Our Community Shares: How Alukard_X Hit 160% ROI With Zero Optimization [Case Study]
How can we miss it when one of our longest-running partners shares a new case? Especially when it’s a $120 test that ran for just 4 days and ended up at 159% ROI.
If you’ve spent any time on affLIFT, or our Telegram Chat, you probably know Alukard_X. He’s been running traffic with PropellerAds for years and has become one of the most active people in the community. You’ve def seen his comments helping other affiliates, or bookmarked one of his case studies.
So, what is this one about? Look:
Alukard_X’s case in numbers
Single source · 4 days · 0 optimizationsUp from 91.55% at the first check, as late conversions kept coming in
+$191.50 net profit
Sep 25 to Sep 28, 2026
Across 37 GEOs
1 impression per user per 14 days
Almost half of the total profit
Campaign setup
- VerticalGaming
- OfferFree-to-play football game
- Payout modelCPP (login / active player)
- GEOs37
About the Case Study and Campaign Setup
The offer came from the Admachina.com CPA network. It was a free-to-play football game, with a payout based on a CPP (Cost-Per-Player) model: you are paid for every new player who installs the game, logs in, and stays active. On average, the payout was around €1.80 per player.
Alukard_X launched the campaign on 37 GEOs at once. Here’s how his setup looked for each GEO:
| GEOs | 37 countries (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States) |
| Ad format | Onclick (Popunder and Direct Click) |
| Max CPM bid | $0.58, one bid for all GEOs |
| Bidding model | SmartCPM |
| Targeting | Windows 10, Windows 11, Desktop, Graphics card: GeForce RTX series, GeForce GTX 16 series |
| Tracker | Keitaro |
| Campaign period | September 25 to September 28, 2026 |
| Results tracked until | October 11, 2026 |
| Total spend | $120.04 |
Note from Alukard_X: This isn’t a quick funnel. To count as a conversion, a user has to download the game (30 to 40 GB), install it, and launch it. That’s the first goal. Then they need to actually play for a while, and that’s the second one.
Optimization… or Not?
This is usually the part where we walk you through how our partners optimize: blacklist zones, raise bids, cut GEOs, and so on. This one is different, though: there was ZERO optimization.
Alukard_X set up the campaign, launched it in 37 countries across Europe, plus Brazil and the US, and didn’t touch it for 4 days. Here’s what in his setup made that possible:
1. Showing the ad only to people who can actually play. UFL won’t run on just any laptop. That’s why he first limited his targeting to desktop users on Windows 10 and 11, then went further by targeting specific graphics cards. So only users with a GeForce RTX or GeForce GTX 16 series card could see his ad. And, as Alukard_X added, ‘even with an RTX card, it’s a 30 to 40 GB download, so only people who really want to play will go all the way.’
2. One impression per person in 14 days. Our default recommendation for frequency capping is 3 impressions per 24 hours. Alukard_X set it to 1 impression per 336 hours, which is 14 days. That gave him a few things at once:
- Each user saw the offer only once, so no budget went to people who had already said no;
- The budget was spread across as many new people as possible, with 90%+ unique hosts;
- Every impression was a fresh chance to get a new player, and that’s exactly what a CPP offer pays for.
3. No VPN, and no other limits. The only restriction beyond the device and the graphics card was VPNs. Everything else was left open: no limits on browsers, devices, browser language, connection type, or zones. Since the targeting already picked the right audience, there was no need to narrow it further.
The Results
Before we get to the final numbers, here’s a quick look at how the campaign was doing in the PropellerAds dashboard along the way:
Interim results: 114.45% ROI, with conversions still coming in.
And here’s where it ended up:
| Impressions | 270,854 |
| Conversions (active players) | 156 |
| Spend | $120.04 |
| Revenue | $311.54 |
| Profit | $191.50 |
| ROI | 160% |
Note: The traffic ran for four days, but the conversions kept coming long after that. With CPP, a player can log in and turn active days after the click. At the first check on October 7, the campaign was at 91.55% ROI. Then the late conversions came in, with the same spend and not a single change. The offer has a 14-day cookie window, so Alukard_X tracked the results until October 11.
“P.S. Late conversions keep coming in… Single source, 4 days, zero optimizations…. Scale it and bring home some milk.” Alukard_X
This is what ‘not a quick offer’ looks like in numbers. During the four days of traffic, the campaign brought just 26 conversions and was in the red. The other 130 came in after the traffic was paused, day by day, until October 11:
Conversions by day in the tracker: traffic stopped on September 28, but conversions kept coming for almost two weeks.
Where the Profit Came From: GEO Breakdown
Two takeaways from this table:
- Football countries led the way. Spain and Italy brought $86.90 together, almost half of the total profit. Makes sense: in both countries, football is part of everyday life, so a football game doesn’t need much selling.
- Expensive GEOs aren’t always the best GEOs. The USA was the biggest minus, followed by Sweden, Austria, and Switzerland. Meanwhile, Poland, Czech Republic, Albania, and Croatia all made the top ten.
In the end, less than half of the GEOs were profitable, and the campaign still finished at 160% ROI. That’s the point of a wide launch: you pay a little to find out where the offer works, and the winners cover the rest.
Instead of the Summary
We asked Alukard_X what made this campaign work. Here’s his answer, briefly:
- The player doesn’t pay. It’s a free-to-play game, so there’s no price tag standing between the click and the install.
- Gaming graphics cards. Targeting users with GeForce RTX and GTX 16 series cards means the ad reaches people who already have a gaming PC.
- Perfect timing. EA Sports FC 27 had just launched, and it costs $70 on its own. UFL covers the free-to-play side of the football game market, so for anyone who wants to play football on their PC without paying for it, UFL is the obvious choice.
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