Last Updated:
A marketing executive has sparked debate after revealing how his company experimented with advertising on adult websites to cut digital ad costs
Mumbai-based executive says his company took an unexpected turn by running ads on adult websites (Image-AI)
A Mumbai-based marketing executive has gone viral after revealing that his company once advertised on adult websites to escape skyrocketing Meta and Google ad costs.
The post was shared by Lakshaya S, who previously served as the interim CEO of a nutraceutical company and currently works as an assistant vice president at a marketing firm. In his post, Lakshaya explained that escalating ad costs on mainstream platforms like Meta and Google pushed the company to look for unconventional alternatives.
According to him, advertising rates on major digital platforms had reached anywhere between Rs 300 and Rs 500 per thousand impressions, making it increasingly expensive for direct-to-consumer brands to scale campaigns efficiently.
During their search for cheaper options, the team reportedly discovered that ads on adult websites cost only around 9 paise per thousand impressions, which is lower than conventional digital advertising rates.
Curious about the opportunity, the company decided to experiment. Their first campaign promoted Shilajit and performance-related supplements, believing the audience profile would naturally align with the product category.
Explaining the thought process behind the decision, Lakshaya wrote, “Our logic was: Majority male audience. Related content. High intent. Clear fit.”
However, the campaign did not perform as expected. While the advertisements generated strong traffic, high impressions, and plenty of clicks, the actual sales conversions remained extremely low.
Reflecting on the outcome, Lakshaya said the failed campaign revealed an important marketing lesson: consumer mindset often matters more than demographics. The team realised that although users visiting such websites fit the intended customer profile, they were not necessarily in the mindset to purchase performance-enhancing products at that particular moment.
The company then shifted strategy and began promoting sleep supplements instead. Since traffic on those websites reportedly peaked late at night, the team believed users might respond better to products associated with rest and relaxation.
The change delivered far better results. Lakshaya claimed the campaign started generating actual orders for sleep supplements while maintaining similarly low advertising costs and click-through rates.
He further noted that even users who did not click on the ads appeared to remember the brand later, leading to stronger organic traffic and improved remarketing opportunities over time.
In the viral post, he concluded that experimentation often reveals insights that traditional marketing assumptions fail to capture. “We had focused on the demographic fit, but the winning variable was state of mind,” he wrote.
The post quickly gained traction online, with many users praising the unconventional marketing approach.
“I love this approach! Pivoting based on the user’s real-time state of mind (tired/late-night) rather than just the site category is a brilliant data-driven move!” commented one user.
Another wrote, “Thanks. Really useful information. Just wanted to ask Lakshaya S — is running ads on adult sites legally allowed in India for wellness/performance products?”
A third user said, “This is why I love weird experiments like this. Most people would’ve stopped at “adult traffic converts badly.” You went one layer deeper and realised the intent wasn’t performance, it was exhaustion. That’s the kind of nuance dashboards alone never show.”
“One of the most underrated marketing variables is consumer state of mind.Right audience, wrong moment still kills conversion,” another person commented.
Meanwhile, one humorous response read, “Imagine someone struggling to find that perfect video so they can finally come 🫴 and then they find your Shilajit ad. Extremely high intent bro! 🫡”
Read More
