What is an Offer?
Quick Definition: An Offer is a specific advertising campaign created by an advertiser with a defined goal, like an app install or a user signup. It includes the payout for the publisher and the action required from the user. Publishers select the best offers from various advertisers to feature in their own curated Offer Program.
An Introduction to Offers
In performance marketing, an Offer is the fundamental unit of a campaign. Think of it as a specific “quest” or “bounty” posted by an Advertiser. The quest might be “Download our game and reach Level 7,” and the bounty is the payment the advertiser makes to the Publisher when a user successfully completes it.
It is the core building block that publishers use to construct their monetization strategy. While an advertiser may have hundreds of offers available, a publisher’s job is to select the ones that are most relevant and appealing to their specific audience.
The Anatomy of an Offer
Every Offer is comprised of several key components that define the campaign:
- The Objective (Conversion Event): The specific, measurable action a user must complete for the campaign to be successful. Examples include installing an app, signing up for a free trial, or making an in-app purchase.
- The Payout: The amount of money the advertiser agrees to pay the publisher for each valid conversion. This can be a fixed amount or a percentage of a sale.
- The Creative: The visual ad unit (such as a banner, interstitial, or video) that a user sees and interacts with to start the offer.
- The Tracking Link: A unique URL, typically generated by an Offer Server, that correctly attributes a user’s click and subsequent conversion back to the publisher who promoted the offer.
- Targeting Rules: The conditions set by the advertiser, such as geographic location (e.g., US only) or device type (e.g., iOS only), that determine which users are eligible to see the offer.
The Role of the Offer in the Ecosystem
The Offer is the bridge between the demand side (advertisers) and the supply side (publishers). An advertiser’s entire portfolio of available campaigns is their collection of offers.
A publisher then acts as an expert curator. They use an Offer Server to select the most relevant and profitable offers from various advertisers and assemble them into their own unique Offer Program, a customized lineup of promotions perfectly tailored to their audience.
Common Types of Offers
Offers are often categorized by their payout model, which aligns with the advertiser’s objective:
- CPI (Cost Per Install): The advertiser pays the publisher every time a user installs their app from the tracking link. This is extremely common in mobile advertising.
- CPL (Cost Per Lead): The advertiser pays when a user submits their information, such as an email address or phone number, effectively becoming a “lead.”
- CPA (Cost Per Action): The advertiser pays only when a user completes a specific, high-value action after the initial install or click (e.g., subscribing to a service, making a first-time purchase).
- CPE (Cost Per Engagement): The advertiser pays when a user reaches a pre-defined milestone of engagement (e.g., completing a game tutorial, reaching Level 5).
Related Terms
- Ad Publisher: The entity that implements an ad monetization strategy.
- eCPM (effective Cost Per Mille): The key performance metric used to measure the effectiveness of an ad monetization strategy.
- Ad Mediation: A crucial technology used to optimize an ad monetization strategy by managing multiple ad networks.
- Fill Rate: A metric that measures the efficiency of the ad inventory being monetized
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