Hydra Bought out By Adknowledge
What do they say about a fool and his money?
Adknowledge, a large-ish company in the online marketing space, has just acquired Hydra Network, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days. As you know from previous, posts, Hydra has been suffering HUGE amounts of debt (some speculate in the 10-12mil range currently) due to the [alleged] death of the rebill (and the little bit about hydra being shady and nobody wanting to run traffic with them anymore).
Why is this a stupid move for Adknowledge?
You could spend all day coming up with reasons, but the main reason is relationships. It is extremely inexpensive to start an affiliate network. A decent tracking platform isn’t too bad, maybe $5-10k (no, hasoffers doesn’t make you a real affiliate network). After that it’s just building an affiliate base (not easy) and hiring people to manage different parts like accounting, affiliate managers, bizdev, etc. The hard part is in building the relationships with affiliates. That is where all the money comes from and incidentally where ALL the value is in an affiliate network. Anyone run traffic at Mediatrust now that Geoff is gone? Didn’t think so.
Hydra ruined its relationships with its good affiliates months ago. In an obvious move to make their network look good in order to sell, they got rid of all the inactive affiliates and claimed it was to make the network more “high quality” and canned the referral program. After the news came through that they were in financial trouble, it seems most people were too worried to run traffic with them for fear of not getting paid (smart move).
Their valuable relationships are long gone. Any big affiliates that haven’t already jumped ship will most likely do so now as the company is changing hands.
Assuming they paid any significant amount of money for the network, Adknowledge would have been smarter just using that money to build their own existing network instead of chucking money down the toilet, especially with the millions of debt Hydra [allegedly] has.
Why would affiliates be stupid to work with them now?
Well, honestly, they would have been stupid to work with Hydra before this, but even more so now.
Adknowledge doesn’t just own an affiliate network, they own a bunch of properties, including Bidsystem and Miva, big media buying platforms. Anyone else see a problem here?
Huge opportunity to screw over affiliates, and no real reasons not to. They can run their own campaigns on their own network for cheaper than you can, and they can use your campaign data to do so. So easy for them to look at your data and copy it since all pieces of the puzzle belong to them.
Example: Let’s say you sign up with their affiliate network, pick a campaign, and then buy traffic for that campaign through their ad platform. They can just look at what you’re doing, duplicate it, and then pay 50% less for the traffic or whatever markup they have and make a ton of money for themselves.
In addition, you’d be working with a company stupid enough to buy out Hydra. That should be enough deterrent alone.
Press Release Hilarity
Ok, with all that aside, you should really take a look at the press release. For anyone with an ounce of industry knowledge, it’s a huge lolfest. Here’s a link.
Let’s take a look at some fun quotes:
After integration, affiliates within the combined Adknowledge-Hydra ecosystem will have access to 7,000+ of the industry’s most diverse and highest yielding CPC (cost-per-click) and CPA offers. This will establish Adknowledge as the largest affiliate network measured by its number of diverse offers.
Someone is smoking crack if they’re trying to imply that “CPC Offers” have anything to do with affiliate marketing. That’s like saying Adsense is affiliate marketing. Get a grip on reality please. Hydra had..what…like 500ish campaigns? It would be surprising if any of them were “exclusive.”
Having looked at dozens of affiliate networks as acquisition candidates, we believe Hydra to be the best fit because of its focus on high-quality distribution for their advertisers. We believe strongly that through Hydra’s current compliance efforts, affiliate approval process, and distribution ‘best practices,’ we will set a higher bar within the affiliate community.
Lol.
The Hydra acquisition demonstrates how industry leaders like Adknowledge are growing strong despite the economic downturn, and evolving the performance marketing space by improving efficiency and increasing scale for advertisers.
Oh, yeah, except for the millions of dollars in debt they’ve managed to rack up since rebills died you mean right?
We currently maintain market leadership positions with our social media and email advertising businesses, and believe that Hydra will allow us to achieve the leading position in the affiliate industry over the next 18 months.
You heard it hear first folks. Adknowledge CEO says they’re going to be the leader of the affiliate marketing world in 18 months thanks to buying hydra’s debt.
Cakestradamus predicts: EPIC FAIL.
Any of hydras remaining affiliates will probably jump ship. The outlandish earnings reports hydra made up in order to sell their company will not be met, not even 10% met, and Adknowledge will feel like a bunch of retards while getting laughed at in 18 months, compared to their prediction of being the industry leader in 18 months.
Keep it real.
after reading hydra’s pitchbook you put out a few months back…i thought it would take a real idiot to step up and buy this company. well brandenburg and his IB deal team did a good job on selling hydra. and thats all i have to say about that.
pretty much
Nicely put bro.
Brilliant article. It clearly demonstrates how completely unknowledgable you are, both about the Hydra business, the "debt", the deal structure, the cpc affiliate market and adknowledge.
Just the fact that cpc affiliate means adsense to you is laughable. I don't have enough time to try and teach you online marketing, but the difference between Adsense and affiliate marketing is that the publisher gets to select which offer they display and control the way in which it's displayed, not the advertiser or publisher payment method.
This article is based upon random rumors and is completely and utterly wrong.
This type of butt-hurt whine post could only come from someone directly involved bitterly defending their bad business decisions. Unfortunately you posted with a fake email address, so i’ll never figure out who you are!!!111
Oh wait, you posted from a Kansas City ip address… Wait a sec…. Adknowledge corporate office is in kansas city…
http://i.imgur.com/kYcOi.png
You sound bitter and hell-bent on pressing an agenda, even in the face of rationale conclusions based on facts.
Why is that?
Perhaps you should learn to read beyond a 5th grade level.
The XX pages of legal documents were rumors, eh?
XXX pages actually, but you’re probably right, adknowledge probably isn’t used to dealing with numbers over 2 figures
Meanwhile, someplace DEEP in the AdKnowledge PR department, they’re reviewing your article and planning their counter-attack…
http://www.siumed.edu/~dking2/erg/images/copypage.jpg
thanks for clearly that up, bro
the whole adsense, affiliate marketing, cpc affiliate thing has been messing with me for years now.
…i has now missing piece of puzzle! Internet success guy here come!
LOL pwned.
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hey give them a break, they’re really busy in the office there- they don’t even have time to try to teach you about online marketing.
lol @ Hydra’s demise and “IKnow” being pwned.
geo ip — wow, i never saw that coming. Totally pwned.
Wait a minute — this article is still full of lies and demonstrates the author’s lack of understanding of the affiliate space. Just because there is 101 keys in front of you, doesn’t mean you have to use them to write about a subject you obviously know nothing about.
So, lets see a little proof from you. First, Hydra’s debt: let’s have some proof — perhaps a credit note or perhaps even just the pages from the contract spelling it out? Also, what was the purchase price? Cash or stock? Include debt or exclude? Is there an earn out?
Logic check:
Bidsystem and Miva are “large media buying platforms” that can be used to copy your arbitrage plays. Um, no, they are cpc advertiser marketplaces.
Quote: “Someone is smoking crack if they’re trying to imply that “CPC Offers” have anything to do with affiliate marketing. That’s like saying Adsense is affiliate marketing. Get a grip on reality please.”
No, it’s actually cpc affiliate. Again, affiliate implies that the publisher selects the campaign and the manner in which it is displayed, not the payment action. You are obviously stuck in a 2004 cpa affiliate world and have missed the fact that it’s being replaced by cpc affiliate networks that are providing superior yield. This deal is just another example of that.
Anyways, now that I’ve introduced you to a whole new affiliate world that has superior yields, I’ll leave you to your own devices. Enjoy your new-found knowledge and good luck!
If you took time to read the previous articles linked above, you’d see the proof of the debt in several places including court documents as well as the info packet hydra put together trying to sell their business. Luckily for all the other smart networks who were looking to buy others, they actually read this stuff. Sucks for you champ.
OHHH SORRY. “cpc advertiser marketplaces” lol. can you buy lots of traffic on web properties there? thought so.
btw. pubs can select campaigns on adsense. this does not make it affiliate marketing. i was doing “cpc marketing” with porn sites when i was 14. You’re obviously stuck in 1998 cpa affiliate world. Just because your shitty business does cpc stuff doesn’t mean it’s taking over anything.
and why be a pussy and hide behind a fake name? guess this reflects how your company is as well.
Mailers sure do love them CPC campaigns
This is getting epic!
What motivates folks to come out and defend Hydra and attack FruityCakes is a mystery. Unless you’re trying to discredit the article – If you’re trying to discredit Nickycakes it would make more sense to post on your own freaking blog about what an ignorant douchebag NickyCoke is… Not here, where he has control.
Well… Whatever… At first glance it seems the Hydra dogs have been unleashed on the CakeMaster.
Hey Nick, Interesting analysis of this Hydra-Adknowledge deal.Apparently you ruffled some feathers along the way. Screw the haters and engage with the participators. Waiting to see what Cakestradamus forecasts next
Hydra”s financial problems are common knowledge – or so I thought. Without it”s publishers there is no real asset.
Now this shit is hilarious.
I admire you for at least being brave and unafraid in writing all of this. Truth should be known and nothing but the truth. They are defensive which may mean, are they guilty?
I really like what they have done with their interface and their offers are similar to what they have been in the past, from what I recall. I don’t interact the affiliate managers much, so maybe I am missing the bad stuff.
Another baskethead post on how Nickycakes thinks the world operates.
Why aren’t you promoting your BS product anymore? Too many destroyed connections?
I don’t need to promote it, it promotes itself
PS. If you’re really wondering, it’s safe to say my product is doing at least 12million dollars better than hydra. lol
Well besides the fact that Hydra was going downhill for long before this buyout took place. Let’s face it, cutting your affiliate network in half doesn’t do anything profitable for your company.
I don’t care if the affiliates generate revenue or not, if they aren’t clogging up your network there is no reason to get rid of them. Besides the whole thing about moving up market, thats aanother story it itself… But lets face it, affiliate networks are affiliate networks. 90% of them all run the same offers, the belief that somehow your going to be different and have different offers is crazy.
As for how Adknowledge system works, and what you want to call media buying /CPC buying or whatever. It really doesn’t matter. The fact is, Affiliate Networks DO copy profiatable campaigns, its been proven before. So to think they will not use your data, and undercut you or compete against you, is silly.
I can certainly see a big problem with a Affiliate Network run by a media buying network. Data is key, and if you can get a bunch of FREE data, without paying a dime, you would be silly to think they will not use it..
You ass, I know you lick your sisters butt-hole every night after she takes a dump.
stay classy adknowledge
lol, IKnow rocks, it really knows … a lot. Impressive. Finally I know what cpc affiliate is and how completely different a cpc advertiser marketplace from a Media Buying Network is.
I think I'm going to code a software that does all this.
So long!
Sad, sad, sad. Less than two years ago Hydra seemed on top of the world. Then, astonishing stupidity took hold. The end….
I feel like they just made this move to acquire new business clients and lay the claim that they are the biggest and baddest. If they have the cash to spend, you might as well take a shot at a cheap acquisition. The branding does suck, but people buy shitty businesses all the time and make them better… without the inside scoop on how their system is run in the backend — I think you are passing quick judgment on a situation that might play out favorably for the firm
I didn’t really read most of this, however…why does using HasOffers not qualify you as a “real” network? It seems they all do the same thing, tracking (which HasOffers does pretty well at doing). How does using DT for example make you a “real” network? HasOffers does the same thing just for a lot less. Is there something I’m not seeing? Are HasOffers networks fake networks? lol Get real.
The networks that use free tracking and also have financial backing to actually pay affiliates are few and far between. Those that don’t generally accept whoever applies, which is a vast majority of fraud affiliates from china and other countries, which also means that they won’t end up paying you after the advertisers can the entire network for fraud leads.
If a network can’t afford a couple grand for a paid tracking platform, what makes you think they have the hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) necessary to float for paying affiliates?
Nice try though, hasoffers network employee.
HasOffers doesn’t offer free tracking anymore, so clearly you hardly know enough about the company to talk shit about it. I’m not a HasOffers employee, or an employee of a HasOffers network, however I do own a small network that uses the HasOffers platform (and am quite pleased with their software). Also, the practices of HasOffer networks wasn’t in question (ie; fraud/payouts). I asked why using HasOffers makes you not a “real” network, which you can’t answer apparently.
Nice try though NiCkYcAkEz
that’s why i said hasoffers NETWORK employee, although I think calling it a network would be quite a stretch. anyhow, learn to read.
Oh, I am sorry. They do still have free tracking, they give you 1 free month. Woops.
oh sorry, $99 a month (free)
Me learn how to read? You still never answered my original question. Anywhoo I don’t want to argue with an idiot on a blog. I heard ye speak @ a4d meet and thought you were kinda cool/intelligent, until I read this whole blog where you refer to yourself in the 3rd person and try to act cool. You aren’t.
I answered your original question in detail. Cry more about your awful business decisions, but don’t try to blame your failures on me. The only ones who get to do that are my competition, and you’re certainly not that.
You didn't answer my original question. You avoided the original question and rambled on about fraud (most likely because you realized that you were wrong and have a hard time admitting being wrong). The only thing that could somewhat pertain to my question was "If a network can’t afford a couple grand for a paid tracking platform, what makes you think they have the hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) necessary to float for paying affiliates?" which didn't really answer it. I also haven't even brought up any ventures I've failed on, where did that even come from? You're a joke and have a major ego problem. I won't reply to this anymore, but make sure you try sounding real real tough in your next reply for your viewers though.
Fraud is the biggest issue in affiliate marketing. If you can’t see why a free tracking platform attracts fraud affiliates and networks and deteriorates their legitimacy, then I’m not sure how much more I can answer your silly questions. You’ll learn this once you get any kind of experience in the industry. Until then, keep hatin’.
Actually, I redact the you’re a joke statement. You seem pretty successful. now i won’t reply anymore.
hey dick heads…i use has offers and have made quite a bit of caash doing so…i've also lost a fuck load cause of it too…. cause of nickycakes reasoning…it attracs the sheistiness in people as the legitimacy of the whole opp is tainted by the bottom line cheapness of it all
care to give any more details instead of just posting anonymously?
sure…it works and does the job– as my company makes a fuckload more than it loses…everything your mentioning has no substance.
“Just because there is 101 keys in front of you”
you is nice.
I have been with hydra for about 3 years now, I never had any problem regarding my payments, now I'm at 5 figures income per month and they kindly enough to set weekly payment for me, really they are a bunch of professional and good people.
As someone who has run with adk for well over a year, I must say this article is extremely off par. They’ve been a great company and you must not understand the value of cpc since you haven’t run one of the hundreds of offers they have to offer. Granted a lot of other companies are paying better by the click at the moment, but trying to achieve positive results on CPA deals died with rebillings.