Think launching non-mainstream ads in the French GEO is a lost cause due to high competition? Think again! Today, we’re sharing a successful case study in the gaming vertical using HilltopAds non-mainstream traffic.
The gaming vertical offers a vast space for creativity and experimentation, packed with fun and engaging content! You can create a small interactive ad that will surely deliver a high CTR. However, it’s important to note that some offers convert only with official creatives.
As for non-mainstream affiliate programs, one clear advantage is the lack of a defined target audience — everyone visits non-mainstream sites. While levels of engagement, preferences, and financial capabilities differ from person to person, the fact remains that non-mainstream sites cater to a broad and diverse audience.
Key Points
Offer: Non-Mainstream Games
GEO: FR (France)
Traffic: Non-Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Ad Format: Popunder mobile
Ad campaign period: 12 august – 18 august
Revenue: $4,410.13
ROI: 110%
About the ad format
When it comes to promoting non-mainstream games, Popunder advertising has proven to be a particularly effective tool. This effectiveness stems from the fact that these ads can be precisely targeted to the right audience. Users who are already engaged with the content are more likely to respond to such offers, leading to higher conversion rates.
Popunder ads for mobile traffic and tablets offer a seamless experience, as they do not disrupt the user’s current session. Instead, they capture attention just as the user finishes viewing the primary content, making this format ideal for promoting non-mainstream games. This approach allows for effective and unobtrusive conversion generation.
Where to start?
Let’s look at the first step: how to attract users who are searching for non-mainstream content and redirect them to a site offering paid mobile games.
There are two types of audiences:
- Organic audience – people who are already searching for non-mainstream games through search engines. This is their targeted query.
- Paid audience – users who visit sites to relax and enjoy non-mainstream content.
For these groups, it is crucial to use long landing pages to divert their attention from their initial intent. A creative approach is key here: the landing pages can be unique or specific, as long as they are effective. The goal is to make users forget about free content and want to spend money on non-mainstream games.
Our tests confirm that the longer the landing page, the higher the proportion of cards with sufficient funds to pay for the game. In contrast, shorter pages lead to a higher number of cards with minimal amounts, less than $1.
Geography
We chose France as a GEO not by chance. French men have heightened libido. They start their workweek by watching non-mainstream content—and this is not a myth.
The average age of men in France is increasing and now stands at 42 years, indicating an aging population. However, this does not mean they are not interested in non-mainstream games. On the contrary, they might want to relax on weekends.
It’s also worth noting that a staggering 82% of Pornhub traffic comes from smartphones.
Note:
95% of the non-mainstream segment audience is male. Does this mean there are no women at all? No, it does not mean that women are completely absent from this segment. However, working with female traffic in the non-mainstream niche is more challenging. For example, women are generally not interested in non-mainstream games, webcam services, and other products, which are mostly purchased by men. Women are more receptive to dating offers, but this also depends on the geo and purchasing power of the audience. For example, offering such offers in Eastern countries is pointless for obvious reasons.
Now we will show you the campaign settings in more detail ↓
Settings of the ad campaign and its Optimization at HilltopAds
Before launching an advertising campaign on HilltopAds, you need to register as an advertiser. You can register using this link.
Next, to create an advertising campaign, you need to:
- Go to the Manage Campaigns section
- Click the Add Campaign button
- In the campaign creation section, select the Popunder mobile ad format
- In the Traffic Channels section, choose Non-Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Next, it’s essential to set up the Postback to track the results of your ad campaign.
For a detailed description of working with Postback and the available placeholders, check out our guide.
In simple terms, for the final URL of the offer, we need to insert parameters to pass conversions and source IDs. The parameter for passing conversions is click_id, and the source ID is zone_id.
As a result, our Final Destination URL should look like this:
- {{ctoken}} – HilltopAds parameter for passing conversions.
- {{zoneid}} – HilltopAds parameter for passing source ID.
In general, you can add absolutely any parameter from the available options that is necessary for further campaign analysis. However, remember that it is essential to include the click_id parameter in the final link to pass conversions.
Next, we set the necessary targeting settings:
- GEO – FR (France)
- Device – mobile/tablet
You can also configure campaign filters and allow/disallow Proxy and WebView traffic from the campaign. However, in our case, for the Non-Mainstream Games offer, we have included webview traffic:
- Proxy – disallow
- WebView – allow
WebView is software that opens a landing page with an offer within a mobile application. In other words, upon opening the application, users are directed to a single-page website with the offer.
You can set limits according to your daily and overall advertising budget, but the daily limit should not be less than $20. For our testing phase, we decided to set a daily campaign limit of $300 for all days.
If necessary, you can also set display schedules. The final step before launching the ad is to set the cost per thousand impressions (CPM). Here, we pay attention to the Traffic Volumes graph in the top left corner, which calculates premium, minimum, and recommended CPM rates.
We started the ad campaign with a bid of $1.95, slightly above the recommended CPM price.
Our advice: to test a new offer, start with the recommended CPM. This will show whether the offer is effective and whether the campaign needs optimization
So, the key settings of the advertising campaign are as follows:
Ad format – Popunder mobile
Traffic Channels – Non-Mainstream High and Medium Activity
Geo – FR
Device – mobile/tablet
CPM rate – $1.95
Black List and Intermediate results
We chose not to use auto-optimization for this ad campaign, preferring manual adjustments instead. We created a BlackList by identifying zones in the tracker where the cost per conversion significantly exceeded $1.50 or where there were no conversions at all after 2,000 impressions. This hands-on approach allowed us to effectively eliminate underperforming segments and optimize our results.
Despite a daily budget of $300, these adjustments allowed us to achieve better conversion rates and overall campaign performance.
Results
After carefully tuning the advertising campaign for 7 days, we achieved the following results:
- Total Costs (Spent) – $2,100
- Total Earnings (Profit) – $4,410.13
- ROI (Return on Investment) – 110%
ROI is one of the key indicators in digital marketing that allows you to assess the profitability of an advertising campaign. In simple terms, ROI shows you the percentage of advertising investments that you have managed to recover through earnings from the ads.
The formula for calculating ROI is:
ROI = (total earnings – total cost) / total cost * 100%
In this case, the return on investment is 110%.
Net Profit
The net profit derived from the Non-Mainstream Games offer launched on the HilltopAds platform illustrates compelling return on investment. With a total revenue of $4,410.13 and advertising expenses amounting to $2,100, the campaign yielded a net profit of $2,310.13.
This emphasizes the effectiveness of the HilltopAds advertising network as a valuable platform for promoting offers such as Non-Mainstream Games in Tier-1 countries.
Conclusion
This case study highlights the potential of non-mainstream advertising in the highly competitive French GEO, specifically within the gaming vertical.
Key takeaways include the use of popunder ads, which are particularly effective for mobile traffic and tablets. These ads capitalize on user engagement without disrupting their browsing experience, leading to higher conversion rates. The campaign, which ran from August 12 to August 18, 2024, yielded a significant ROI of 110%, generating $4,410.13 in revenue against a $2,100 ad spend.
The strategic choice of France as the target GEO, due to its receptive demographic, further underscored the importance of understanding audience behavior and preferences. Despite the challenges posed by high competition, the campaign’s success was driven by precise targeting, creative landings, and proving that non-mainstream ads can indeed thrive in saturated markets.
Ultimately, this case serves as a powerful example of how thoughtful campaign design and execution can turn a challenging market into a lucrative opportunity, particularly in the non-mainstream gaming sector.
