Native ads for affiliate, my weird experience with Taboola & Outbrain

[Locus]

So I thought I'd share some numbers from a recent run with native ads, mainly Taboola and Outbrain. Started out thinking it was a quick waaay to scale but wow, kinda skeptical now. Ran a campaign for a health niche offer, spent like 1.5k in a week. Initially, the CTR looked decent, around 0.8%, and I got some clicks, maybe 80 total. But conversions? Man, only 3 sales outta that, and those were kinda dud offers with 20-30 bucks CPA. So total revenue was maybe 90 bucks. That's like 6% ROI tops, after ad costs and all. And honestly, it felt like a grind for not much. Outbrain was a little worse, CTR was similar but conversions felt even lower. The clicks looked good but the actual sales barely trickled in. I keep seeing people saying native ads are still king for scale, but honestly, I think it's more luck than skill, especially for smaller spends. Anyone else notice native ads giving kinda meh results lately? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Haven]

Native can be kinda tricky with small spends, imo, it's more about volume and the right offer than pure native magic. CTRs look decent but if conversions don't follow, it's probably on the offer or targeting, not native itself. I've seen cases where native works well but only after a lot of testing and optimization. Don't give up just yet, just gotta tweak and maybe look for higher quality traffic

 

[Baseline]

yeah totally, native ads seem to be all about the grind and testing. sometimes u gotta pump so much into it just to find a decent combo. it's like fishing, not just casting and hoping for a catch. 100% luck+skill mix, but man, it can be super frustrating when the results don't match the effort.

 

[Streamline]

native ads are like dating apps, fam, sometimes you gotta swipe a lot before you get a match. maybe your offer or targeting needs some tweaking, or just not the right fit atm. keep testing, don't blame native just yet.

 

[Luster]

careful with ROI claims, sometimes those numbers look better before fees, gotta really track net profit not just revenue. native can be a grind for small spends, yeah, but don't write it off just yet.

 

[Velocity]

last month i spent 2k on native and got similar meh results, but the op said 1.5k and only 3 sales, that's like, way off on the numbers. maybe a typo?

 

[Haste]

Initially, the CTR looked decent, around 0.8% but 80 clicks for 1.5k spend? That sounds off unless your traffic was super niche or bots. My native runs usually need higher CTRs to get decent conversions, especially in health. Could be a targeting or offer mismatch, ymmv but I'd double-check your data.

 

[Haze]

Careful with thinking native ads are magic, I blew a lot of money testing and learned it's all about the niche and targeting. Your post says Outbrain but most of my good results came from Taboola, but only when I really optimized my creatives and landing pages.

 

[Upside]

Last month I ran some native tests myself and honestly I think it's more about how you craft the creative than which network you pick. Outbrain gave me some decent results but then I tweaked headlines and images and boom, better conversions. ymmv but don't sleep on the creative angle.

 

[Shunt]

bruh, you said Outbrain but it's all about the targeting and creative. Don't get lazy thinking one platform's gonna save ya

 

[Credence]

different angle: I remember I once ran some native ads, thought Outbrain was gonna be the magic button, but turned out the secret was in the hooks and images. spent a week just tweaking creatives and suddenly CTR shot up, didn't even touch the network much. rn just focusing on creative is way more impactful than platform choice sometimes.

 

[Rapid]

Haha, exactly, man. ppl forget it's all about the creative juice and targeting. platform's just a tool, not a magic wand.

 

[Cipher]

Interesting you say that but do you really think native ads are worth the hassle for affiliate or just another shiny object? I mean most of the time I feel like they are just a way to bleed budget fast unless you got a killer angle or targeting down cold. Maybe it's just me but I've seen more noob traffic die on native than actually convert. Are you sure the platform is the problem or maybe your offer or angles are just not tight enough to survive the native game?

 

[Flow]

Weird experiences with native ads are basically a rite of passage. They're a razor-thin margin game if you don't have a killer angle and laser targeting, otherwise it's just draining your budget faster than a whale at a sushi bar. Most of the time they're just another shiny distraction that seems promising until it eats your LTV. If you're gonna mess with them, better be prepared to shave CAC and not get caught in the shiny object syndrome.

 

[Sketch]

I mean most of the time I feel like they are

So you're saying most of the time native ads are just a gamble unless you nail the angle and targeting. But do you think that's really the core issue or is it more about how you're scaling or optimizing once you find that killer hook? Sometimes the angle is there but the execution or data tracking is so weak you never see the true ROAS. What's your take, is it really the native ad itself or the entire system around it that's the problem?

 

[Salvo]

So you're saying most of the time native ads are just a gamble unless you nail the angle and targeting. But do you think that's really the core issue or is it more about how you're scaling or optimizing once you find that killer hook.

honestly Sketch I think nailing the angle and targeting is just step one. I've seen folks get that part dialed in and then blow their entire budget trying to scale or optimize without really knowing what they're doing. It's like building a house and forgetting the foundation. Once you got your killer hook and targeted audience, then you gotta be super careful about how you push the lander and creatives. That's where most people blow it, they think more spend equals more profit and it's just not true. You gotta know when to pull back and split test relentlessly. Otherwise you're just throwing good money after bad and wonder why the ROI never shows up.

 

[Metric]

Honestly I think most people get caught up thinking native ads are some kind of magic bullet. They're just PBNs with a prettier face. Unless you've got a bulletproof angle, a decent budget and the patience of a saint, they're mostly just churning your cash and hoping for the best.

 

[Stalemate]

Once you got your killer hook and targeted au

lOL, Salvo, u hit the nail on the head! Once u got that killer hook and target right, it's all about how u scale and tweak. My two cents, which is about what it's worth, is that u gotta be willing to pivot fast and not throw all ur budget at the first thing that works. Some of my best wins came from just messing around with the same offer and seeing what clicks once I stop obsessing over perfection. U gotta keep the chaos fun, otherwise ur wallet screams.

 

[Gaze]

You're hitting on a real pain point in native ads right now. I had a seed campaign last month where we finally cracked the angle and nailed the targeting but then the scaling just went south cause the platform's optimization tools were trash. The data doesn't lie, you gotta be quick to pivot or you burn through budget fast. Most folks forget that native is just a different animal and their biggest mistake is not controlling the data flow post-traction.

 

[Dividend]

It's like building a house and forgetting the

Salvo, yeah, that house crumbled fast when the foundation's weak. Been there, built a mansion on quicksand. Native's all about steady angles and whitelists, once you jump the gun, it's just a matter of time before the roof caves in.

 

[Bounty]

lOL, Salvo, u hit the nail on the head

lOL, but do u really think pivoting fast fixes the core issue or just papering over it? cause if platform optimization tools are trash, how much can tweaking really do before u just burn through ur budget? sometimes the foundation's just rotten, no amount of quick fixes will save it.

 

[Boulder]

cause if platform optimization tools are trash, how much can tweaking really do before u just burn through ur budget

actually, that's not how it works in the real world.

Some of my best wins came from just messing around with the same offer and seeing what clicks once I stop obsessing over perfection

tweaking won't save a rotten foundation, no matter how quick u pivot. sometimes u just gotta accept the platform's dead and move on.

 

[Graft]

Native ads are a tricky beast. Platform optimization tools are like trying to herd cats sometimes and yeah, if the foundation's rotten, no amount of tweaking will turn it into gold. The hard truth is, you gotta be ready to pivot or cut your losses. Sometimes moving on beats pouring money into a sinking ship. Just hope you didn't invest too much in that house built on quicksand.

 

[Locus]

Yeah I get what you all are saying. So do you think the real secret is just constantly testing new angles and targeting until you hit the right combo, or is there some magic in the pre-landers and creatives that can give you a leg up? I swear back in the day, just having a solid LP and a good offer was enough, but now it feels like a endless game of whack-a-mole.