about is using something like The Optimizer or similar programs to leave the campaign running 24/7 but reduce the bids in the off hours so that traffic basically slows to zero. Then the program ramps it back up when it's appropriate.

Thoughts?
Optimizer is a great tool, many affiliates are using it to "tame" sources with lots of pubs and unstable traffic quality in order to cut the loses and spend more on the well performing placements. There are several ways to set it up, so definitely play with it a bit

09-30-2019 09:58 PM #6 thedudeabides (Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by taormina View Post
Yep, I was referring to Revcontent, I thought you guys could read my mind LOL.

Great advice, thanks to you both.

Another tactic I read about is using something like The Optimizer or similar programs to leave the campaign running 24/7 but reduce the bids in the off hours so that traffic basically slows to zero. Then the program ramps it back up when it's appropriate.

Thoughts?
Yes but you can just do that manually too in the beginning before bed/upon waking up. Should let things run for a week at that spend level to see best times of the day week vs weekend, etc.

09-30-2019 10:42 PM #7 taormina (Member)

TheDude, very true.

What do you guys consider a really good CTR for native?

09-30-2019 11:58 PM #8 thedudeabides (Moderator)

Quote Originally Posted by taormina View Post
TheDude, very true.

What do you guys consider a really good CTR for native?
That's a really broad question that's going to depend on the geo and device, but overall i'd say for mostly tier1 geos about 0.08% to 0.15% is good enough to spend low to mid 4 figures/day on bigger sources, and 0.25% to 0.4% you're probably passing into the 5 figure/day mark if your bids are decent.

10-01-2019 02:41 PM #9 taormina (Member)

Quote Originally Posted by thedudeabides View Post
That's a really broad question that's going to depend on the geo and device, but overall i'd say for mostly tier1 geos about 0.08% to 0.15% is good enough to spend low to mid 4 figures/day on bigger sources, and 0.25% to 0.4% you're probably passing into the passing into the 5 figure/day mark if your bids are decent.
EXCELLENT. Confirms my recent experiences.

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