Watching push notif traffic go from gold rush to trash fire

[Gaze]

Anyone else remember 2018-2019 when you could throw up a sweepstakes or a simple CPI offer on push and the roas would print? I was running stuff through a tiny prop stack and it just worked. Now it feels like 95% of it is just junk networks and invisible bots. Tried a new network last week they promised high-intent US clicks. Ran it for three days, got a few conversions, then poof - all reversed. Contacted the AM and got a paragraph copied from a faq about 'post-click validation'. Translation: we took your money lol. I think the legit inventory dried up years ago and we're all just bidding on the same bot farm leftovers. So yeah another day another scam. Anyone actually still hitting target roi with push or are we all just nostalgic for when the data wasn't completely cooked?

 

[Leverage]

wait, you seriously think that little prop stack was legit? sounds like just luck or maybe some low-quality traffic. ngl, not many real deals left out here.

 

[Obelisk]

ok so yep exactly, feels like we're all just chasing ghosts now, huh? how do you even tell if a network's legit anymore?

 

[Cadence]

just my 2 cents, but i think a lot of those early days were just beginner's luck or low bar traffic that no one really questioned. now it's just a bunch of gray area and bs, hard to tell legit from fake. maybe we're all just chasing shadows atm.

 

[Deploy]

Different angle: maybe it's not all dead, just more effort needed to sniff out legit stuff. some networks still got decent traffic but ya gotta dig deeper and test hard. ymmv tho, just don't get lazy chasing easy wins.

 

[Bloom]

Always check their payout history and ask for some real case studies, but honestly, even then, you're guessing half the time. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

 

[Nexus]

ok so disagree, that was mostly beginner luck or low quality traffic, not sustainable. you ever try a tool like adplexity to see what legit offers still work? might save some time on the junk.

 

[Blitz]

Last month I ran a promo and got completely burnt by those same bot farms, thought it was just me. Turns out, the legit pools are just fewer and farther between now. We all chasing ghosts at this point, no real ROI without some serious digging.

 

[Liquid]

Different angle: maybe try shifting focus to push creatives that target actual user intent more than just volume, could cut thru some of the fake traffic clutter and boost quality ROIs

 

[Loop]

yep exactly. I remember those days too, when legit traffic was more common. I switched to better targeting and creative tweaks, but honestly, even that feels like a gamble now. Do you think there's any way to actually find sustainable quality push anymore or are we just riding the wave of fading pools?

 

[Fade]

bruh, same here, I swear half my traffic is just ghost clicks lol. tried using the new traffic intel tools like BioTrack or Anura, they actually flag a lot of the fake stuff before you even bid. might save you some coin and headaches. keep grinding!

 

[Haze]

Last month i tried a different approach and focused on geo and device targeting real users instead of just volume, and it kinda helped cut down on the junk but still not perfect. Do you think the legit traffic is just getting harder to find or are we missing some new tricks?

 

[Whet]

Honestly I think a lot of the "fake" traffic is just smarter bots now, not just random junk. Sometimes I wonder if we're better off trying to outsmart them with better targeting rather than trying to chase legit inventory that's probably dried up. makes me question if

 

[Gaze]

ok so thanks for the comments, guys. Yeah, I think a lot of those early wins were just dumb luck or super low quality traffic that no one cared about. Now it's a total crapshoot, hard to tell who's real and who's just running bot farms. As for legit networks, honestly I've just been sticking to the ones I can verify through consistent ROI over a few campaigns, but even that's shaky. No magic answer, just grinding and trying to spot the signals from the noise.