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How to Advertise on a Porn Website
- AznHisoka 13y agoThey should bribe some of those actresses to make a movie with them, and give them 100% free membership for life :)
- FreeKill 13y agoThat was actually a really interesting article. I think it really helps that they were able to come up with a really good set of ads that worked perfectly with the audience on the adult websites. That's always the goal, but execution is never quite as easy as it seems :)
- venomsnake 13y agoAnd what is the audience of the adult websites? It is the same audience that reads NYTimes and WSJ and WaPo. Everyone on the internet watches porn - except some that prefer to read it.
- namenotrequired 13y agoThey're definitely in a different context / mindset though.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- richforrester 13y agoThat's because the "audience" is not necessarily defined by properties that are set in stone. Yes, they're the same people that read certain other sites/mags/newspapers, but they're different in that they are horny, and not distracted by the visual cues advertisers usually employ. In other words: no, this is a different audience than the audience that's reading those sites; these are horny readers of those sites. A big difference.
- dohertyjf 13y agoThat's not necessarily the point though. While they did initially come up with the idea because pornstars are some of their brand advocates, they realized that it's much cheaper and cost-effective to advertise there as opposed to a NYT or WaPo that has just as many readers, but is also noisier.
- ryanmcbride 13y agoThat's the point this person is making. They're saying that by advertising on a porn site, they are getting readers from all those websites, because everyone watches porn at some point.
- gcb0 13y agoThat's a very good point. I'm reading HN without my pants, as I usually do. Those same ads would work here just fine.
- jimgardener 13y ago>>Everyone on the internet watches porn kids watch/read porn.. grownups do the real stuff :)
- tesseractive 13y agoThe total reach of all porn is quite broad, but I strongly suspect that the number of impressions skews male, possibly by multiple orders of magnitude. (Yes, I made that WAG up with no evidence whatsoever, so I'll be more than happy to see statistics or hear from anyone who disagrees.)
- IgorPartola 13y agoTFA says it is 1/3 female.
- tesseractive 13y agoI read it pretty carefully. Unless I really missed something, what it says is that 1/3 of women "admit to watching porn," without specifying anything about frequency. It does not that 1/3 of overall ad impressions are served to women, and there is a vast difference between these two things. Assuming that women watch mainstream porn video somewhere close to as often as men because both men and women like sex seems like the same sort of category error as assuming that roughly as many men as women read sexy romance novels under that same rationale.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- lowmagnet 13y agoI predicted that "Wash your hands" wouldn't work. I'm sure a higher percentage of porn visitors are dudes, and dudes don't want to click on other dudes, generally.
- thezilch 13y agoIt wasn't the CTR that was the problem; though. It was the product not matching the advertisement. There are 9M LGBT in the US, alone. It's fairly likely that there is a demographic for this kind of ad, so why not have it available; not everyone is going to want to see a girl spread eagle.
- manmal 13y agoSure they do, if the ad is about getting a larger member or getting ripped. The role-model effect.
- kpommerenke 13y agoTheir porn statistics are questionable: they say "2/3 of men admit to watching porn" and "70% of those men are between the ages of 18-24". This implies that at least 47% of all men are between 18 and 24, which is clearly wrong. Otherwise, good article.
- Mgccl 13y agoIt could mean "2/3 of the men who took the survey admit to watching porn" for w/e survey they had in mind...
- pessimizer 13y agoYou always have to read it like "2/3 of male psychology students admit to watching porn..."
- singold 13y agoGoogle cache link: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fblog.eat24hours.com%2Fhow-to-advertise-on-a-porn-website%2F&rls=com.microsoft:es:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz= http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%... I get a 503, probably HN effect ;)
- lucb1e 13y agoWP effect I'd say.
- nicholassmith 13y agoThat was quite an enjoyable article actually, they certainly had fun with it. Clever idea as well, they had a good chance of hitting their target market.
- marchra 13y agoMay I say, as someone who controls millions of dollars of digital media spend for staid brands like J&J and Mars, I've ALWAYS wanted to do this.
- throwaway2120 13y agoWhy is there so little non-porn advertising on porn sites? If CPMs are low, and conversions are good enough, what's up with the ROI gap? Is this really the cost of social outrage? I'm really curious to see if anyone has any theories/answers...
- corin_ 13y agoA lot of it is "social outrage", but not necessarily actual outrage. I'm a marketing person, I enjoy porn, but I won't advertise on porn sites because a.) I don't want to position brands next to it and b.) Even if I did, people in companies I represent would raise the same issue. But there's no "outrage" from myself, for sure. There are other reasons too. For example, porn sites are known for shitty advertising (popups, popunders, accidental clicks, etc.) so people like me who haven't researched it at all think firstly are these techniques required to get good results from porn sites (I don't want to use them) and secondly will my adverts be assumed to be shitty just by their placement next to other shitty adverts?
- volokoumphetico 13y agoif you've spoofed your referral links, how would they ever know?
- corin_ 13y agoI don't lie to my clients about where I spend their money - and even if I wanted to, I wouldn't manage to do it without them noticing.
- volokoumphetico 13y agothat's all good and fine on paper but seriously, how would they ever know that the new add for McDonald's new menu item appeared beside hurrdrurr.com/the-one-with-midget-horse-and-tall-lady.html
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- kennywinker 13y agoThose pornstar tweets sure do look like paid promotions... article implies they are organic, but they don't look that way to me.
- derefr 13y agoI have a feeling that pornstars know all about the "unsolicited, easily quotable backpat" trick. Enthusiastically edorse random things you like, and--if the recipient persoh/company understands marketing-industry SOP--you'll get endorsed in turn. (You can notice this in, for example, every blog post or podcast Patrick McKenzie has put out lately. It almost feels like he has a secret cabal he's colluding with to pass traffic between then, for all they mention each-other in shining terms--but it's just unsolicited praise. A war of gifts, you might say.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nraynaud 13y agoI understood they are quite clearly paid. Part of the campaign.
- eli 13y agoI could believe they are organic or at least not specifically bought (note the swag in one picture). Fun fact: IANAL, but it might actually be illegal to have people tweet stealth paid endorsements on your behalf: http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs-revised-endorsement-guideswhat-people-are-asking http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/bus71-ftcs-revised-end...
- NKCSS 13y agoProps for using I-ANAL in a porn thread ;)
- BrandonY 13y agoOne of those pornstars is wearing a shirt that reads "@eat24 is the official sponsor of my muchies." I'm not sure how that could be less organic without removing all the carbon.
- austerity 13y agoIf anyone is inspired by this article and feels adventurous, I'm currently trying to sell a 1.5M/day inventory that is mostly across porn sites. Hit me up at dr8ww@notsharingmy.info for dirt cheap CPM rates.
- kunil 13y agoI also have a cheap lawn mover! Send me a pm! If you pm now, I will add 2 xxl size trash bags to the deal!
- brianbreslin 13y agoThis was one of the most interesting articles to pop up on hn recently. Kudos to eat24 for sharing that research. What are some other things that could appeal to porn users? Travel? Legit online dating( ie match/eharmony)? Credit card savings? Subscription services (would dollar shave club do well?)
- tdfx 13y agoAdult traffic is pretty useless to most traditional affiliate marketing-ish offers. It's almost like the users just have this one, single thing on their mind and can't be bothered with anything else at that moment.
- bdlbdl 13y agoAnd yet, the stats presented in the post seem to suggest otherwise. After they finish watching the porn, users click the ad and convert. Even if they click and convert at a lower rate than traditional media the data suggests that the lower CPMs more than make up for this. It's not great for brand advertising (potentially). But for affiliate type marketing this seems like an untapped goldmine.
- brianbreslin 13y agothat's what I was thinking. half the stuff sold from affiliate marketers isn't of name brand stuff anyway. food makes sense after porn, you're appealing to humans base needs.
- jpatokal 13y agoExcept -- as the article states -- when they finish watching the video and realize that they've got another physiological need to fulfill.
- dnautics 13y agoAfter reading this I was thinking of advertising my nonprofit (I posted upthread) to capture 'other psychological need's.
- ilolu 13y agoUnrelated question : But whats a good hosting service provider for hosting Adult content ?
- tdfx 13y agoWhen I needed to host adult landing pages, Rackspace indicated they had no restrictions on regular adult material. You might want to check what their limits are, but they're certainly OK with your run-of-the-mill hardcore porn.
- rfergie 13y ago"Of the total traffic generated by our ads, over 90% were first-time visitors to Eat24.com" Or a large proportion are browsing incognito. But what a great article!
- erickhill 13y agoAgree, great and refreshing article on HN for a change. They say "Not only did we drive tons of clicks and app downloads, we were able to reach a whole new market affordably and efficiently," but I wonder how many of those first-time visitors ever came back? Or converted into paid accounts... Did the new traffic pay for the cost of the marketing spend? Or perhaps that wasn't the point here and it was more a brand awareness campaign. If that's the bar, this sounds very successful indeed, particularly if you don't mind associating your brand with these types of images/ads. They didn't just stick a house ad in there, they embraced that community's ... appetite.
- PeterisP 13y agoThe article states that they get okay rates of the 'porn-acquired' customers returning. Which is natural - for such services the big barrier is trying it out (instead of only considering the "default" takeout options that you already knew); if you get a good experience then you're likely to shop again at least occasionally.
- PeterisP 13y agoUmm, as they do delivery and accept creditcards, then they can be rather sure which orders are from new users and which are repeated. Unless they have amnesia. Just as Chrome says - browser incognito mode doesn't really work if you tell a website where you live and what name is written on your card.
- thedufer 13y ago"Total traffic" and "people who gave us credit card info" are two very different things, and they are discussing the former. They would only be able to disambiguate in the (presumably small) portion of people that went on to log in/sign up.
- terabytest 13y agoThis is the first article on HN I actually had fun reading. The puns were terribly hilarious.
- BWStearns 13y agoTo riff of of AznHisoka, is the eat24 delivery man a new archetype for these sites? Seriously though well done on their part identifying the opportunity and I hope it works out well for them in the future.
- mdisraeli 13y agoYou know you're a hacker news reader when your first thought after reading this isn't "order food!" or "watch porn!", but "I wonder if any fast food delivery websites have affiliate schemes...."
- brokenparser 13y agoMine was "do they have an API?" and to my amazement, yes they do.
- shitlord 13y agoThis was hilarious and definitely worth the read. The ads alone have definitely persuaded me to try out their service. The company seems like a breath of fresh air, considering how everyone else avoids associating with porn sites like they're the plague.
- dreamdu5t 13y agoeat24hours is a shining example of a successful, bootstrapped startup that is in it for the long-haul and not out for a quick buck. It doesn't hurt that they gave me a bunch of free credit for reporting a CSS issue.
- jdkanani 13y agoGreat article.
- Semiapies 13y agoGenuinely ascinating article! Pity their search threw nonsensical errors when I put in my home address. ETA: Ah, I see the problem. They can't seem to give a message as useful as "We don't provide service to that city/ZIP code/etc." and instead just say, "Oops, something went wrong" or suggest that the ZIP code is invalid. At least their ad strategy is smarter than that.
- covgjai 13y agoBest creative I've seen in a long time.
- dnautics 13y agoI read this and it was really interesting. Here's a question, HNdom. Should I advertise my nonprofit* on porn? (I won't use nonprofit funds, I'll pay from my own pocket) Do you think the total nonsequitur will work? Is there any downside? Sub question: If I were to do it, how non-sequitur-ey should it be? I could play it as "help save boobies" or just straight-man it "help cure cancer" *we'll be crowdfunding to get an public domain anticancer compound through preclinical trials, it may be effective against triple negative breast cancer, and other other cancers.
- roel_v 13y agoIt would be really interesting to see if you could play on (some) people's guild for visiting porn sites to coax them into donating. (I realize putting it in those words makes me sound like a sociopath which I'm not, I promise :), it's just the least BS way of putting it...)
- dnautics 13y agoYou don't sound like a sociopath, I was thinking the same thing.
- chris_wot 13y agoNothing like using porn to advertise your non-profit. Because porn sites don't exploit anyone.
- dnautics 13y agowhile I generally find snark entertaning, I am somewhat serious about this informal poll, so I want to be sure I understand what you are saying: If I advertise on porn, I risk making the statement that my nonprofit condones exploitative behavior (versus merely lasciviousness). Is it any better if the purpose of fundraising is ultimately more virtuous? (that we are channeling exploitation that would have happened anyway - for a purpose outside the closed circle of more porn ads and ads for penis enhancers?) Thanks!
- kokey 13y agoI always enjoy reading these interesting strategies for marketing to the consumer. However, it makes me a little sad that I can't really apply it to a b2b product.
- broodbucket 13y agoSeems like the perfect advertiser for 4chan. A lot of traffic, the ads are ALWAYS for porn so people will notice, and the user-base never leaves the house.
- sathishmanohar 13y agoI haven't seen these ads anywhere before. REALLY. And its a good reminder, instead of competing in places where everybody is already competing, while paying high and raising the price for everybody else. Find a new efficient strategy from a different niche.
- peterwwillis 13y agoA couple interesting things i'm considering from this. 1. Typically any business that supports even the concept of porn would get crucified in the media. It seems like because eat24 is a young internet startup that its users don't mind it being associated with porn. If the service becomes nationally recognized, will the small vocal minority eventually come out of the woodwork to protest? (I think yes) Other consideration: almost all food services are in some way family-oriented (families eat a lot of food) and thus would be more vulnerable to topics that are inappropriate for kids. 2. If somehow they find a way to keep their porn ads up while still bringing in users that are morally opposed to porn, could this create real social change? Could it eventually become socially acceptable to support businesses that support porn and alternative lifestyles? And towards that end (hehe I said end), should the company push for higher standards and more stringent requirements on the kind of content included in the porn? Could the company's ad push eventually improve the conditions and content of the porn industry?
- midnightmonster 13y agoI skimmed 96 comments looking for anyone to say, "You know, this is pretty offensive and/or wrong." I found only two posts comprising one sarcastic attempt at pointing that direction. No one's making the argument that porn's good, but a lot of people either genuinely assume so or want to signal that they're really pragmatic and modern and liberal. (If you think everyone's just bracketing the moral questions and that it's appropriate to do so, ask yourself how well a post on successfully marketing on white supremacist websites would fare.) I'm not going to make an actual case that porn is evil either: it's clear we'd have to do a lot of work on finding common philosophical ground first, and I don't have the time. But in the face of apparently-overwhelming social acceptance of evil, it's better if someone says, "Hey, everybody, this is wrong," even if they can't convince people of it at the moment. Since I can't find much to upvote here, I'll be that guy: Pornography is evil in concept and in practice. Building your business through it is considerably worse than, e.g., using huge email spam networks. It beggars belief that--in a community that can at least entertain the idea that it might be wrong to create a business by exploiting people's lizard brains with notifications, gamification, and misleading social ads--ninety-eight percent of comments on using porn to promote your business either avoid considering morality at all or go out of the way to indicate that everything's a-ok here.
- noonespecial 13y agoInteresting, that's exactly how I feel about investment banking, as currently practiced in the US.
- nsxwolf 13y agoThey've certainly taken a stance on porn that is opposite of, say, Apple. Too bad you're being downvoted for expressing a different opinion on porn.
- belorn 13y agoComments which tries to appeal to emotion without any supporting facts should get downvoted. If one where to replace "porn" with "Microsoft" in midnightmonster comment, it would be a common microsoft bash comment. If you replaced it with Apple, it would become an Apple bash comment. As it stand, it is now just a porn bashing comment. To examplify: "Microsoft platform is evil in concept and in practice. Building your business through it is considerably worse than, e.g., using huge email spam networks. It beggars belief that--in a community that can at least entertain the idea that it might be wrong to create a business by exploiting people's lizard brains with notifications, gamification, and misleading social ads--ninety-eight percent of comments on using Microsoft platform to promote your business either avoid considering morality at all or go out of the way to indicate that everything's a-ok here." Comments that has that attribute should not reside on hacker news. It brings nothing to the table, and only tries manipulating the other readers with emotions, rather than with valid logic, to win an argument.[1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion
- joshfraser 13y agoI find it fascinating that order sizes increased for people coming via the ads. Your pre-frontal cortex is the part of your brain responsible for willpower. It gets tired like any other muscle. The fact that you're watching porn is an indicator that your willpower is depleted and therefore far more likely to give in to the dessert as well.
- robg 13y agoI like this theory but hard to disambiguate from working up an appetite and the associations between the two forms of pleasure, perhaps the most overwhelming forms of pleasure in our biology.