Push traffic comes from notification-style ads. Either a user once allowed a website to send them browser notifications and now receives ads that way, or the ad simply looks like a notification inside a web page. Clicks are cheap and fast to buy, users are not looking for anything, and simple, strong offers do best.
Push traffic is advertising delivered as notifications. Classic web push uses the browser’s notification permission: a user who clicked “Allow” on a site is added to a subscriber list, and push networks sell ad placements in the notifications sent to those subscribers, appearing on the desktop or the phone’s notification tray even when the browser is not open. In-page push mimics the same look inside a web page as a banner format, needs no subscription and works on iOS and on browsers where notifications are restricted. Networks such as RichAds, PropellerAds, Kadam and others sell both, usually on CPC with targeting by GEO, device, OS, browser and subscription age.
Push users are not searching, so the format favours offers that can be understood in one line: sweepstakes, utilities and VPN, dating, finance leads, app installs and simple e-commerce deals. Creatives are tiny (a title, a short message, an icon and sometimes a large image), which makes the hook and the landing page carry the conversion. Subscription age matters too: fresh subscribers click and convert more, older lists less, and networks often price and segment them separately.
Browsers have steadily constrained the format. Chrome 80, released in February 2020, introduced a quieter notification permission UI that replaces the pop-up with a small icon for users who usually deny prompts and for sites with very low acceptance rates. Chrome 84, in July 2020, began automatically enrolling sites with abusive permission requests or abusive notification content (fake system messages, phishing, malware) into that quieter UI. The effect for affiliates is that subscriber lists built with misleading prompts shrink and lose reach, and that notification copy pretending to be a system or security alert is both a policy violation and a ban risk.
Push is a volume channel optimised by source and zone. Campaigns are launched broad on a CPC near the suggested bid, then trimmed by zone or publisher ID, browser and subscription age, with creatives refreshed often because the same subscribers see many ads. Like every cold channel, its approval rates depend on how honest the hook is about the offer behind it.
In February 2020 Chrome 80 introduced the quieter notification permission UI: instead of an interrupting pop-up, users who habitually deny notifications, and visitors of sites with very low acceptance rates, see a small crossed-out bell in the address bar. Google added notification permission data to the Chrome User Experience Report at the same time, so acceptance rates per site became measurable. In July 2020 Chrome 84 went further and automatically put sites with abusive permission requests or abusive notification content into the quiet UI.
For the push ecosystem the change was structural. Subscriber lists grow only through sites whose prompts users actually accept, so aggressive “click Allow to continue” prompts lost much of their effect, and lists built that way stopped growing. Notification creatives that imitate system warnings, missed calls or virus alerts became a fast route to enforcement. The networks responded by pushing in-page push, which needs no permission at all, and by stricter creative moderation. For an affiliate, the lasting lesson is that push volume is rented from browser policy; a hook that is honest about the offer is the one that survives the next change.
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Classic web push is delivered to users who allowed a site to send browser notifications and can appear outside the browser. In-page push only looks like a notification and is shown inside a web page, so it needs no subscription and works where notifications are restricted.
Offers that can be explained in one line and completed quickly: sweepstakes leads, VPN and utilities, dating SOI, finance leads, app installs and simple deals.
No, but it constrained it. Chrome 80 (February 2020) introduced quieter permission prompts and Chrome 84 (July 2020) began penalising sites with abusive prompts or notifications. Honest subscription flows and creatives still work.
Mostly per click (CPC), sometimes per impression, with bids that vary by GEO, device, browser and subscription age. Networks publish suggested bids per segment.
References are listed as plain text on purpose; look them up by title and publisher. Updated: 2026-10-06.
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