2025 is shaping up to be a brutal year for publishers hoping programmatic ad auctions would keep the cash flowing.
Things are so bleak that not one would speak on the record about their dwindling fortunes. Better to suffer in silence than to become the industry’s next cautionary tale.
“There’s still quite a lot of softness in money coming from the open auction,” said the revenue lead of a publisher in North America.
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We previously conducted a publisher case study on RTO Authority—a rent-to-own campaign owned and operated by MaxBounty that helped increase our publishers’ earnings by over 40%.
This US financial campaign gives users quick access to a multitude of financial assistance programs. Publishers are then paid out $1.75 each time the one-page single opt-in form is completed.
Benefits Authority’s unique path structure and traffic permissions allow publishers to utilize a broad targeting strategy when acquiring traffic. In addition, they are able to take advantage of the increased insight and control offered through all of our owned and operated campaigns. This combination helped MaxBounty publishers in the financial vertical overcome common challenges and increase their overall profitability.
Obstacle
MaxBounty publishers specializing in promoting financial or loan-related campaigns were frequently encountering three challenges:
They were spending a sizable percentage of their budget testing several different types of campaigns within the financial vertical. These campaigns included services offering student grants, loans and other forms of financial assistance.
They felt somewhat restricted by the limited traffic sources permitted on the traditional financial campaigns they were promoting.
Limited cap was preventing them from scaling their campaigns and achieving their full earning potential.
Combined, these three obstacles were creating a collection of hurdles that were boxing in their promotion strategy. They were also negatively impacting these publishers’ overall efficiency.
The publishers required a solution within the financial vertical that would offer them greater flexibility while still generating high conversions.
Solution
We wanted to provide MaxBounty publishers with a financial campaign that gave them the freedom to fully utilize their skillset.
Our team began designing a site that featured a multi-path conversion funnel. The site would direct users to one of several types of financial assistance programs including grants, loans and disability benefits, depending on the information they provided.
This became the foundation for our owned and operated Benefits Authority campaign.
MaxBounty publishers with experience in the financial vertical were offered to promote Benefits Authority by their affiliate managers and then quickly approved—another advantage these campaigns offer.
Having full control over Benefits Authority also gave us full control over its permitted traffic sources. We made the decision to permit publishers to utilize a wide range of traffic including SMS traffic.
SMS is a popular and often lucrative affiliate marketing traffic source, but it’s not as commonly permitted as other types, especially on financial campaigns.
The campaign’s multiple paths and expansive traffic source permissions allowed publishers to target a broader audience primarily using social and SMS traffic.
When publishers would promote other financial campaigns, they would be concerned about losing leads due to the campaigns specificity. Their messaging or targeting may reach a user needing financial help but not in the from of a student grant. Benefits Authority solved this issue by creating a targeted conversion path for a larger demographic of users.
Additionally, we were able to increase the campaign cap for publishers who had demonstrated that they were sending high-quality traffic.
Performance Results
$4 million+ has been paid out to MaxBounty publishers who have promoted Benefits Authority. Over 500 MaxBounty publishers in total have generated earnings on this campaign since its inception.
Perhaps more impressively, Benefits Authority has helped publishers improve their performance and increase their earnings when compared to similar financial campaigns over the same timeframe. This includes a:
+42% increase in EPC(earnings-per-click) promoting MaxBounty’s Benefits Authority campaign over other financial campaigns
+55% increase in annual affiliate earnings promoting MaxBounty’s Benefits Authority campaign over other financial campaigns
We have also been able to sustain their success by providing them with cap increases as well as valuable insight to aid in optimization and increase the longevity of their campaigns.
You can request to promoteBenefits Authority right now if you’re already a MaxBounty publisher. Alternatively, you can sign up to become a publisher to gain access to our entire collection of owned and operated campaigns.
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