The dayparting that should've worked and didn't

The dayparting that should've worked and didn't
Myth: "Dating converts at night — pause your campaigns 9am-5pm and concentrate budget in prime time."

Intuitive, repeated constantly. A buyer on a mainstream offer ran two months: month one always-on, month two paused 9-5 to push spend into evenings.

Always-on CPA: $11.40.
Dayparted CPA: $13.90 — 22% worse.

Daytime traffic did convert lower, true. But it was also far cheaper — competition on the source slept during the day, CPMs were 35% lower. The slightly worse CVR was crushed by the much better media cost. By dumping all budget into the "good" hours, he piled into the most expensive, most competitive auction window.

The myth confuses conversion rate with profitability. Prime-time clicks converted better and cost a fortune. The unloved daytime clicks were the margin.

Reality: the hours with the best conversion rate are often the hours everyone overpays for — cheap-and-mediocre frequently beats expensive-and-good.