Posted on November 11, 2008 - by Justin Hartman
Adgator – Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network
In December 2007 I did a presentation at 27dinner in Jo’burg where I previewed the first Beta version of Afrigator. Most people at the time thought we were going to announce an acquisition but alas it really was just geeky from start to end.
One of the key points I raised in the presentation (sideshow here, video here) was that we were going to implement a revenue model for the website and in turn share the revenue with the bloggers. Ramon was the first person to ask how we planned on doing this but at the time we were still unclear as to the model and in truth it’s taken us almost 11 months to figure this one out.
Enter Adgator – a newly launched product, under the Afrigator stable, that links our blogging network to advertisers and helps to monetise blogs in a way that Google Adsense and other forms of online marketing simply can’t do.
The more I’ve been watching the collective growth of our network the more I’ve come to realise just how powerful blogs are in relation to other traditional websites. As an example, the top 100 blogs in South Africa (as measured by Afrigator) account for more than 1.7 million unique users and serves over 5.6 million page views each month.
This makes the network as powerful in terms of audience reach to South Africa’s #1 local website, News24, which also serves around 1.7 million uniques each month ~ (Nielsen Netratings – Q2 June 2008).
The scary part for me is that more than 1,200 blogs registered on Afrigator haven’t implemented our tracking code so they can’t be added to these figures and if you had to add them to the mix I have little doubt the network would look a whole lot different.
So, with a total network cap of 3.2 million unique users and 7.9 million page views I’ve often wondered how we can use this network to all of our advantage and I believe Adgator is the answer to this pondering.
The concept of Adgator is simple. Sign up as a blogger, insert a piece of code into your blog theme and we’ll go out and find advertisers who are willing to spend money. Each time a blogger sees one of our ads on their website they know that they’ve made money. Initially we’ll be sticking to a CPM model because that’s what advertisers understand and we will share 50% of the revenue with bloggers.
This model means that a blog serving as little as 2,500 page views a month can make R300 for doing nothing and if you’re lucky enough to be a high-traffic blog your earnings could be as high as six figures. Our aim with Adgator is to be as transparent as possible and all blog owners will have their own access to our system so they can track their earnings in real time. In our reporting we break down cost, revenue share and total income so the blogger knows exactly who’s getting what.
As an advertiser or media planner the value proposition is easy to quantify. Without realising it at the time Afrigator has been indexing, filtering, categorising and profiling blogs in a way that is perfectly tailored for this business model. Instead of throwing a banner up on a major traffic website we can now offer real, targeted advertising to markets and audiences that fit an advertisers’ needs perfectly.
Adgator excites me in a way I can’t describe. The possibilities are endless really but to start off we’ve invited 100 of SA’s top blogs to the network for a pilot program. Invitations were sent this morning and we’re in the process of finalising some exciting advertisers that will really compliment the product and blogs that the creatives appear on.
In the first quarter of 2009 we plan to implement this blog ad network in Kenya and Nigeria so watch this space for more details on these announcements.
If you’re a South African blogger and you didn’t get an invite but want to be a part of the network please visit the site and sign up. We’re certainly not going to limit the network to 100 blogs and the quicker we can build the network the better.
I’m sure you’ll have some questions, please feel free to ask me anything…
I am the MD and co-founder of 
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November 11, 2008
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New blog post: Adgator – Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z
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November 11, 2008
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Sweet. Looks hot. Think people will def use it. Nice addition.
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November 11, 2008
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Nice work Afridudes .. from since we spoke about this and now today launching it – thats some quick turn around time!!
Great idea – I’ve signed up
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November 11, 2008
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@justinhartman Congrats Justin. Great news. Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z
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November 11, 2008
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I@justinhartman says that a high traffic blog in SA cld earn the owner SIX FIGURES (month? year?) Not bad, if true. http://bit.ly/18aWy
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November 11, 2008
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Schweet! Count me in!
Nice initiative as well. Affiliate marketing is still a great industry to be in and with trends moving to towards a relativity based web, it would be interesting to see how your system adapts to fit in trend in time!
Congrats!
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November 11, 2008
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http://is.gd/70st WOW! Thanks for the link @EveD
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November 11, 2008
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[...] has done a pretty cool blog post explaining Adgator a little more, so hop on over to his blog and have a read. Share this with the world: Share this post with the [...]
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November 11, 2008
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Huge congrats guys! looking forward to signing up right now..
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November 11, 2008
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RT @justinhartman New blog post: Adgator – Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z | Well done!!
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November 11, 2008
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Very very awesome Justin, my blog post coming up shortly
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November 11, 2008
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Great initiative! Hope to see the network extended to Cameroon soon.
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November 11, 2008
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[...] This model means that a blog serving as little as 2,500 page views a month can make R300 for doing nothing and if you’re lucky enough to be a high-traffic blog your earnings could be as high as six figures. Our aim with Adgator is to be as transparent as possible and all blog owners will have their own access to our system so they can track their earnings in real time. In our reporting we break down cost, revenue share and total income so the blogger knows exactly who’s getting what. via [...]
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November 11, 2008
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Bookmarked: Adgator – Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network by Justin Hartman|Afrigator http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z
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November 11, 2008
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Hey Justin,
Congrats, an excellent idea.
How confident are you that you can get CPMs of R240? I haven’t had any experience in SA pricing but doing a straight conversion shows me that’s pretty high by my standards.
My experience in monetising the long tail has shown that when selling these sites on a network/channel basis has meant that rates take a beating.
Cheers,
G
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November 11, 2008
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[...] Justin Hartman also writes that the consolidated Afrigator blog network is as powerful as the number 1 South African site: [...]
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November 11, 2008
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Hey, so can I maintain my
annomminninnitysecret identity and still sign up with all me details?Visit My Website
November 11, 2008
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Dolce – absolutely. The only reference to you will be blog name and possibly blog url. Personal details are only for our records so that we can pay you!!!
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November 11, 2008
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Grant, great comment, thanks for it! We are working off a fixed base of between R200-R250. That said, my experience has shown that advertisers really determine their own rates no matter what you set it
I’m going to always go for the highest price but whatever that becomes with each advertiser the blogger will make 50%.
Time and experience will help us define the right pricing model.
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November 11, 2008
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Thanks to everyone else who has supported this new product. I’m really excited about it and appreciate you guys taking the time to comment here!!!
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November 11, 2008
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[...] can read more at the official announcement on the Afrigator blog, and of course Justin has done a marvelous job summarising the benefits of the [...]
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November 11, 2008
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@the_dre c’mon use those blogging skills of yours: http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z
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November 11, 2008
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[...] This model means that a blog serving as little as 2,500 page views a month can make R300 for doing nothing and if you’re lucky enough to be a high-traffic blog your earnings could be as high as six figures. The aim with Adgator is to be as transparent as possible and all blog owners will have their own access to our system so they can track their earnings in real time. In our reporting we break down cost, revenue share and total income so the blogger knows exactly who’s getting what.- Justin Hartman [...]
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November 11, 2008
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[...] is here to ask that same question, and prove it out. Make sure you read Justin’s post on the new [...]
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November 12, 2008
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Brilliant idea as normally we have to rely on overseas advertising. I signed up yesterday.
If we get good local response then we can stop using the overseas advertisers that some of us have already got on our blogs.
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November 12, 2008
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Hey Justin, kief product bru…but why would advertisers pay on a CPM basis when they can pay for CPC on Google Adsense and get more traffic? That way they can get all the eyeballs in the world for free and only pay when people click their ads – that’s like…free exposure bru. Also (and I haven’t tried your program out yet) but it seems like Google has just launched AdPlanner (http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/06/introducing-google-ad-planner.html) and that’s providing targeting that’s a lot more acute than yours.
You also haven’t mentioned display opportunities in your program – are blogs going to have gadget type ads on them? Do blogs need to be ajax friendly?
Thanks.
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November 12, 2008
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Whale- Search ads and Display ads are two very distinctly different advertising methods. Search will almost always be used for direct response, whilst the type of ad budgets Adgator are after are most certainly branding. Google ads (display) are trash ads in my opinion. Bottom of the barrel advertisers- definitely not the established brands Adgator are hoping to coax onto the long tail.
Therefore Adgator cannot be compared to Google in any way.
If I had to guess Adgators competition (I don’t know the make-up of the SA landscape all that well.)I’d say it was established offline publishers who have an online presence- Newspaper and magazine titles.
Since the beast that is Naspers has a stake in Afrigator I’d hazard a guess that it’s not going to be hard for some test spend to be diverted Adgators way by the sales guys.
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November 12, 2008
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Justin, can you please elaborate where the “money” will come from???
How does Adgator make money in order to give bloggers money? And how does the system determine what and how much a blogger will get?
Regards,
Ryan
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November 13, 2008
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That sounds very coolo, please keep up the good work
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November 13, 2008
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[...] 13, 2008 Africa , Internet , technology Tags: Afrigator, adgator, African blog ad network Adgator is Africa’s first bloggers ad network. The network was launched and started by the guys over [...]
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November 13, 2008
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Grant – I wholeheartedly disagree bru. I’ve seen big brands doing their brand thang with Google – even in South Africa. Check out Outsurance, FNB etc etc. I also see that display ads are being used by these companies to quite good effect for their brands and their products.
Also – what do you mean when you say trash ads? Is it because they’re really cheap?
You also didn’t answer my question with regards to doing display on a CPC basis – why would users pay CPM when they can get the same impression share and pay CPC on Google’s Content network? You also say that Adgator cannot be compared to Google in any way – are you sure about that guy? Isn’t Adgator placing ads against people’s content, in this case their blogs? Isn’t that what Google does?
Thanks.
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November 13, 2008
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Whale: – I’m with Grant on this one. Firstly let me state categorically that we are most DEFINITELY NOT Google. I’d like to be Google, but alas we have a long way to go in terms of Technology, product offering and credibility.
I (along with Grant I think) am not negating that big brands use Google and the CPC model does work for them. However, there is a very specific reason why Google introduced CPM to Adwords – because corporates wanted it.
Google changed the landscape with targeted CPC – it’s the reason they’re the 5th largest company in the US – however that doesn’t necessarily change the markets need.
In South Africa traditional advertisers understand CPM and quite frankly don’t yet get CPC. There are exceptions to this but only time and education will really change the mindset shift from CPM to CPC.
With Adgator – we’re hoping to speak to a language that traditional advertisers understand and for now that language is CPM. The market will shift and when it does we’ll have to re-evaluate the CPM model.
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November 13, 2008
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Thanks Whale-
I think we need to understand what is meant by a ‘branding’ client here. Outsurance and FNB (for the most part) are not what I would call ‘branding’ clients. Big brands-yes, but their ad spend is for the most part not focussed on a branding aspect, they’re focussed on a direct response, eg: “lowest premiums”, “High interest rates”…Click here!
A branding client will be, Coca-Cola, Samsung, Alcohol brands, etc. Their ads aren’t meant to make you rush out and buy their product straight away. Their supposed to coax you into believing that when you’re thirsty you drink Coke, when you want to have fun you pour a Smirnoff, and only Samsung TV’s make films come alive.
It’s these branding clients budgets that Adgator is after. And these budgets are not spent on a CPC basis. These ads are effective whether people click on them or not.
What I meant by trash ads… is that google has such a high volume of inventory that they ultimately have to fill their ads with something. This remnant inventory (which Google display ads often are to start with) is usually characterised by low paying advertisers.
To answer your question- “Why would users pay CPM when they can get the same impression share and pay CPC on Google’s Content network?”
I think you meant advertisers here. And the simple reason is that, I, as a site owner do not want low quality, low cost ads on my site. Therefore I use Adgator who ensure that only quality, relevent, high yielding ads are placed on my site. In doing so if an advertiser wants to have their ads on my site so they can advertise to my audience. Then they have to pay a premium CPM. If they want to pay CPC then they can go somewhere else. Why should I as the site owner bere all the risk of putting ads on the site and hope that someone clicks on them. What if Outsurance want to target the users on my site but my users don’t like Outsurance… who suffers- me, who makes money- not me.
I think Justin answered your question regarding the comparisons with Google.
I don’t mean to come across as harsh here, I just hope I’m getting my point across. There is so much more that can be said to highlight the nature of online advertising and the reasons why CPC (PPC), CPM, and CPA exist. Each serve their own purpose and must be seen as tools to achieve types of results. This is why companies hire agencies and sites hire sales houses.
G
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November 14, 2008
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Good answers both! Thanks
P.S Everyone: education is the key here.
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November 14, 2008
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@Ryan – Adgator will bring advertisers on board to advertise on SA’s top blogs. This revenue will be shared with bloggers 50/50.
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November 14, 2008
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Adgator – Africa’s First Blog Advertising Network | Justin Hartman | Afrigator http://tinyurl.com/5epf6z
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November 20, 2008
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Hey Justin,
How’s it going insofar as getting advertisers is concerned? I’m running the 468×60 ad on my forum to try and lure advertisers – hope it’s helping
Can’t wait for this to go live!
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November 27, 2008
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Hi Norio
Sorry for the delayed reply. We’ve been working like mad to make this happen. I have a blog post coming out tomorrow and you should also watch your email for more details.
If you know of anyone who might want to advertise please contact me directly.
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November 28, 2008
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[...] has been doing phenomenally well since we launched it some two weeks ago and the good news for bloggers and advertisers is that we’ve just finished building the [...]
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November 30, 2008
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are you considering some kind of referral benefits if we get you more ‘recruits’?
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November 30, 2008
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… and is it all gonna be compatible with anything-but-html compatible wordpress …
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December 3, 2008
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[...] we wait for the launch of Afrigator’s Adgator, Africa’s first blog advertising network on December 8, we hope that this new ad network will make African bloggers earn more money from [...]
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December 6, 2008
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Please also include the 250×250 pixel size option, its popular as well.
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December 20, 2008
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[...] Justin Hartman notes that Adgator links bloggers to advertisers “in a way that Google Adsense and other forms of online marketing simply can't do.” [...]