What is push notification advertising?

Push notification advertising delivers promotional messages through push notifications — short alerts on a device screen or in a browser. Push technology evolved for server-to-client updates without constant polling (publish/subscribe, opposite of pull). Marketers use the same channel to capture attention and send users to a landing page or offer.

Types of push ads

Web push — browser subscription (Chrome, Firefox, etc.); the user opts in on a site; networks or publishers send ad pushes.
In-app / mobile push — notifications inside apps via ad network SDKs; common in free utilities and games.
In-page push — on-page UI resembling a system push without OS-level permission (hybrid format in some networks).

How it works in arbitrage

Media buyers purchase clicks or subscriptions from push networks. Typical flow: subscribed user receives an ad with title, text, and image → click to pre-landing or landing → offer conversion. Verticals with heavy push share include gambling, nutra, dating, finance, and sweepstakes due to relatively low CPM and scale.

Billing models

Networks sell on CPC, CPM, or CPA (per subscription or action). Buyers compare CPC to EPC and monitor CR and ROI. Subscriber acquisition cost matters when monetization relies on a sequence of follow-up pushes.

Quality and constraints

Push traffic is heterogeneous: some users accidentally opt in; some lists are stale. Advertisers may reject low approval rate traffic. Browsers and OS policies tighten consent requirements, reducing volume but improving quality.

Tracking

Clicks pass through tracker URLs with unique click ID and sub parameters. Conversions fire via postback. Passing zone_id and creative_id in sub_id is essential for placement-level analysis inside networks.