New Ad Partner - Amazon

1. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 7 years ago

   We started testing Amazon's Ad Marketplace yesterday on TatRing and Holidappy.  This allows Amazon to sit outside of our header bidding wrapper, use their first party data to buy ads from us, but still compete with our header bidding partners (Index Exchange, AppNexus, Facebook etc) and Google Adx via dynamic allocation.
   
   We are especially happy to add Amazon because they bring unique demand and are investing in the publishing ecosystem.  This integration is pretty complex, so we are watching it carefully.  We expect to roll it out to the entire network in the next two weeks.
   
   I know this is a lot of technical jargon, but what we are really announcing here is we are doing more technical work with a great partner to drive up earnings for everyone.

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      toptengamerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I'm interested to know your recommendation on this for articles that are already using HP's Amazon affiliate links. Would you recommend turning off ads in that case?

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      This is a bit confusing.  Will we still be using Amazon ads as before?  Please clarify so that I can understand how this will affect our Amazon capsules.  Thanks.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Woo Hoo! What can I say. You have my respect and admiration. I think I first wrote for Associate Content many years ago, and through the years have written for more sites than I can remember. This is the first and only site where the dedication of the owners, despite frequent bs from Google, just persists in overcoming all obstacles. Plus stands by their writers.
      
      Very excited, especially as I'm trying to figure out how to sell more on Amazon when I'm not much of a salesman.

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      Terrielynn1posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I love it. There has been lots of great things going on latley. Thank you team. New ways to add revenue is a great thing.

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      ryanpugsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I've heard lots of good things about Amazon CPM ads on Webmaster World and a similar British forum. A couple of big webmasters I talk to have switched out one Adsense ad unit for an Amazon CPM unit and seen decent earnings from the Amazon unit with negligible effect on Adsense earnings despite dropping a unit.
      
      Those webmasters are backfilling with alternative ads due to patchy fill rate with Amazon, but it sounds like with 'bidding' you are doing something a bit more advanced so won't have that worry about fill rates. Not that that would be much of a worry in the short term considering the time of the year!
      
      Hello to any hubbers who remember me by the way, I like keeping up with what hubpages implements on a technical level so pop in to read quite often! I recognise fewer and fewer names mind you, I was that cocky kid from circa-2009 to 2012.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I remember you!  Long time no see.

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            ryanpugsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Yes I remember you, and Patty inglish on this thread. Actually Wesman Todd Shaw and Paradigmsearch too, although I occasionally stumble across a thread from 2010 or something and SO many old names and faces.

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   paradigmsearchposted 7 years ago

   I continue to use the HP Ad Program now and then. There's something interesting about Straight AdSense though...
   
   They seem to have come up with some way to better intermesh impression and click modes. My traffic muddles along with impressions and some earnings showing up with them. Then every now and then, a click shows up with a bombshell earnings number along with it. It would be fun to have occasional bombshell clicks show up in the HP Ads Program. I realize it would make the CPM more erratic, but it is already somewhat erratic. So why not make things a little more exciting? Just my random thought for the day

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   Wesman Todd Shawposted 7 years ago

   It's that last paragraph! Oh say it again!

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   Patty Inglish, MSposted 7 years ago

   I am impressed with the dedicated concentration and hard work you all are accomplishing, Paul!

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 7 years ago

   You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for staying on top of this stuff.

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6. STAFF

   Paul Edmondsonposted 7 years ago

   This has nothing to do with product capsules.
   
   Amazon is a huge buyer of display ads for them selves and others. The Amazon Ad Marketplace is sort of like Adsense in that they buy and sell display ads. Like the other display networks, we are enabling them to buy our inventory.
   
   This will help HP Ad yields.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      OK.  Thanks...and thanks for all of the hard  and innovative work you and the team do to keep this site up and running.  I cannot tell you what a difference this has made to my readership and income this past year.

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   paradigmsearchposted 7 years ago

   Straight AdSense fell on its face today. Back to giving HP Ads a spin.

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Not for me it didn't.  Adsense has brought in more money for me this year than I have ever earned in the past using the HP program.  This month, when money should be dropping, even though views are less, Adsense continues to astound me.

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   iwrite100posted 7 years ago

   Wow!

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 7 years ago

   Tess, the cool thing about this, if I'm understanding Paul correctly, is that these Amazon ads are going to be like the Google ads - we don't need to put any work into them other than to keep writing. They're not like the capsules (which we can still use sparingly as we have). And I agree, this is a tried and true platform. I'm so grateful for HubPages.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Oh. I didn't know that one could use Amazon ads that way. Thanks.

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    Peggy Wposted 7 years ago

    Thanks Paul for working out ways for all of us to increase our incomes while working on HubPages.

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    Rochelle Frankposted 7 years ago

    This is looking better all the time. I am encouraged to start working on my hubs a little more. I have seen an uptick in earnings every time something new is put into effect.

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       paradigmsearchposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       I got inspired and updated three hubs today my own wonderful self.

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       1. STAFF

          Paul Edmondsonposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          Me too. I have four more articles to update!

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             paradigmsearchposted 7 years agoin reply to this

             I just received an email. I see your staff works on weekends.

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                TessSchlesingerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                Me, too. Last night, just as I was going to bed, I received an email saying that one of my hubs that I wrote about three weeks ago, was selected for a niche site. It made my day!

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                   sallybeaposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                   I published a new hub a month ago and it was featured within days but still has yet to be moved to a niche site!  I thought it had somehow it had been passed by and finally submitted it to a niche site last night using up one of my opportunities to have another one featured instead.
                   
                   I know we were warned that a hub would take longer to be featured but  I think a wait of three weeks for a move to a niche site is much too long.  It would be nice if they could be moved while traffic is still strong closer to publication.

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                      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

                      Sally:
                      
                      You did not lose an opportunity to feature any new hubs you have written.  The team simply has not moved a featured hub to a niche site yet.  Three weeks is a long time for a hub to be moved, but it's not unheard of.  If they have not moved it by this time, I would do as you have done and submit it myself, or, I'd wait one more week to see if they move it up.
                      
                      I never expect every single hub that is featured to be moved.  If one I think is good isn't moved within a reasonable period of time,  I check it to see what I can do to improve it.  Often doing this kind of "burps" the moderators into taking action. Good luck!

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    sallybeaposted 7 years ago

    I guess I am too impatient.  I don't like to flip a hub until it has moved or even post to Pinterest until it has been added to a niche site.  Thanks for the encouragement though.

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    Chriswillman90posted 7 years ago

    Big drop in CPM over the past few days, either it's just a fluctuation or it's back to reality.

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    harrynielsenposted 7 years ago

    Same here, but today my CPMs are going back up.

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15. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 7 years ago

    CPMs always go up at the end of a quarter, but are soft at the beginning of a quarter for a few weeks.
    
    Overall, CPMs appearquite strong adjusted for seasonality.

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       wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       I'd never made that connection.  Just noticed that they're down now.
       
       Thanks, Paul.

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       NateB11posted 7 years agoin reply to this

       That's interesting because when I think about it, that's exactly how I recall the CPM fluctuations.

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    Randy Godwinposted 7 years ago

    Paul, should I assume it won't affect me since I use straight Amazon? Good work at any rate.

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       wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       https://hubpages.com/community/forum/14 … ost2915361
       
       If I'm understanding Paul correctly, it has nothing to do with anything any of us currently do with Amazon.  It is an opportunity for Amazon to place purchased ads on our hubs, just as adsense and others do.  And payment for those will come through the Ad Program, not through the HP Amazon program.

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          Randy Godwinposted 7 years agoin reply to this

          I thought that was the case, Dan. Won't help nor hurt me...

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    paradigmsearchposted 7 years ago

    Not about Amazon, still a good thread for it.
    
    "Advertisers Getting Nervous About Their Marriage to Google, Facebook"
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ad … ok-n808941
    
    Maybe HP could poke Google/Facebook/Amazon to poke their advertisers about directing that more of their ads be placed on the safe HubPages network?

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       ryanpugsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       Just before the huge crash following the first Panda rollout in 2011 I can remember Hubpages selling advertising directly when they first rolled out hubads.
       
       But "economies of scale" would probably be the problem here, sounds like a good idea in principle but they'd have to hire somebody selling ads and an account manager to deal with advertisers who come on board, or at least one person performing both of those roles... and then you find you've got to achieve 'X' amount in sales to make it worthwhile keeping that 32% that Adsense take to do it all for you, or x% that 'whatever' other network takes to do the same.

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    Thelma Albertsposted 7 years ago

    It is just amazing how the Admins work hard to increase our earnings here at HP. Well done. Kudos to you and all who work hard to keep this site going.

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19. STAFF

    Paul Edmondsonposted 7 years ago

    I wanted to announce that we rolled out Amazon Ads across all domains yesterday.  It looks very promising to be an excellent source of first party demand.  The CPMs are very strong on a small set of inventory, but this additional demand will help drive yields through our ad stack.

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