Push notification traffic

When a website asks "Allow notifications?" and the visitor taps Allow, that browser joins a subscriber list. Ad networks rent access to these lists and deliver small notification-style ads: an icon, a headline and a line of text. A variant called in-page push imitates the same look inside a web page without needing a subscription.

Push is cheap and plentiful, which attracts arbitrage media buyers looking for a low CPC. The problem is quality. Many subscribers do not remember opting in, taps are often accidental, and the format has a history of bot traffic and misleading alert-style creatives ("You have 1 new message").

For that reason push is a poor fit for premium feeds. Google's AFS program policies and most feed providers expect each traffic source to be declared and accepted (see traffic source approval), and low-intent push clicks tend to be discounted through smart pricing or removed as invalid traffic. An operator who tests it should do so on a separate Channel ID and only with the provider's agreement.

Think of it like this

It is like buying a slot on a shop's text-message list: you reach many phones cheaply, but most owners forgot they ever signed up.

An example

Say push clicks cost $0.02 and earn $0.03 in estimated revenue. That looks like 50% ROI, but if 40% of the revenue is later clawed back, revenue falls to $0.018 and every click loses money.