Infolinks vs Kontera - a small experiment

I have registered a website to both Infolinks and Kontera.
I have now seven days of data.
Although Kontera says that results may not reflect the real performance of their ads before 2 weeks and the fact that I used Infolinks parameters to help it target ads (via categories).
But Kontera doesn't offer the ability to help them target ads, and infolinks doesn't say that they need 2 weeks before showing their full potential.

So.. from tuesday 24th november to monday 30th november:
Infolinks: 19,443 impressions, 246 clicks (1.29% CTR) makes $35.34 ($1.82 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.14
Kontera: 7,699 impressions, 132 clicks (1.71% CTR) makes $7.14 ($0.93 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.05

I don't know why there are so few impressions with Kontera since I made an exact 50/50 between both services. From my log data, Infolinks reflects the true traffic, Kontera underestimates it.

I made the links look exactly the same, double underlined with blue color.

So Infolinks wins by 5 times more. I don't look at CTR, CPC or eCPM, I look directly at earnings, and it's 35 for infolinks against 7 for kontera.

I'll let the experiment run during december and will report for this month in january 2010.

 

I think $0.05 for Kontera is good. I've been using them for a year and the best I've got is $0.01!

How the hell John Chow makes $6,000+ from clicks is a mystery.

 

Its strange how you are earning $35 for 246 clicks from infolinks, they are paying me $5-10 for 300 clicks.

 

Yes, I'm surprised too as I was used to Kontera's earnings.
I did this experiment to test infolinks' claim that they are paying better than their competition, I've registered with them on purpose, only one site.

What I did on my site is to help them (infolinks) target their ads to my content by setting the infolink_cat variable, the categories available are:
Arts
Automotive
Business
Computers
Games
Health
Home
Kids & Teens
News
Recreation
Reference
Science
Shopping
Society
Sports

On my site ( http://shetoldme.com ) I have different categories, so I created a php code in order to create a relationship between my categories and theirs. I also added a few keywords that may appear in my titles (since my content is user generated)
For this I used the url of my pages (available in php in the $_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"] variable), here's an example (the real one is a little different) of the code I used:

<script type="text/javascript">
var infolink_pid = 49501;
var infolink_wsid = 0;
var infolink_link_color = '1b81ca';
var infolink_title_color = '1b81ca';
var infolink_text_color = '333333';
var infolink_ad_link_color = '1b81ca';
<?php 
// can we specify a category to help target ads?
// Keywords not from SheToldMe's categories
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"child")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Kids & Teens';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"kid")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Kids & Teens';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"teen")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Kids & Teens';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"arts")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Arts';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"music")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Arts';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"paint")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Arts';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"car")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Automotive';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"computer")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Computers';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"netbook")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Computers';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"laptop")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Computers';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"home")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Home';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"reference")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Reference';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"recreation")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Recreation';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"fun")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Recreation';";
if (strpos(strtolower($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"]),"society")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Society';";

// Keywords from SheToldMe's categories
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"usiness")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Business';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ntertainment")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Recreation';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ames")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Games';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ealth")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Health';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ifestyle")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Society';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"olitics")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Society';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"cience")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Science';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"hopping")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Shopping';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ports")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Sports';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"echnology")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Computers';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"ravel")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'Recreation';";
if (strpos($_SERVER["REQUEST_URI"],"orld")) echo "var infolink_cat = 'News';";
?>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://resources.infolinks.com/js/infolinks_main.js"></script>

Code (markup):

 

Seems like you are praising infolinks here but using kontera on your blog?

 

Yeah i noticed that too, http://shetoldme.com/ is using kontera

 

Do I really have to justify myself? I guess so..

For this purpose I'll only use sentences I've already written here:

"Yes, I'm surprised too as I was used to Kontera's earnings.
I did this experiment to test infolinks' claim that they are paying better than their competition, I've registered with them on purpose, only one site."

and

"I don't know why there are so few impressions with Kontera since I made an exact 50/50 between both services."

 

I'm also using infolinks and I'm quite happy with it.

 

did anyone tried the code which senserly has posted in his reply?

 

I don't know if anyone tried it, but I did, what do you want to know?

------------
I've just been informed by Brian from Kontera that there was a problem on my site:
"
I noticed on shetoldme.com that you are using more than one in-text provider. While we are fine with you testing other providers it is against our terms of service to run another in-text product at the same time as ours. There are many reasons for this, but the most important one being that other products interfere with our algorithms ability to deliver the best results. If you would like some assistance in setting up a proper A/B test please let me know.
"

I then replied that infolinks and kontera were never on the same page, but he then send me a screenshot and I saw there was kontera with.. chitika in-text ads!!
I had totally forgotten that I already had set up in-text ads from chitika, months ago, just to see, but never thought about it since I live in Europe and chitika displays only for US & Canada traffic.

So, this one week experiment's results are quite wrong now if kontera really relies on being the only in-text script in order to deliver its best results...

I've now fixed the problem by including Chitika linx (in-text ads) in the experiment, by having each service have a 1/3 chance to be displayed, alone, on any page.

OK, so the experiment really starts again from the 5th december.

Just for fun, here are the stats I got from chitika linx for the same period (24-30 november) but displaying on all pages only for US & Canada traffic:
Infolinks: 19,443 impressions, 246 clicks (1.29% CTR) makes $35.34 ($1.82 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.14
Kontera: 7,699 impressions, 132 clicks (1.71% CTR) makes $7.14 ($0.93 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.05
Chitika linx: 16,732 impressions, 197 clicks (1.18% CTR) makes $26.26 ($1.57 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.13

 

i want to know if the code is safe.and that i can run it on my site or not.since oyu have modified it.and so i was thinking if there is any kind of coding which can mess my site in anyway.i mean like hack or send any confidential info to someone.sorry but i m a noob in coding

 

If you're a noob in coding you really don't need my code
I'm not modifying THEIR code in anyway. But honestly it's just a small detail, you don't need it for infolinks to run just fine on your site.

 

Hi, just wanted to update this thread with information, following my mistake of having chitika linx being displayed on top of all pages along with infolinks and kontera...
Now those are proper stats from Chitika linx, Infolinks and Kontera in-text ads with each a 1/3 chance to be displayed on the same site ( http://shetoldme.com )
Chitika will only display ads for US & Canada traffic, but I display the script regardless of the visitor's IP, so there will be less impressions than the two others.
So here are 5 days of data, from 5th december to 9th december:

Chitika linx: 3,965 impressions, 56 clicks (1.41% CTR) makes $7.08 ($1.79 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.13
Infolinks: 10,430 impressions, 122 clicks (1.17% CTR) makes $20.87 ($1.96 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.17
Kontera: 8,374 impressions, 194 clicks (2.32% CTR) makes $18.76 ($2.24 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.10

As we can see, without chitika linx displaying on top of everything, the gap between Kontera and Infolinks earnings became smaller.

 

Just my experience... I tried Kontera, Chitika linx and Infolinks. Infolinks won the battle.

With Kontera I couldn't break $2/day with thousands of impressions. It was usually less than $1 per day!
Chitika linx - it worked better than Kontera, but...
Infolinks - This works the best for me. No matter that the average earning per click is only $0.05-$0.10, they show ads worldwide and I also see over a hundred of clicks each day.

I'm using Chitika, but not Chitika linx. Only Chitika Premium which BTW generates less revenue than infolinks.

 

@pinkretard: my test seems to reflect your experience.

An update to the stats, from 5th december to 16th december included:

Chitika linx: 9,252 impressions, 135 clicks (1.46% CTR) makes $14.76 ($1.6 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.11
Infolinks: 26,376 impressions, 334 clicks (1.27% CTR) makes $98.94 ($3.75 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.3
Kontera: 20,921 impressions, 438 clicks (2.09% CTR) makes $52.1 ($2.49 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.12

 

very much happy with infolinks.

 

For 238 clicks on Infolinks, I'm getting 2.81$.

I have no idea how you guys are getting so much out of it. I used to earn much more.

 

the problem with inline ads are visitors rarely click on these type of ads... even i never show any interest to click on inline ads while viewing some pages...

 

Does anyone have an Infolinks Vs Adbrite or InfoLinks vs Vibrant Media comparisions?


-C

 

A final update to the test, running from 5th december 2009 to 3rd january 2010 included:

Chitika linx: 18,595 impressions, 266 clicks (1.43% CTR) makes $31.95 ($1.72 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.12
Infolinks: 48,356 impressions, 628 clicks (1.31% CTR) makes $203.57 ($4.42 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.32
Kontera: 36,874 impressions, 694 clicks (1.88% CTR) makes $85.51 ($2.32 eCPM) so it is a CPC of $0.12

So in order, eCPM:
Infolinks: $4.42
Kontera: $2.32
Chitika linx: $1.72

So Infolinks is clearly a winner in this test, but be conscious that Infolinks knew about this test, so did Kontera, only Chitika hasn't been informed about this test.

I also have other sites on Infolinks, and during this same period here are the stats:
3PDF.com eCPM of $1.67 and a CPC of $0.15
Juhuj.com eCPM of $0.77 and a CPC of $0.06
Not the same result as SheToldMe.com!

Also on Kontera I have another site, still the same period:
Senserely.com eCPM of $1.51 and a CPC of $0.04
Here too, the performance is lower than for SheToldMe.com but the difference in eCPM is not as great as in the case of Infolinks.


So in conclusion, take this test's results with a critical filter, but it tells you at least one thing for sure: Chitika linx's earnings SUCK!