What are the Top 10 Ad Networks for Online Arbitrage in 2016?

What are the Top 10 Ad Networks for Online Arbitrage in 2016?

We want to point you in the direction of the top 5 ad networks for an arbitrage strategy. If you’re not up to speed on what arbitrage is all about, check out our article on hacks to leverage your CPC ad earnings. Hint: It’s hack #1.

But wait… no need to get grumpy or impatient. We’ll explain the tl;dr version here too. It’s quick and painless:

The gist of arbitrage is that you buy low cost traffic to your site and then convert it to positive net revenue through CPC ad earnings…

We have to optimize both sides of our equation.
What are some of the key factors in a good traffic sourcing network?
Low CPCs. If the traffic isn’t cheap, there will be no margins to exploit with arbitrage.
Sticky traffic. If it immediately bounces, it’s a bad traffic source. The more bounces, the lower your ad click conversion rate, and hence eroded margins.
Engaged traffic. Surviving the bounce is step 1. But the more pages the user visits, the greater potential that you close the deal on an ad click. This is a function of the quality of the network and the accuracy of the targeting.
Users that click ads. This should go without saying, but we’re going to say it anyway. If your traffic flow isn’t clicking your ads, it’s next to worthless to you in an arbitrage strategy.
No Bots. You don’t want ad networks that let bots sneak in and burn your ad budget up. Every false click is cash out of your account. If the bots get through, your arbitrage strategy will sink like a rock.
Geography. Location, location, location, am I right?! To get high CPCs you need to bring in traffic from “tier 1 countries.” But it doesn’t end there, so networks work best with English speaking countries while other have more of a global reach so make sure you choose one that is the right fit for you.
Here are our favorite 5 ad networks for buying arbitrage traffic
Facebook Mobile Ads
Taboola
Bing Ads
Hashtag Ads
AOL Gravity
What are some of the key factors in converting your traffic into profitable arbitrage driven ad revenue?
High CPCs. See the pattern here? Get your cheap traffic in, but monetize it as profitably as possible. The higher the CPCs you convert, the better.
CPM Availability. CPM is cost per impression, or monetizing your traffic just based on ad exposures alone – and not clicks. The benefit here is that not every visit results in a CPC ad click. However, if you’re running CPM ads as well, that can supplement your revenue and help you achieve (or grow) your arbitrage profit margins.
High CPM. You might have spotted this one coming. Well, of course, you’re absolutely right. Not only is the availability of cost per impression ad inventory important, high paying CPM rates also work in your favor for arbitrage strategies.
Other mentionables
RevContent – if you decide not to monetize with Taboola
Gmail Ads
Yahoo Gemini
Here are our favorite 5 ad networks to monetize your incoming arbitrage traffic
Google AdSense
Taboola
Kiosked
Media.net
Amazon Associates CPM ads
Google Native

Remember that optimizing your strategy is about testing.
Each of these ad networks are options for you to try. Depending on your particular content niche, some will likely perform better for you than others. And it’s your job to find out which ones are the best performers. Always keep in mind the traffic in, traffic out arbitrage equation.

If you’re able to harness low cost traffic, you still have to maximize the ad earnings you generate with it.

And 1 new kid to watch in 2016
Unsurprisingly, Google is taking a stab at this native advertising thing the kids are all talking about. And when a big whig like Google throws its hat into the native ads ring, we pay attention.

We’ve started to see more and more arbitrage websites using Google native ads on their websites. It’s still unclear how successful it is for them but since most arbitragers are quick to act if a network doesn’t produce the margins they’re looking for then we can guess it’s doing well.

Here’s how you get Google native ads:
Use DFP
Click Delivery tab
In the left nav, click Creatives, and then Native ad formats under Creatives.
Near the top of the screen, click New native ad format.
(Optional) Click Import to import the variables from a native ad format you exported previously.
Enter an internal name and description for the new native ad format.
This is the name that will appear as an option when selecting a native ad format for a new creative.
Click New variable to add a new variable to the native ad format.
Select the variable type. This indicates the type of value a trafficker can enter:
File: Must click the Choose file button and upload a file.
List: Must enter an enum.
Text: Must enter a string.
Number: Must enter an integer.
URL: Must enter a URL.
Enter the settings for your variable:
Click Done.
Repeat steps 6 through 9 to add more variables.
In the list of variables, you can click the up and down arrows to change the variable order.
Near the bottom of the screen, you can click Preview form to see the form traffickers will fill out when they add a creative based on this native ad format.
Click Save.
It’s All About the Traffic In, Traffic Out Equation
So we gave you suggestions on ad networks to both buy your cheaper CPC traffic, and to monetize the traffic when it arrives. That’s the traffic in, traffic out equation we’ve been talking about.

As we noted, the basics of arbitrage is straightforward. You optimize by getting lower cost traffic coming in that generates you optimal ad revenue once it arrives. If you can create margins of profitability, then it’s a clear path forward:

You simply scale up your traffic buying… so that you can scale up your total net ad revenues earned.

But you have to ensure the equation is working before you scale up. And, as always, we won’t miss the opportunity to tell you how that’s determined.

It’s a measure of testing and experimentation.

We know these are good networks. What we don’t know is the precise mix of incoming traffic and monetized ads on your site that will generate the optimum net revenue for you. Get testing!

So are you ready to start testing an arbitrage strategy for your site?