These two words seem to be so familiar in our modern life. We use internet every day, but in most of the time we are not thinking about differences between 3G and Wifi connections and what the advantages of each of them we can get. In this article, we will have a look on these difference from user point of view as well as from online marketer point.
User point of view
The most logical benefit of 3G connection is that you can use it everywhere from your phone/tablet and even some laptops because your mobile carrier provides internet. The signal is coming from the cell tower of mobile operator and that is why it covers huge area. When it comes to disadvantages – usually you have to pay extra to your mobile operator for using this service. Another thing – 3G connection is normally slower than Wifi, so it would be difficult to actually work with it and processing heavy data, it is rather used for social networks, checking mails, GPS and search.
On another hand, Wifi is provided by local hotspots that is why the signal is weaker and you can catch it only within a certain area. The pluses are that the connection is much faster and if you use public hotspots it will not cost you a penny. But at the same time public places are not considered to be safe, since hackers can attack your data using public Wifi.
Online marketer point of view
As a mediabuyer you need to keep in mind that Wifi and 3G convert in a different way. That is why you need to consider it while buying your traffic – especially in those ad-networks which are not able to split 3G and Wifi.
The first thing you need to take into account is that 3G usually converts easier and better than Wifi because of the billing solution of this connection. Lots of 3G offers have direct billing option which means that users are charged directly from the balance of their mobile phone after the confirmation of acquiring the service. Wifi connection instead does not have users billing data, which is why in order for the user to subscribe one more step appears – introducing his billing data – either phone number or credit card details. Obviously, conversion rate drops and eCPM as well. That is why within one country eCPM for operator traffic is usually much higher than for Wifi.
Moreover, different operators in one country can convert in different way. Here it is Mobidea’s global eCPM’s of Portugal (the 11th of December 2015): MEO – 98€, Vodafone – 32€, NOS – 18€, Wifi – 1.3€. The explanation of this is simple – we might have different offers with different payouts, performance and conversion rate depending on operators (and their rules).
Usually we try to purchase 3G traffic on the first place because eCPM’s are much higher and there is more opportunity to make bigger margin out of 3G traffic. You can make decisions based on relevant stats with lower volume, because the conversion rate is higher. However, the worst part is that there are lot of people competing for this traffic, especially knowing how much they can win. This is what drives traffic prices up and in order to receive good volume of high-quality traffic you need to bid high. Which is very risky, because you can spend a lot of money very fast, especially in the countries with huge traffic volume.
Even if mediabuyers tend to work in 3G, it does not mean that you cannot make money out of Wifi. The main advantage of Wifi is that this traffic is very cheap. Even if the eCPM of the offer seems much lower, there are some countries where you can make profit with the huge volume of Wifi traffic. Another advantage is that there is almost no competition for Wifi traffic, so you would not need to fight in order to get volume for reasonable price (and the remnant traffic from adnetworks is predominantly Wifi).
Here you can see some mediabuy tips on working with 3G and Wifi in different adnetworks
If you work with adnetworks, which cannot split 3G and Wifi – you should opt for one of those options in order to be profitable:
1. Choose those countries to invest where profit from 3G traffic compensates overall spending on traffic (including Wifi).
2. Choose those countries where the Wifi have a similar performance as 3G.
If you work in the adnetworks where you can split traffic I suggest you that:
1. Create campaigns only for 3G. If eCPM’s within operators of affiliate network do not vary a lot – you can launch campaign for all 3G together. If you see big difference in eCPM’s – I suggest you to split your campaigns by operator – this is how you can adjust your bid depending on the carrier and performance.
2. If you think that Wifi is worth testing in specific country – I advise you to create separated Wifi campaign. So you can put the bid much lower than for carrier traffic. This is how your bids will correspond to possible profit you might able to get.
Hint: Remember that the device and OS performances can be related also with the carrier. For example, if I have a campaign for all the carrier together of one country (Russia – Beeline + Megafon + MTS + Tele2), it can happen that my overall performance for iOS (for example) is bad but actually it can be extremely good only for Beeline but bad for the other three carriers and this is why in this case it’s also important to split.
In order to be a profitable mediabuyer, you need to choose your traffic carefully, but please keep in mind that there is potential in both 3G and Wifi, even if the way of working might be different. Hope these tips will help you in your activities. Good luck to all
User point of view
The most logical benefit of 3G connection is that you can use it everywhere from your phone/tablet and even some laptops because your mobile carrier provides internet. The signal is coming from the cell tower of mobile operator and that is why it covers huge area. When it comes to disadvantages – usually you have to pay extra to your mobile operator for using this service. Another thing – 3G connection is normally slower than Wifi, so it would be difficult to actually work with it and processing heavy data, it is rather used for social networks, checking mails, GPS and search.
On another hand, Wifi is provided by local hotspots that is why the signal is weaker and you can catch it only within a certain area. The pluses are that the connection is much faster and if you use public hotspots it will not cost you a penny. But at the same time public places are not considered to be safe, since hackers can attack your data using public Wifi.
Online marketer point of view
As a mediabuyer you need to keep in mind that Wifi and 3G convert in a different way. That is why you need to consider it while buying your traffic – especially in those ad-networks which are not able to split 3G and Wifi.
The first thing you need to take into account is that 3G usually converts easier and better than Wifi because of the billing solution of this connection. Lots of 3G offers have direct billing option which means that users are charged directly from the balance of their mobile phone after the confirmation of acquiring the service. Wifi connection instead does not have users billing data, which is why in order for the user to subscribe one more step appears – introducing his billing data – either phone number or credit card details. Obviously, conversion rate drops and eCPM as well. That is why within one country eCPM for operator traffic is usually much higher than for Wifi.
Moreover, different operators in one country can convert in different way. Here it is Mobidea’s global eCPM’s of Portugal (the 11th of December 2015): MEO – 98€, Vodafone – 32€, NOS – 18€, Wifi – 1.3€. The explanation of this is simple – we might have different offers with different payouts, performance and conversion rate depending on operators (and their rules).
Usually we try to purchase 3G traffic on the first place because eCPM’s are much higher and there is more opportunity to make bigger margin out of 3G traffic. You can make decisions based on relevant stats with lower volume, because the conversion rate is higher. However, the worst part is that there are lot of people competing for this traffic, especially knowing how much they can win. This is what drives traffic prices up and in order to receive good volume of high-quality traffic you need to bid high. Which is very risky, because you can spend a lot of money very fast, especially in the countries with huge traffic volume.
Even if mediabuyers tend to work in 3G, it does not mean that you cannot make money out of Wifi. The main advantage of Wifi is that this traffic is very cheap. Even if the eCPM of the offer seems much lower, there are some countries where you can make profit with the huge volume of Wifi traffic. Another advantage is that there is almost no competition for Wifi traffic, so you would not need to fight in order to get volume for reasonable price (and the remnant traffic from adnetworks is predominantly Wifi).
Here you can see some mediabuy tips on working with 3G and Wifi in different adnetworks
If you work with adnetworks, which cannot split 3G and Wifi – you should opt for one of those options in order to be profitable:
1. Choose those countries to invest where profit from 3G traffic compensates overall spending on traffic (including Wifi).
2. Choose those countries where the Wifi have a similar performance as 3G.
If you work in the adnetworks where you can split traffic I suggest you that:
1. Create campaigns only for 3G. If eCPM’s within operators of affiliate network do not vary a lot – you can launch campaign for all 3G together. If you see big difference in eCPM’s – I suggest you to split your campaigns by operator – this is how you can adjust your bid depending on the carrier and performance.
2. If you think that Wifi is worth testing in specific country – I advise you to create separated Wifi campaign. So you can put the bid much lower than for carrier traffic. This is how your bids will correspond to possible profit you might able to get.
Hint: Remember that the device and OS performances can be related also with the carrier. For example, if I have a campaign for all the carrier together of one country (Russia – Beeline + Megafon + MTS + Tele2), it can happen that my overall performance for iOS (for example) is bad but actually it can be extremely good only for Beeline but bad for the other three carriers and this is why in this case it’s also important to split.
In order to be a profitable mediabuyer, you need to choose your traffic carefully, but please keep in mind that there is potential in both 3G and Wifi, even if the way of working might be different. Hope these tips will help you in your activities. Good luck to all
