497% Ad Revenue Increase | Case Study
How did Setupad increase ad revenue by 497% over Ezoic monetization platform with fewer ads on sin0nime.com?
About sin0nime.com
Sin0nime.com, originally launched as dictoo.eu in 2011, is a Romanian synonym website started with an idea to create a content-rich website so that the website owner, Tiberiu, could start learning MySQL. The site began with a basic list of around 12,000 words, expanding to over 60,000, continuously growing with updated and new synonyms. This growth trajectory marked its significance in 2015 when the site reached its first half a million views.
Importantly, the site is built without the help of any content management systems.
The website owner built it using standard markup language and style sheets (PHP, HTML, CSS).
The Challenge: Low Ad Revenue and Poor User Experience
Before collaborating with Setupad, sin0nime.com had been in partnership with Ezoic.
The client also shared experiences with other ad services like Viads and ValueImpression.
When it came to ValueImpression, the biggest issue was long and unreliable payment terms. Sometimes, the payments would exceed 2 months or won’t be paid despite the threshold being exceeded.
The fill rate from Viads was perceived as low.
Eventually, the client decided to make a temporary shift back to Ezoic. However, here he was facing major dissatisfaction that primarily stemmed from 5 main issues:
1. Inconsistent Ad Placement: Ezoic’s unique method of assigning banners did not always align with the client’s expectations. For example, even if a large billboard area was reserved, Ezoic would sometimes fill it with smaller banners, leading to an inconsistent and potentially less effective ad display.
2. Impact on User Experience: Some of the ads, particularly a banner on the left, interfered with the website’s usability, covering crucial elements like the navigation bar and content. This prompted the client to deactivate certain ads and lose out on revenue.
3. Chaotic Advertising on Unreserved Spaces: On pages without designated ad placeholders, Ezoic’s advertising appeared chaotic and disorganized, further detracting from the user experience.
4. Significant Revenue Drop: The most critical issue was a substantial decrease in revenue. The client noted that their earnings had halved compared to the period before using Ezoic, a decline they attributed directly to the ad service’s performance.
5. Unsatisfactory Display Issues: The client also experienced problems with the way Ezoic displayed or, in many cases, failed to display ads. Often, where ads should have been, white spaces appeared instead, creating an unpleasant visual experience for users.
“Basically, after the first month with Ezoic, it became clear to me that I have to give them up. Revenues have already halved compared to before. I know that they try to explain to you that optimal results are obtained only after 4 months with them, but I don’t believe that. So I started looking for an agency to replace them. Thus we arrived at Setupad.”– says Tiberiu, the owner of sin0nime.com.
The Solution: Individual & Evidence-based Approach
After a detailed analysis, Setupad recommended header bidding wrapper for sin0nime.com’s monetization’s setup. Next, both mobile and web versions of the site were thoroughly analyzed to offer the most suitable ad placement strategy.
The ad unit proposal ended up being extremely beneficial for the client. Our light tag-based prebid.js monetization solution connects publishers’ ad space with top-demand partners, facilitating easy implementation and running a hybrid prebid.js auction. This, alongside light page weight, has helped to keep the site’s loading speed intact.
With careful optimizations performed by Setupad’s Technical Account Manager Kristiāna Biteniece and Ad Operations Trafficker Līna Stiprā, Setupad managed to lift the viewability to 79% at the domain level, which greatly improved the ad inventory value in the eyes of advertisers. The fill rate was improved too and currently stands at 94% at the domain level.
The Result: 497% Revenue Increase and 365% ePMV boost
To compare the data between the two platforms, we took 2 consequent months to calculate the average increase. Switching to Setupad brought the following remarkable benefits for sin0nime.com:
- A 497% revenue increase
- A 205% increase in ad impressions
- A 365% boost in ePMV (earnings per thousand visitors, expressed as a percentage).
These impressive figures highlight the substantial improvements Setupad brought over Ezoic.
Tiberiu, the owner of sin0nime.com, has described the cooperation with Setupad in the following words: “My collaboration with Setupad is very good. It’s exactly the type of connection I was expecting. My Account Manager [Kristiana Biteniece, Technical Account Manager at Setupad] seems like the type of person you can trust. I like the fact that she looked at the site and proposed the type of ads to use, giving me valid arguments for a certain type of ads. The fact that you have a direct connection with the account manager is a beneficial thing, I feel that I can express my problems related to the site in a private way. To be honest, I hope that this collaboration lasts as long as possible.”
We also compared the results for a video advertising solution with the client’s previous video ad provider Viads, to see the difference in results for a full month.
As can be seen from the chart above, Setupad also brought a remarkable increase on the video ad unit for the client which is one of the highest-paying ad units on the page. The fill rate for this ad unit now reaches 100%, while viewability is above 70%.
This case study highlights how inadequate ad placement strategy and insufficient optimization can greatly diminish inventory value. Don’t miss out on your opportunities and start maximizing your ad revenue today with a trusted website monetization partner like Setupad. We’ll take care of both your profits and user experience. Sign up today!
