How crypto mining company Pickaxe compared expensive social advertising with a measurable creator campaign that reached one million views.
Figures were supplied and approved by Pickaxe. Detailed sales, conversion, CAC, and ROAS totals are not published.
Pickaxe sells crypto mining products priced from $5,000 to $50,000. For a business with that order value, raw reach is not enough. The traffic must be relevant, measurable, and capable of becoming revenue.
$50K+
monthly paid ad spend
~1M
paid video views
$250
creator video cost
1M
creator video views
Highly targeted social video inventory can cost $10 to $50 or more per thousand impressions. Pickaxe was spending over $50,000 each month to put video ads in front of roughly one million viewers.
Calculated effective CPM
$50+
Based on more than $50,000 in spend divided by approximately one million views.
A skilled micro creator who understood the audience produced a video for $250. That video reached one million views and gave Pickaxe a trackable path from creator traffic through conversion.
Calculated effective CPM
$0.25
Based on the $250 creator cost divided by one million views.
The result was not a promise that every inexpensive video will go viral. It was proof that the right creator can understand a niche audience, package the message natively, and create measurable reach at radically different economics.
Pickaxe replaced a platform priced impression with a creator video that earned its own reach.
Creator traffic could be followed through conversion instead of being treated as vague awareness.
The creator campaign produced stronger tracked results and helped Pickaxe break through in the public scene.
Pickaxe reported that creator advertising outperformed its paid social approach and materially increased the company's public visibility. Exact sales, conversion, CAC, and ROAS totals remain private, so this case study does not manufacture them.
Do not assume the platform is the only way to buy reach. Pay creators who know how to earn it and convert it.