Hybrid: pros, cons, and pitfalls

In CPA marketing, there are over a dozen different traffic payment models. The choice depends on the niche, source, target actions, and other parameters. One of the payment models for leads in the gambling is Hybrid. This way of collaboration is used much less frequently than CPA and RevShare. To address all questions and demonstrate that working with a hybrid is very profitable, the folks at BROFIST.partners shared their own notes and insights.

What is Hybrid

A hybrid bet is a combination of payment under CPA and Revenue Share models. For each referred player, you receive a one-time payment (CPA), and after that, you receive a portion of the NGR, which is a percentage of the casino's profit from each player (RevShare).

If NGR is negative, it means the player won at the casino. In this case, a high-quality product, which values webmasters, won't share the losses with the partner but will take them on itself.

The more actively the referred lead plays, the higher your payout will become each month. With good traffic quality and proper work from VIP support and retention departments, your ROI will increase instead of being fixed after the initial payment. In this case, the webmaster and the casino work closely together. The first one provides high-quality traffic, while the second provides the product and encourages the player to stay, keeping him hooked on the product.

The main advantage of the hybrid is that financial planning is done sensibly, that is, for the long term. Every casino wants to work on RevShare to share losses. Meanwhile, the webmaster also receives a fixed amount, which means they can reinvest it to continue increasing the traffic volume.

Example of working with the Hybrid model

Let's take an experienced webmaster, N, as an example. He knows about the high quality of his traffic, so when offered to target the CH GEO with a $400 CPA rate through PPC, he makes a counteroffer: to target it with a $200 CPA rate  + 40% RS.

At first glance, why give up $200 per player? But the details make it clear. N has been in the industry for a while and is ready for the long game. He knows his traffic is good. Close communication with partners and access to product statistics allow him to objectively analyze the traffic. The webmaster sees that his players stay in the casino for a long time, make many repeat deposits, and show activity.

Therefore, the casino benefits significantly from them even with the increased CPA payments. At this point, the webmaster starts thinking, "I can work with the casino on equal terms" and begins looking for products based on the following criteria:

• Payment systems are in place;
• Conversion is stable and not dropping;
• Support and VIP retention take care of retaining every player;
• The possibility of working through Hybrid.

Then he decides to invest a test amount and try a deal with a $200 CPA+40% RS instead of the standard $400 CPA.

The manager on the advertiser's side understands that in the short term (CPA), he’ll pay less for the same high-quality traffic, but afterward, he’ll be sharing the NGR with webmaster N. Here's what he realizes:

• There's a chance to save during a specific reporting period;
• A webmaster who takes the initiative is a skilled webmaster worthy of attention;
• When you share profits with someone, you develop an additional bond and a joint interest in traffic quality.

On a handshake, the webmaster and manager launch traffic with a cap of 20 FTDs for testing. Let's take a look at the previous deposit of 20 FTDs from webmaster N.

In a month, we get the following picture:

• Click2Dep – 16.9% (which is very good)
• FTD – 20   
• Deposit count – 150
• Deposit sum – 15 906 EUR
• NGR – 5 824.2 EUR
• Payout — 20*200 = 4 000 EUR
• 5 824.2*0.4 = 2 329 EUR
• TOTAL = 6 329 EUR

The webmaster looks at these results and realizes that under the same CPA model, he would have earned 8000 EUR (20*400=8000). Where did the missing 1671 EUR go? This is where it gets interesting. This is the amount that the advertiser saved in the short term but which the webmaster will receive a bit later. And here's why.

In the second month, 5 players out of the initial 20 referred by the webmaster return. This is a decent return rate. These 5 players make 81 deposits totaling 8 509 EUR, of which 4956 EUR goes into NGR, meaning the casino's net profit.  From this NGR, the webmaster gets his fair 40% revenue share – 1 982 EUR.  

Let's calculate: in the first month, the webmaster earned 6329 EUR, in the second month – 1982 EUR. In total — 8311 EUR. In other words, by simply waiting for one month, the webmaster earned an additional 311 EUR. And this is just from 20 players.

You could say that 311 EUR may not seem like a significant amount to wait for two months. However, let's take a further look at the dynamics.

In the third month, only one player returned, making deposits totaling 835 EUR, with a negative NGR. As a result, the payouts were 0 EUR. One might become discouraged and wonder why this hybrid is even needed. But webmaster N knows that a win for his lead is a good thing. When a player has a positive experience, he is happy with the product and will return to it. Therefore, he’ll make more deposits and bring in more profits over the long haul. 

It's not reasonable to say that every player will lose every time.

In the fourth month, two more players return, along with a player who was a winner the previous month. Together, they deposit 2,656 EUR, of which 1,459 EUR contributes to NGR. Webmaster N claims their 40% Revenue Share — 583.6 EUR, which is paid out to the partner! And this is just one test campaign.

The three of them together make deposits of 2656 EUR, out of which 1459 EUR go into NGR. The webmaster N takes 40%, and 583,6 EUR goes as a payout to the partner! And this is just one stream we've looked at.

A clever advertiser won't overlook such partners: they receive substantial rewards and, together with the advertiser, grow towards higher numbers.

Summary of the reviewed offer

• PRODUCT: Millionaria
• GEO: Switzerland
• SOURCE: PPC
• RATE: 200+40%
• CAP: 20

Results for 4 months:

• FTD – 20
• Deposit count – 283 (14 deposits per player!)
• Deposit sum – 27 906 EUR
• NGR – 12 239 EUR
• Partner income – 9164

Conclusion

The hybrid model is likely the most profitable approach for webmasters who are confident in the quality of their traffic and want to earn significantly higher passive income.