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View Full Version : Saturated game site market and adsense?



Lakerol
01-28-2008, 10:46 AM
Hi,

I run a flash gaming site, or maybe used to run is a better term. It went offline about half a year ago because of a problem with the host, and went online again just recently.

The site still gets around 1000-1800 views a day because of old links (and almost as many unique visitors, because the site is nearly empty of content), but my adsense CPM is horrible and nothing like it used to be back in the days. The CPM used to be around 1$ but is now not even 10 c, even though the CTR has stayed pretty much the same, around 1-2%.

I've redesigned the site and I'm about to relaunch it on a new server with a new game, but I'm worried that my CPM will stay low and not make enough money to cover for the host plan I intend to buy.

Why is my adsense so low? Will it get better when I get more visits? I suspected it might be down to Chinese traffic but my statistics show that 90% of the traffic is from the U.S.

Did the game market get this saturated in the last 6 months? Has it become impossible to make money this way, even with a reasonably popular site?

Thanks in advance for any answers

Kyle
01-28-2008, 11:27 AM
It has been saturated for years.

Also you say you are nearly empty of content? Adsense wouldn't like that to begin with.

Kyle
01-28-2008, 11:28 AM
I'll add that it has been saturated with lots of garbage for years, as most of the flash sites are absolute crap.

It is all about the games, investing money into custom games. Yet most webmasters just put up some template and promote it heavily (with other people's games).

Lakerol
01-28-2008, 11:42 AM
Hi Kyle, it's not one of those template websites, I'm actually a flash maker and I promoted my site through one of my games. When I say "nearly empty of content" I mean I only have 4-5 games online and little else.

I get that investing in custom games is what gives you visitors and that's also what I'm doing, but what I'm wondering about is whether more visitors and content will make my CPM go back up and beyond $1 or stay ridiculously low.

Kyle
01-28-2008, 11:46 AM
I don't have enough experience in the field, other than most of the big sites I see don't use adsense.

In fact, you may want to look into CPA options that I see certain large flash game sites using. Where you refer people to some top online games.

One quick example is battleon.com (adventure quest).
http://www.battleon.com/aq-partner.asp

Other than that, CPM based image ads still seem the most used (utilizing a skyscraper, leaderboard, and whatever else).

Whether you want to bastardize your display page with 4 ads is up to you, but thats what some people do.

Lakerol
01-28-2008, 12:15 PM
I'm actually displaying plenty of "Adventure Quest" CPM banners through adsense, but I don't think they ever pay more than 1 cent.

Chris
01-28-2008, 04:14 PM
How much it cost to have a custom flash game developed?

MaxS
01-28-2008, 06:53 PM
How much it cost to have a custom flash game developed?
It depends on the how complex you want to go.

I'd say $800 and up for a decent game.

Generalissimo
01-29-2008, 12:24 AM
I recon more than that for a good flash game now because demand has gone up so much with all these new sites (grrr).

ValueClick and Casale and Tribal Fusion can offer ok CPM, but nothing like that $1 dollar banners you were seeing on adsense before.

CPMStar might be a good way to go - they are a game-orientated ad network. I haven't tried them but John West from here uses them

Lakerol
01-29-2008, 03:51 AM
Thanks Generallisimo for the answer,

but when you say 1$ in CPM is no longer possible to make, I'd like to know if your site did 6 months ago? What I'm trying to say is, if your CPM has been low for longer than that, maybe there's another reason for my low CPM now.

Westech
01-29-2008, 11:49 AM
Adsense on my games site is doing about the same as it was 6 months ago.

Like Incka said, CPM-based networks like Casale, ValueClick, and TribalFusion are usually good bets for game sites. CPMstar is also good.

Lakerol
01-29-2008, 12:07 PM
Thanks, Westech.

Still wondering what happened to my CPM though...

Generalissimo
01-29-2008, 01:59 PM
My CPMs have been relatively stable.

You're not from IPlayAllDay are you?

Chris
01-29-2008, 03:38 PM
It depends on the how complex you want to go.

I'd say $800 and up for a decent game.
I've had lots of little ideas for flash based games... never got around to having them made though. Hard to find a developer.

Lakerol
01-29-2008, 03:58 PM
Generallisimo, nope.

Chris, I am a developer and although I usually take (a lot) more than $800 for a game, it does entirely depend on the complexity of it. You could hit me up with a PM telling me what you had in mind if you'd like to hear how much I'd want for it.

Generalissimo
01-29-2008, 04:42 PM
Developers are hard to find because there is so much demand - that's also why the prices are so high compared with a few years ago.

I'm even considering learning myself in order to get around this issue! Although I'd rather learn Lingo/Director as I'd love to make some 3D shoot em up games for the web.

Blue Cat Buxton
01-30-2008, 02:14 AM
How long does it take a developer to put a game together, assuming they are given the idea?

Lakerol
01-30-2008, 02:21 AM
Blue Cat, that's impossible to estimate, it will depend entirely on the complexity of the game. One might take a day, one a month.

Blue Cat Buxton
01-30-2008, 04:14 AM
I am sure, and the price must reflect that, I was just trying to work out the day rate a flash game programmer got ie $800 for a day (or a few days) work.

Lakerol
02-02-2008, 03:31 AM
If you give me a specific example I could tell you both how long time it would take and how much it would cost. (i.e. what I would take)

Chris
02-02-2008, 07:10 AM
I was thinking of a first person shooting gallery type with say south-park quality graphics.