That 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 :)
"Of the total traffic generated by our ads, over 90% were first-time visitors to Eat24.com"<p>Or a large proportion are browsing incognito.<p>But what a great article!
Why 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...
I 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.<p>No one's making the <i>argument</i> 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.)<p>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:<p>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.
This was one of the most interesting articles to pop up on hn recently. Kudos to eat24 for sharing that research.<p>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?)
Google cache link: <a href="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=" rel="nofollow">http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%...</a><p>I get a 503, probably HN effect ;)
This 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.
Their 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.
I 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?<p>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"<p>*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.
You 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...."
I 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.
That 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.
Genuinely ascinating article!<p>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.<p>At least their ad strategy is smarter than that.
I 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.
A couple interesting things i'm considering from this.<p>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.<p>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?
If 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.
To riff of of AznHisoka, is the eat24 delivery man a new archetype for these sites?<p>Seriously though well done on their part identifying the opportunity and I hope it works out well for them in the future.
I 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.
Seems 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.
I haven't seen these ads anywhere before. REALLY.<p>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.
eat24hours is a shining example of a successful, bootstrapped startup that is in it for the long-haul and not out for a quick buck.<p>It doesn't hurt that they gave me a bunch of free credit for reporting a CSS issue.