How to launch your first ad campaign with Hilltopads?
Before creating your first ad campaign, please make sure you’ve made a deposit. Check out this guide to learn more: How to Add Funds to Your Account
From your HilltopAds dashboard, open the Manage Campaigns tab and click Add Campaign. This will take you to the campaign setup page.
You can also watch our full video guide on YouTube:
Set Up Campaign Details
Firstly, you need to select the preferred ad format, pricing model, traffic channel, specify the campaign name and Final destination URL, and set up Frequency cappings.
Select an ad format
Under Campaign Details, select your preferred ad format.
HilltopAds supports 4 main ad formats:
Popunder - ad opens in a new browser window under the main one.
Desktop | Mobile |
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In-Page Push - native-style notification ad shown directly on the webpage.
Desktop | Mobile |
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Banners - classic display ad formats.
Desktop | Mobile |
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VAST (Video Ads Serving Template) - for video advertising.
Desktop | Mobile |
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Learn more about each format here: Advertising formats
Each campaign can target either Desktop or Mobile devices, but not both at the same time.
Choose the one that best fits your offer and audience.
Select a pricing model
Once you have selected an ad format, select the type/pricing model that matches your campaign goals:
CPM (Cost per Mille) - pay per 1,000 impressions - for Popunder, In-Page, or Video ad formats.
CPC (Cost per Click) - pay only when someone clicks - for In-Page, Video, or Banner ad formats.
CPA Goal (Cost per Action) - a smart optimization tool that helps you reach your target cost per action while still buying traffic on a CPM basis - for a Popunder ad format.
Learn more about pricing models here: What is CPM, CPC, CPA pricing model?
Select a traffic channel
After that, you need to specify a traffic channel. You can work with both mainstream and non-mainstream traffic types.
Please note: if your offers are intended for an adult audience only, you must select a non-mainstream channel.
Plus HilltopAds uses an in-house machine learning system to evaluate and segment traffic into High, Medium, and Low Activity levels based on engagement and conversion potential. We take traffic quality seriously, ensuring that all channels are 100% bot-free. The system automatically adjusts categories as performance changes, so advertisers pay only for the quality they select. While higher quality means higher cost, however, starting with High Activity traffic is recommended for the best results and smoother campaign launches.
You can select multiple types if relevant.
Learn more about traffic segmentation in the following articles:
Set Campaign Name and Frequency Capping
Give your campaign a clear, descriptive name (for example: Popunder_USA_Finance_CPM).
Then set your Frequency Capping - this determines how often the same user will see your ad within a certain time period.
Example: If you set frequency capping to 1/12h, each user will see your ad only once every 12 hours.
This helps prevent ad fatigue and keeps your campaign performance optimized.
Once these settings are complete, proceed to Targeting Options to define Geo, language, OS, browser, and more - ensuring your campaign reaches the right audience.
Set Up Targeting Settings
HilltopAds offers some of the most advanced targeting options compared to other ad networks to help you reach the most relevant audience for your offer.
Targeting Option | Description |
Geo | Choose the country where your ads will appear. This helps you reach users in specific locations. |
Browser | Select which web browsers (like Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge) your ads will be shown on. |
OS | Choose which operating systems (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, etc.) your ads will target. |
Mobile Carriers | Target users based on their mobile network provider (like Verizon, Vodafone, or T-Mobile). |
Connection type | Choose the type of internet connection - Wi-Fi or Mobile Data. |
Language | Show your ads only to users whose browser or device language matches your campaign. |
IP Range | Target or exclude users based on specific IP address ranges. |
OS versions | Specify which versions of an operating system your ad will appear on. |
Brand mobile device | Target users by their device manufacturer, such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei, etc. |
ISP | Target users based on their internet provider. |
Interests | Reach audiences based on their online interests and behaviors (e.g., gaming, finance, dating, travel). |
States | Choose specific states or provinces within a country. |
City | Narrow your targeting even further to specific cities. |
IP+UserAgent | Combine targeting by IP address and browser UserAgent for very precise segmentation. |
Mobile Application | Target or exclude traffic coming from specific mobile apps or Social Network such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. |
Keywords | Target traffic based on keywords related to user interests or site content. |
Discover how to fine-tune your targeting here:
Set Up Campaign filters
When setting up your campaign, HilltopAds lets you allow or block (enable/disable) two types of traffic sources - Proxy and WebView.
Proxy traffic | WebView traffic |
This comes from users who hide their real IP address using a proxy or VPN. | This type of traffic comes from users viewing content inside an app (not in a regular browser) - for example, an ad opened inside a social media or game app. |
Set Up Automatic Optimization
The HilltopAds Auto Optimization tool automatically sends non-profitable ad zones to the blacklist, and vice versa - high-converting zones are moved to the whitelist campaign, so you don’t have to do it manually.
The tool checks each ad zone’s performance and applies the rules you set. Be sure to set up Postback. Learn more here: How can I track my advertising results?
Formula:
If (Zone Performance < Your Thresholds) → Blacklist Zone
That means: if you spend too much on a zone but get few or no conversions, the system will stop sending traffic there as it’s not worth your budget.
If (Zone Performance > Your Thresholds) → Move Zone to Whitelist Campaign
If a zone performs really well, gives you good results and a satisfying conversion price→it can be moved to a Whitelisted campaign to scale it up.
Note: Whitelisting works automatically only after you create a whitelist campaign manually. Just enter the whitelist campaign ID in automatic optimization settings, this tells the system where to send your top-performing traffic sources.
Learn how to make the most of Auto Optimization: How to set up an Auto Optimization tool?
Set Up Campaign Limits
HilltopAds lets you control how much traffic or budget your campaign uses by setting limits. These help you manage spending, test campaigns safely, and keep performance under control.
Types of Limits
Limit Option | Description | Min. value |
Daily Impression Limit | The maximum number of ad impressions your campaign can get per day. | 15,000 impressions |
Total Impression Limit | The total number of impressions your campaign can receive overall. The campaign will stop once it reaches the number of impressions set here. | no |
Daily Budget Limit | The maximum amount of money your campaign can spend per day. | $20 |
Total Budget Limit | The maximum total spend for the campaign. The campaign will stop once it reaches the budget limit set here. | no |
Set Up Campaign schedule
You can set a schedule for your campaign to define when your ads are shown. This helps you reach users at the right time and make the most of your budget.
You can choose to:
Run your campaign continuously (24/7).
Set specific days of the week (e.g., only weekdays or weekends).
Set specific hours of the day (e.g., 8 AM - 10 PM).
Scheduling helps you:
Target users during peak activity hours.
Reduce wasted impressions during low-traffic periods.
Optimize spend for better ROI.
Creative uploads
To run In-Page, Video or Banner ad campaigns, you need to upload your ad creatives.
Ad Format | Creative Type | Recommended Size | Accepted File Formats | Max File Size | Notes |
In-Page Push | Static / Animated Image | 192 × 192 px | .jpg, .png, .gif | - | Used for push-style ads shown on-site. Keep visuals clear and eye-catching. |
Banner | Static / Animated Image | 300 × 250 px | .jpg, .png, .gif | - | Standard display banner format. Works well for branding and direct offers. |
VAST Video | Video File | Min: 360 × 240 Max: 1024 × 768 | .mp4, .webm, .ogv, .flv | Up to 40 MB | Follow IAB VAST specs. Ensure good compression and fast loading. |
Popunder | - | - | - | - | No creative required - the landing page opens directly. |
Set Up Campaign Rates
The last step is specifying campaign rates. It depends on your campaign targeting settings, specified pricing model and ad format. At the bottom of your campaign setup page, you’ll find the Traffic Estimation Tool - it shows how much traffic you can get based on your targets.
Bellow you will see the minimum, recommended, or premium CPM rates for your CPM campaign, or minimum CPC rates.
Please note, the higher CPM rate you specify, the more impressions you will receive. We recommend you to start with recommended or premium CPM rates.
Once your campaign setup is complete, click Add Campaign. Our team will review your campaign to ensure it meets HilltopAds’ advertising policies.
Approval Time: Usually within 1 business hour.
Note: Campaigns created on weekends or holidays may take a bit longer to be reviewed.
You must to make a deposit for your campaign to be sent for moderation. Campaigns created without a deposit will not be reviewed.
If your campaign doesn’t pass moderation and you’d like to get your deposit back, you can always request a refund.
Learn more in the guide: How to refund a deposit
After approval, your campaign will start running automatically based on your chosen schedule and budget.