The term “traffic arbitrage” has historical references to stock market arbitrage. In the 19th century, investors bought assets on one exchange at a lower price and then sold them on another exchange at a higher price, earning money on the difference. When the internet emerged, web traffic became a resource that could be bought and sold. This gave rise to traffic arbitrage specialists — people who began to "trade" online traffic. At Tech4You we invite you to explore how this works. In this article, we will explain what traffic arbitration is, key terms, first steps for novice media buyers, and choosing effective strategies for advertising campaigns.
Traffic arbitrage: what is it?
Traffic arbitrage is a business model of cooperation between a webmaster and an advertiser, where the former sells traffic to the latter’s website or apps. This model is also called affiliate marketing.
In essence, traffic arbitration is the difference between the cost of attracting traffic and the income from its monetization.
According to statistics:
- $37.3 billion — ad arbitrage traffic in the global market in 2025
- Internet traffic arbitrage has an annual growth rate of 10-15%
- ROI: $6.50-$12 in revenue for every $1
In Ukraine, advertising traffic arbitration is a stable niche with high profits, due to the promotion of traffic to the markets of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, and not only within the country.
According to traffic arbitrage reviews, this model remains one of the most profitable areas of digital marketing in 2025.
Basic terms and concepts in traffic arbitrage
Here’s a glossary of essential terms every beginner should know:
- Arbitrage traffic — a stream of visitors who click on ads
- Media buyer (webmaster, arbitrageur) — a specialist who purchases traffic
- Offer — an advertiser’s product or service to promote
- CPA network — an intermediary between an advertiser and a media buyer; a portal offering products and services to promote
- Tracker — software for tracking traffic, creatives, GEOs, and ROI
- Pre-landing — a page between an ad and a landing page that “warms up” the user (quiz, article, review)
- CPC (Cost Per Click) — the cost of a click
- CR (Conversion Rate) — the percentage of users who completed the target action
- CPA (Cost Per Action) — the cost per target action (registration, purchase)
- CPL (Cost Per Lead) — cost per lead
- ROI (Return on Investment) — profitability as a percentage of costs
- LTV (Lifetime Value) — projected revenue from a user over the entire period of interaction
Types of traffic:
- White Hat — “clean” arbitrage traffic, legal and transparent methods
- Gray Hat — conditionally permitted schemes, questionable topics, masking of some products as others
- Black Hat — prohibited methods, fake products, fraud
- Push, Pop-up, Native Ads Arbitrage, In-App — types of advertising formats
Native ads arbitrage is especially popular now as it integrates ads smoothly into content, boosting CTR.
Traffic arbitrage: where to start?
Traffic arbitration consists of several key steps:
Step 1. The media buyer goes to the CPA network and selects products and services for advertising from among the offers. Each offer displays payout model (CPA, CPL, RevShare) and the target action cost.
There are many ad arbitrage sites where media buyers can find profitable offers and test traffic sources
Step 2. Create ad creatives for the chosen offers. If necessary, test pre-landing pages.
Step 3. Launch campaings — run ads on planforms such as Meta, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, or Push networks. Before launching, set up a tracker (Keitaro, Voluum) to track clicks and ROI.
Step 4. Users click on the ad and perform the target action: purchasing a product or service, leaving a request, installing an app, or making a first deposit.
Important: After 500-1,000 impressions or 72 hours, you can analyze how the campaigns are performing. If necessary, disable ineffective ones, scale effective ones, and test new offers.
Step 5. The media buyer receives payments from the CPA network once the number of attracted users has been verified. Verification usually takes 7 to 30 days.
Choosing a strategy for traffic arbitrage
Internet traffic arbitrage is always a strategy. A solid ad arbitrage strategy combines the type of offer, the traffic source, the scaling method, and geo-strategies.
There are several strategies for arbitrage:
By offer type:
- Nutra (supplements): high payouts, strict moderation
- Finance (banks, loans, crypto): large checks, high competition
- iGaming or gambling: high LTV, gray approaches
- E-commerce (goods): stable and scalable offers
By traffic source
- Meta: high traffic, strict moderation
- Google Ads, YouTube: good for working with search intent
- TikTok Ads: young audience, cheaper CPC
- Push, Pop traffic: cheap traffic arbitrage, reviews and analysis show that this format is ideal for testing
- In-App, Bigo, Unity: mobile gaming and apps
By scaling
- Vertical scaling: increasing the budget for effective campaigns
- Horizontal scaling: launching effective offers + creatives in new audiences, GEOs or ad formats
- Blind testing: buying different traffic and then filtering out the “best”
- Retargeting: fine-tuning for those who have already performed the target action
Ads arbitrage can also be based on geo-strategies or traffic type strategies (white hat, grey hat).
Launch of the first advertising campaign
To launch your first advertising campaign, we suggest the following algorithm.
Step 1.
Register with a CPA network (e.g., Admitad, Everad, ClickDealer) and select an offer with a simple KPI (registration, app installation). Before selecting offers and traffic sources, research ad arbitrage sites to compare payouts, restrictions, and GEOs.
Step 2.
Create creatives: banners, videos, texts. Try using A/B testing (3-4 options). At this stage, you can add a pre-landing page if the offer is a product or subscription.
Step 3.
Choose a traffic sources: Meta, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, Push Ads (cheaper for testing).
Step 4.
Set up a tracker — Keitaro, Binom, Voluum. This is an integral part of arbitrage.
Step 5.
Set your budget, select one country for promotion, and launch all creatives at once. Wait for 500-1,000 clicks and analyze: turn off creatives with low CTR/CR, add new ones, scale those that work.
The first ad arbitrage is a clear offer, an easy source of traffic, a small budget of up to $100, and tracking.
Trends and innovations in traffic arbitrage in the world
In 2025, the internet traffic arbitrage is changing dynamically and has trends similar to mobile marketing:
- The growing role of AI
- New video formats, popunders, push notifications
- Gamification, interactivity
- Native ads arbitrage
- Focus on Asia and Latin America GEOs
- Ads arbitrage based on quality content
- Minimization of fraud
According to multiple ad arbitrage sites, mobile traffic is now the most profitable segment for 2025.
Tech4you.io team will help you to set up internet traffic arbitrage campaigns professionally from scratch. Leave a request, and our specialists will select the most effective strategy for you.