Laptop fans can rest a little easier. Some of the most notorious made-for-advertising websites on the internet are now no more.
These sites had been operated for years by Content IQ, a so-called (and self-described) “digital-first media company” that also offered highly questionable monetization services.
Citing findings from ad tech metadata startup Sincera, AdExchanger recently reported in depth on one such service, whereby Content IQ would arbitrage resold clickbait subdomains on behalf of brand-name publishers.
On May 12, less than two days after Sincera published its research, Perion – the public ad tech company that owns Content IQ – quietly and briskly shut down Content IQ’s entire MFA network.
That same day, Content IQ’s writers lost their jobs without warning.
Perion “separated” – their word – with all of Content IQ’s UK-based content producers, including its last-remaining editor and seven freelance writers. Perion had also laid off a handful of other Content IQ editors late last year.
Going to Content IQ’s own website now results in a 404 error message. Its LinkedIn page was removed, and all of the websites under its umbrella are offline, including Boredom Therapy, Film Oracle, Honest to Paws, Historical Genius, Pets Fanatic, Eternally Sunny, NightDaily, The Atlantic Mirror and Mental Flare.
Perion told AdExchanger these moves are part of a long-term strategic shift that began last year away from Content IQ’s “legacy activity and brand” so as to “focus on technologies for advertisers.”
The shutdown comes less than four years after Perion acquired Content IQ for just over $73 million.
Resold no more
For the past year, the online ad industry has been blowing a collective gasket over MFA waste, and this heightened attention has helped expose a variety of creative (you’ve gotta admit) methods for monetizing clickbait.
One flavor of made-for-arbitrage monetization is what Forbes was recently accused of, which involved repackaging its own stories into an MFA subdomain in an attempt to generate more programmatic ad revenue from its content.
What Sincera observed Content IQ doing was a little different and involved hosting subdomains for established publishers and cramming them with chum from its own MFA network.
Companies that use this strategy typically own a portfolio of MFA sites. They recycle stories from these sites to fill the subdomains and then drive visitors to them almost exclusively using paid traffic. Like with most MFA websites, the ad-to-content ratio on the subdomains is excessive.
After being contacted by AdExchanger for the article that ran on May 14, premium music publisher Spin terminated its relationship with Content IQ and shut down its two active MFA subdomains. It’s more than possible that other publishers working with Content IQ saw the writing on the wall and proactively followed suit.
But some resold MFA subdomains spotlighted in the story live on.
The Jerusalem Post, for example, which did not respond to a request for comment on that piece, still has an active MFA subdomain: magazine.jpost.com.
Its monetization partner is a different third party called Samyo News operated by Cortex Media Group, which is owned by a public Israeli software company named Viewbix.
The squeeze
According to the ANA’s programmatic transparency report released last year, advertisers spend roughly $13 billion on MFA websites annually.
The ANA also found that the average programmatic ad campaign runs on 44,000 websites, a large proportion of which can be classified as MFA. When Perion acquired Content IQ in 2020, it likely had an eye on scooping up some of that easy ad revenue.
It was no secret that the websites operated by Content IQ fell right into the MFA bucket and existed solely for the purpose of ad arbitrage.
Yet these sites remained online for years as a sand trap for programmatic dollars.
But now that the online ad industry has elevated the fight against MFA into a cause célèbre, clickbait-as-a-service could become less lucrative.
And Content IQ’s demise is evidence that sunlight works as a disinfectant, especially when a business practice becomes embarrassing enough.
Guess the juice is no longer worth the squeeze – or the scrutiny.
Perion declined to answer a question from AdExchanger as to whether the company plans to take a write-down on its $73 million acquisition of Content IQ.
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Perion’s full statement to AdExchanger:
Perion launched its new brand on May 8, 2024, focusing on technologies for advertisers. As you can see on our site, and in the investor presentation we gave on May 8, Content IQ’s legacy activity and brand is not part of Perion’s strategic focus.
We began the process of shifting from Content IQ’s legacy activities in 2023 to focus on meaningful technologies for advertisers. Perion is a technology company focusing on advertisers’ needs. As consumer behavior changes, so do the needs of advertisers. We are investing in high-end, AI-driven technologies to provide the best solutions for the advertisers’ needs globally.
