Geo Pulse #50 — Matching the traffic source to the GEO

Geo Pulse #50 — Matching the traffic source to the GEO
Theme of the week: the channel that prints in the US is dead air in Jakarta.

— Push / in-page push → still strong in Tier-2/Tier-3 (LATAM, SEA, MENA) where it's cheap and inventory is huge; fatigued and pricey in Tier-1.
— Native (Taboola/Outbrain) → premium Tier-1 and big Tier-2; thin inventory and weak data in small GEOs.
— Facebook/Google → unbeatable reach but the most aggressive policy enforcement; in some GEOs the compliance overhead isn't worth it vs cheaper sources.
— Local giants → VK/Yandex for RU-CIS, Kakao for KR, LINE for JP/TH, ShareChat for India-tier-2/3 languages. Western buyers routinely ignore these and overpay on Meta instead.

Lesson: in a new GEO, ask 'what do locals actually use' before defaulting to the platforms on your dashboard.

Credit: the GEO-by-source breakdowns from MGID and PropellerAds case studies.