BuddyTV - AuctionAds Publisher Spotlight For May

Ever wonder what you get when you cross a high traffic site with everyone’s obsession with shows like Lost, Heroes & Grey’s Anatomy? You get the perfect site for running AuctionAds.

The pop-culture site Buddy TV launched in October 2005 and with a great staff of writers passionate about anything and everything that appears on television, BuddyTV has become a destination for fans of just about every television show airing in the United States. And it is no wonder, the site is bursting with the latest news, recaps and spoilers of all your favorites.

BuddyTV first began running AuctionAds on April 9th and immediately saw the results. The first week or so was a bit slower, as can be expected anytime any new advertising is started. But, they allowed it time to work and discovered it ramped up much higher than their initial first week.

For BuddyTV, they chose a placement that saw them replacing one of their Google AdSense ad units on the page. They selected a 728x90 ad unit site and placed it below the fold.

If you are immediately wondering why AuctionAds would do so well on a site where you’d think the primary item for sale on each television show would be DVDs, think again. A quick search for Grey’s Anatomy shows over 400 auctions, with items ranging from posters to magazines, watches to signed scripts. When there are so many unique fan items for sale on eBay from each show, it is no wonder that fans are clicking on the AuctionAds advertisements.

They have also discovered that AuctionAds is a perfect compliment to other on-page advertising that BuddyTV utilizes. In addition to AuctionAds, BuddyTV also outsources some ad sales as well as using ad networks including Google AdSense, Ad.com and Tribal Fusion .

So while BuddyTv has seen great success with AuctionAds, how did this pop culture site become successful itself? According to Andy Liu, co-founder of BuddyTV, a definite part comes from ensuring their site meets the desires of their audience.

“We’re very passionate about building usable and fun sites utilizing our experience based on our experience, I think we’ve built the best TV fan sites out there in terms of content, usability, and ultimately the fun
factor.”

When building a site with an eye on eventually earning money through on-page advertising, Andy has several tips for publishers that some tend to overlook when they are too focused on the immediate dollar signs.

“Although we’re still early in our development as a major publishing site, we’ve found that being consistent every day with relevant posts even if you think it’s not driving much traffic is extremely important in
building awareness in the users’ mind that your site is important enough to visit everyday.”

“I think developing a unique voice is also very important, you can expect to have straight-up talk about a specific episode being poor while at the same time being a fan of the show at BuddyTV. For example, we’ll be honest when we feel a specific episode of 24 or Lost really lacked direction or plot development, yet at the same time we’re huge fans of the show. Transparency is always a good thing.”

Over the years, BuddyTV has seen multiple incarnations, and they have more plans for the future to keep up with what their visitors want from the site as well. Andy considers this one of the most important aspects of building their business. “Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, always be listening to your users and push the envelope on developing features that
improve user experience. We’ve gone through several iterations of BuddyTV and we’re still iterating, our product roadmap is filled with things we want to do and our users want. By delivering the experience your users want, you’ll always be on the right track.”

AuctionAds is pleased to have BuddyTV as our May Publisher of the Month. Think you have what it takes to be an upcoming AuctionAds Publisher of the Month? Tell us why and you just might be featured in an upcoming month.