Streaming and video-on-demand are among the most attractive verticals – don’t even try to argue.

What makes this vertical so desirable that every affiliate at least once tried promoting these offers? Well, let’s think, hmm… maybe superhigh pay-outs?

To back up my point, here are some pretty convincing screenshots from AffBank:

Looking at these numbers, you might be tricked into thinking that this vertical is all ponies and rainbows, but is it?

Today, we’ve invited our Head of Sales, Irina Razvodova (yes, we love asking Irina), to help us out with videos and streaming services. Let’s dive into details!

Is it as expensive as rumor has it?

Irina: “Indeed, video-on-demand and streaming campaigns are expensive. The competition is stiff and targeted traffic from movie-related websites costs slightly higher than traffic in other verticals.”

Who is the target audience and how to target?

Irina: “We have plenty of movie-related websites in our inventory: news, updates on actors, film review-aggregators, ratings, etc.

As for targeting, it’s clearly location-specific. Make sure to check if the offer you are promoting has localization (subs or voice offer).

What proved to be extremely effective is ad scheduling. We have helped many of our clients improve the CR by merely moving their campaigns to Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. Sounds crazy? But yet the results of this primitive optimization trick were stunning.

Want to make it even more effective? Apart from regular campaigns, running on weekdays; create additional campaigns, specifically targeting weekends. These weekend campaigns are more competitive as their eCPM is higher.

As for Push campaigns, start testing with the target on ALL users (activity targeting) to see the overall performance of the offer. Then proceed with creating separate campaigns for each user activity group.”

Who are the main players?

Irina: “Both for affiliates and brands, it’s essential to know the key players in this vertical. Affiliates can look for profitable partner programs, while brands can explore and analyze their competition.

The top global partner programs are currently: Hulu, HBO, Starz, Showtime, TNT/TBS, CBS. Obviously, you can find multiple regional partner programs. And there are thousands of streaming and movie apps available for Android and iOS.”

What types of offers are there for affiliates?

Irina: “Currently, two offer types are increasingly gaining popularity:

• App installs
• Pay per subscription

The highest payouts are in Pay per Subscription category; with the market average ranging from $10 to $25. Lower payouts are for app installs, with the average near $2-3 per install.”

What about the conversion flow?

Irina: “It’s widespread that affiliates are paid per CC Submit. The vast majority of movie-on-demand and streaming brands have free trial periods, and trial signup with CC submit qualifies as conversion. And a free trial offer always makes the campaign more attractive. This is good news for affiliates!

But overall, the conversion flow requires a lot of testing and is not easy to master. The key here, I would say, is finding the right traffic, but I’m sure our account strategists would be able to help with that.”

What bidding model to choose?

Irina: “Always test your OnClick campaigns with SmartCPM or SmartCPA, and then scale using other bidding models.

For Push Notifications, please read our guide CPC or CPM: How to Pay Less for Push Notification Traffic.”

Which ad formats perform best?

Irina: “Without a doubt, the favorites are Push ads and Popunder ads. Yet the choice would heavily depend on what creatives you are planning to use and how long the user journey would be.

Let me give you an example. Say you are planning to use a pre-lander, showing the first 20-30 seconds of the movie. It would be logical to send a Push, inviting to watch the new episode of a popular series, then tease the audience with a short preview, and afterwards proceed with a registration request.

In the case with OnClick, you can use an official poster of the movie, series, or sports match announcement – whatever you promote. This full-screen ad is usually sufficient to draw the attention of your target audience.”

Creatives and landing pages – what converts?

Irina: “This is a big topic, and while you are only limited by your imagination, there are certain strategies that tend to perform best.

First, you need to decide what message to communicate and how to communicate it. What strategies can you employ to increase the engagement?

•   New episode announcement: “Watch the new FULL episode of [name] on [App/website name]”
•   Suggest browsing the collection of movies: “All new TV shows and TOP series 2019. Browse our collection”
•   What to do this weekend: “What to watch this weekend? Check out these TOP series to binge-watch”
•   Watch for FREE: “Jurassic World: New Movie. Watch online in Full HD for FREE now” “

Let’s see the examples (all found on CPA aggregators):

Is it true that there are seasonal traffic spikes in this vertical?

Irina: “I wouldn’t call them “seasonal.” These spikes are generally associated with big movie premieres, new seasons of popular series or prestigious film festivals like Cannes, Berlinale or Sundance. We can also see noticeable activity during various award ceremonies.

For instance, Oscars 2018 boosted engagement by 40%; this year, it should have a similar effect.”

We hope this article helps you imagine some of the possibilities and helps you decide if this vertical can work for you.

Have questions? Go ahead and ask in the comment section below or join us on our Telegram chat.