TribeMagnet
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If ad revenue is an important component of your business model, you probably already know all subjects are not going to perform equally and choose your domain topics with care.
Without a lot of ad tracking experience, it may not be easy to determine a red hot or stone-cold topic from a transactional perspective. Even then it can be hard to know with certainty what is functional (code, design, content, etc.) or anecdotal (not data-driven) vs an actual industry flag.
While speech is allegedly free, marketing is not. Advertisers pay a fortune to promote their good name and in doing so also strive to protect it in our hyper-sensitive ecosystem. You may or may not know that there are formalized structures in place to do that across advertising networks.
The eleven IAB Brand Safety Floor & Suitability categories that may scare away advertisers are:
While manufacturers of camo clothing may actually prefer to advertise on Arms & Ammunition sites also know it will filter out a meaningful number of general opportunities. The flip side of that is that some general interest sites may not allow ads from marketers that are not "brand safe" so of spend by camo clothiers you could get a larger than average portion of all available ads. Unless you have high traffic volume it probably won't be enough to make up the difference between niche vs all.
Only you can decide if your passion for the name or topic outweighs a more shallow stream of advertisers, but I believe there is value in knowing there is a spigot to control that flow. It can be one of many factors to examine when making professional decisions on both domain names and values. There are also niche ad networks that may or may not be an option in your vertical.
If there's interest from developers on geeking out your code to optimize ad revenue there are guidelines at the IAB Tech Lab.
Discussion Starters:
Without a lot of ad tracking experience, it may not be easy to determine a red hot or stone-cold topic from a transactional perspective. Even then it can be hard to know with certainty what is functional (code, design, content, etc.) or anecdotal (not data-driven) vs an actual industry flag.
While speech is allegedly free, marketing is not. Advertisers pay a fortune to promote their good name and in doing so also strive to protect it in our hyper-sensitive ecosystem. You may or may not know that there are formalized structures in place to do that across advertising networks.
The eleven IAB Brand Safety Floor & Suitability categories that may scare away advertisers are:
1. Adult & Explicit Sexual Content
2. Arms & Ammunition
3. Crime & Harmful acts to individuals and Society and Human Right Violations
4. Death, Injury, or Military Conflict
5. Online piracy
6. Hate speech & acts of aggression
7. Obscenity and Profanity
8. Illegal Drugs/Tobacco/eCigarettes/ Vaping/Alcohol
9. Spam or Harmful Content
10. Terrorism
11. Sensitive Social Issues
While manufacturers of camo clothing may actually prefer to advertise on Arms & Ammunition sites also know it will filter out a meaningful number of general opportunities. The flip side of that is that some general interest sites may not allow ads from marketers that are not "brand safe" so of spend by camo clothiers you could get a larger than average portion of all available ads. Unless you have high traffic volume it probably won't be enough to make up the difference between niche vs all.
Only you can decide if your passion for the name or topic outweighs a more shallow stream of advertisers, but I believe there is value in knowing there is a spigot to control that flow. It can be one of many factors to examine when making professional decisions on both domain names and values. There are also niche ad networks that may or may not be an option in your vertical.
If there's interest from developers on geeking out your code to optimize ad revenue there are guidelines at the IAB Tech Lab.
Discussion Starters:
- Did you know this was a thing?
- Are ad earnings important to your way of doing business?
- Will this have any impact on your decisions to buy, develop, or hold names?
- Have you experienced a difference in ad revenue in any of these, or other, categories? (Crypto has reportedly faced some headwinds, but I haven't seen anything difinitive.)
- These categories are managed by a large working committee and can change over time. Any forecasts for future flags?
- And the legendary: So. Much. More! What thoughts or actions does this trigger for you?
