Ad Arbitrage

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed for a company and the interviewer told me they specialise in an "ad arbitrage model" whereby they buy traffic to their sites for a cheaper price than they expect to gain from the ad revenue. He said they do this with a software called Prebid.js, which allows them to get the best deal when they sell their ad space. They were also using Facebook ads I think for buying traffic, although that probably was not their only source. They claimed they did £1.3 million in profit in just one year from this scam. Now I could hardly believe this. The sites they showed me were terribly designed, but I guess it didn't matter as the traffic was bought anyway.
If it is really as lucrative as this, what is to stop me from doing it? Is it possible to get started in this solo with just some software dev skills?

It's definitely possible to make money with ad arbitrage, but it's not as easy as it sounds. The competition is fierce, and you need to be very good at optimizing your campaigns to make a profit.

It's also important to be aware of the legal and ethical implications of ad arbitrage. Some people consider it to be a gray area, and you could face legal issues if you're not careful.

If you're interested in learning more about ad arbitrage, I recommend doing some research and talking to people who are already doing it. You can also find a lot of information online, but be sure to be critical of what you read.

It's also important to note that the company you interviewed with may have been exaggerating their profits. They may have been using other revenue streams, or they may have been using misleading metrics.

Ultimately, it's up to you to decide if ad arbitrage is right for you. If you're willing to put in the time and effort, it could be a lucrative business. But it's important to be aware of the risks and challenges involved.

On top of what @IMKings wrote (100% agreed) keep in mind you need a very deep pockets.

You will pay for the traffic now, but will receive the payouts usually after 45-60 days. Adding to this, there is the chargeback issue, that can cause you losing money you thought you made.

Good Luck

LearsShadow said:

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed for a company and the interviewer told me they specialise in an "ad arbitrage model" whereby they buy traffic to their sites for a cheaper price than they expect to gain from the ad revenue. He said they do this with a software called Prebid.js, which allows them to get the best deal when they sell their ad space. They were also using Facebook ads I think for buying traffic, although that probably was not their only source. They claimed they did £1.3 million in profit in just one year from this scam. Now I could hardly believe this. The sites they showed me were terribly designed, but I guess it didn't matter as the traffic was bought anyway.
If it is really as lucrative as this, what is to stop me from doing it? Is it possible to get started in this solo with just some software dev skills?

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Sounds interesting but be careful, it’s not as easy as it seems. Poorly designed sites might work for a while, but ad networks change rules constantly, and you could get banned quick if you're not careful.

If you’ve got dev skills, you could try it, but make sure to research the risks. Also any chance you remember those sites they showed you? Would be cool to see what they’re doing exactly.

alorra said:

Sounds interesting but be careful, it’s not as easy as it seems. Poorly designed sites might work for a while, but ad networks change rules constantly, and you could get banned quick if you're not careful.

If you’ve got dev skills, you could try it, but make sure to research the risks. Also any chance you remember those sites they showed you? Would be cool to see what they’re doing exactly.

Click to expand...

They showed me some sort of quiz website that they said they were "doing well with" but I dont remember it. The other one was a badly designed blog, eightieskids.com. But they had many more sites. One of the things the interviewer said he would want me to do is build a CMS that automatically gets images for their blog posts, and translates blog posts into other languages, so i guess they had websites in non english languages too. It all seemed like easy stuff but for some reason they rejected me. From my research into the technology they were using, Prebid.js, it seems like you already need to have a website with lots of monthly visitors before you can use it.

I never tried but it took my interested for already a while.

It definitely still works. I see it for example on Facebook with tv shows. Example: prison break season 6 trailer ads. I have been totally spammed with this ad arbitrage ads on Facebook last year.

So far I know it’s more about having the possibility to gain revenue from your traffic without bans. There are some big Israeli companies active in this game. I forgot the name but I did little research last year.

Do they run Google Adsense ads on their website?

So, did you take action after this thread? How is it going?

Even Forbes does ad arbitrage; why are you saying scam? It's crazy how people like to criticize what they don't know.

Any research on this or any trend with more details ¿

You could try it, but it's not as easy as it sounds!

I have seen ugly designs converting amazing. Depands on the niche - def no in the business/saas niche, but if it looks amature blog it's someone looks more genuine.
Also, buying traffic from FB for this type of arbitrage is not so straightforward- if they use expensive traffic sources like FB do traffic arbitrage, they must collect leads, or use FB to retarget people who clicked on ads and retarget them new ads, or some some kind of "next" article type that makes people load more ads.

Yeah, it’s possible solo if you know how to buy cheap traffic and set up smart bidding with tools like Prebid.js, but competition and risks are high, so be ready to test a lot.

Yep, it’s possible solo if you know dev and ad tech—but the tricky part is traffic quality and ad network restrictions. You can set up a small-scale test with Prebid.js, buy cheap traffic, and see if your CPMs cover the spend, but big profits require scale, constant optimization, and avoiding ad network bans.

LearsShadow said:

A couple of weeks ago I interviewed for a company and the interviewer told me they specialise in an "ad arbitrage model" whereby they buy traffic to their sites for a cheaper price than they expect to gain from the ad revenue. He said they do this with a software called Prebid.js, which allows them to get the best deal when they sell their ad space. They were also using Facebook ads I think for buying traffic, although that probably was not their only source. They claimed they did £1.3 million in profit in just one year from this scam. Now I could hardly believe this. The sites they showed me were terribly designed, but I guess it didn't matter as the traffic was bought anyway.
If it is really as lucrative as this, what is to stop me from doing it? Is it possible to get started in this solo with just some software dev skills?

Click to expand...

ad arbitrage can be profitable but it’s risky—facebook and google can ban accounts quickly if traffic isn’t high-quality, profit margins are thin, and it often needs scale, testing, and capital; doing it solo is possible technically but hard to make real, consistent money without experience and a big budget