There are certain words that can elicit a very happy response from online adult entrepreneurs — words like “conversion” and “retention.” Another word that they like hearing is “traffic,” especially when it is traffic of a profitable, high-quality nature.
And as 2016 progresses, adult traffic trends to watch out for will include geo-targeting, mobile optimization and the pursuit of niche traffic.
We are seeing countries once considered low-quality becoming high-quality, as users in those countries are so far ahead when it comes to mobile technology. —Sarah Mallie, EroAdvertising
Sarah Mallie, account manager for EroAdvertising, asserted that in 2016, niche traffic and emerging markets will be increasingly valuable to online adult companies.
“As the adult industry is heading into the slow growth to maturity stage, I believe that every impression is increasingly important,” Mallie told XBIZ. “Advertisers are increasingly looking at niche traffic that supports their offers as well as very specific geo-targeting. We are seeing countries once considered low-quality becoming high-quality, as users in those countries are so far ahead when it comes to mobile technology.”
According to Mallie, mobile traffic will continue to increase in importance in 2016. Mallie explained: “Mobile is now overtaking desktop in traffic. I think that certain countries’ mobile restrictions on buying will be scrutinized closely this year, making it easier to buy from a mobile device. EroAdvertising is really looking at 2016 as the year of technology.”
“Our developers have already rolled out Source Optimizer — which automatically blocks traffic based on your specific conversion objectives — and a banner pool system, which automatically chooses your banners based on performance and retargeting. We also now have dual-currency bidding — euro and U.S. dollar — as well as smart CPM bidding.”
Richard Cottrell, global sales director for ExoClick, an online advertising network based in Barcelona since 2006, noted that thanks to the international explosion of smartphones and other mobile/wireless devices, adult companies will, in 2016, be mindful of traffic coming from “emerging markets” that they weren’t necessarily mindful of in the past.
Cottrell told XBIZ: “Due to the availability of affordable smartphones in emerging markets, and with these devices becoming the primary computer for these populations, the latest data from Gartner states that sales rose to 259.7 million in the third quarter of 2015 — an 18.4 percent growth over the third quarter of 2014 as consumers upgraded their feature phones to smartphones. For many in these markets, the smartphone is their first time of being connected. And those are new consumers ready to be monetized with adult content.”
Juicy Jay, founder and CEO of the advertising network JuicyAds, cautioned against being too esoteric in 2016 when it comes to traffic.
“Delivering the juicy bits of traffic every specific advertiser wants is where things have headed for some advertisers,” Jay told XBIZ. “Some people in the industry have told me that this is the sign of a bad product — one that will only convert a very specific segment of the spectrum — and I’m inclined to agree.
“There’s extreme value right now not in micro-targeting of traffic, but finding products and services that work on a larger scale. And that’s where I would recommend advertisers focus their efforts. It’s much more profitable to monetize a larger portion of the market at a slightly lower rate than trying to capitalize on a tiny fraction at a whopping price. Our technology is advancing at a rapid pace to meet up with the demands of our clients.”
Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub, stressed that careful, studious traffic analysis will be a high priority for adult sites in 2016. Price told XBIZ: “One of the big trends we’re seeing for the year ahead is definitely a more customer-centric approach in the adult space.”
“We have the ability to leverage big data to learn more and more about our audience and what they like, and we can use this data to align customer campaigns and tailor content to reach our audiences in ways we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago,” he said.
“With so much data available and so much customer preference information to draw from, the experience can be fine-tuned — and the recommendations presented to your viewers are endless.
“Nurturing a two-way relationship with our audience and coming up with new experiences to remain relevant will be key in 2016 and beyond.”
