Last month, on April 17 of 2019, I received an email titled – “Chitika Is Shutting Down”
I had forgotten all about this once great advertising network. I guess not so great anymore, considering they’re shutting down after being active for 15 years. Oh well, these things happen.
Here is the email I mentioned:
Chitika Is Shutting Down Effective Immediately
Dear Publisher,
After 15+ years in business and millions of publisher relationships, Chitika is hereby shutting down and closing its business. Our sincere thanks to all our publishers with whom we have enjoyed wonderful relationships over the years. We wish you the best of luck and success as you continue to grow your traffic and revenue.
What’s Next?
Q: What action do I need to take?
A: Please remove all Chitika ad code from all your websites on or before April 30th 2019. Any Chitika ad code or other calls to Chitika ad services after this time period will cease to operate.Q: What about earnings for last month and current month?
A: Unfortunately, due to termination of our partnership with our biggest exchange partner, no earnings accumulated after March 1st 2019 will be paid out. All earnings after March 1st 2019 have been chargebacked by the exchange and money has been returned to the advertisers.Q: How can I get paid if I have an outstanding balance ?
A: Please make sure you meet the payment requirements (Payoneer and Tax Forms) and then follow these instructions to get paid your final balance. We will be issuing one final payment on April 30th 2019.Q: How do I contact Chitika if I have any additional questions?
A: You may contact Chitika using this form
What was Chitika?
Chitika was an advertising network. People could pay them to buy advertising, so to have their ads displayed on the various blogs and websites of Chitika’s publishers. And on the other hand, their publishers could display those ads on their blogs and websites, and make money doing it.
Ever heard of Adsense? Well, about 6 years ago when I was first starting with internet marketing and making money online, Chitika was touted as the best Adsense alternative. They didn’t pay as well, but they did pay, and were legit, and a lot of people used them to make money; people that got banned from Adsense or couldn’t use Adsense because of their content or principles or whatever other reason.
The premise was simple: You put advertisements on your blog or website – in the header, sidebar, footer, in posts – and you make money from impressions and/or clicks on those ads. It’s a good business model, just look at Adsense and their success…
Personal Experience
I actually registered and tried using Chitika on a blogspot/blogger blog. Frankly, that amounted to absolutely nothing. But that’s more my fault, as I put their ads on some silly little blog that never really got any traction or traffic, so it’s no surprise I never earned anything from them.
As far as their site is concerned, I wasn’t entirely happy with it. It was a little complicated to figure out what’s where, and find your analytics and traffic and impressions. I mean, they were fine but not great.
All in all, I never really took the road of making money online by placing advertisements on blogs and websites, so that’s why I sort of forgot Chitika and all about it.
And that blog I put Chitika ads on, I still have it, and at some point I removed those ads and added my own ads/banners on the blog – ads that lead to my own sites or referral links, where I actually may make some real money if anyone clicks and signs up/buys something ;)
Here is a video I made about this:
Conclusion
My impression of Chitika is actually positive. They were legit, their website was… navigatable and functional… and they helped a lot of people make money when Adsense or others didn’t want to take them or whatever. I can’t say I ever read many negative things about Chitika, so good for them for being a positive player on the online stage.
And now, we salute them…
RIP Chitika :)