Between posts about conspiracy theories and right-wing grievances was an uncommon commercial: a photograph of former President Donald J. Trump holding a $1,000 invoice made from gold, which he was apparently providing free to supporters.

However there have been a couple of catches: The invoice was not free, it was not made from gold, and it was not supplied by Mr. Trump.

The advert appeared on Reality Social, the right-wing social community began by Mr. Trump in late 2021, certainly one of many pitches from hucksters and fringe entrepreneurs dominating the adverts on the location.

Adverts from main manufacturers are nonexistent on the location. As an alternative, the adverts on Reality Social are for various medication, slimming capsules, gun equipment and Trump-themed trinkets, in line with an evaluation of tons of of adverts on the social community by The New York Instances.

The adverts replicate the issue that a number of far-right platforms, together with Rumble and Gab, have confronted in courting giant manufacturers, stopping the websites from tapping into a few of the world’s largest advert budgets. It could possibly be notably problematic for Reality Social. Though the location has gained affect among the many far proper, turning into a vibrant ecosystem brimming with exercise, its enterprise is in want of money.

Reality Social raised about $37 million, primarily from Republican political donors, however it’s burning by way of about $1.7 million every month, in line with William Wilkinson, a former govt at Trump Media & Expertise Group, the social community’s father or mother firm. And two federal investigations have put about $1.3 billion of much-needed funding in jeopardy.

Devin Nunes, the chief govt of Trump Media, mentioned in an announcement final yr that the corporate’s advert technique would assist it “displace the Massive Tech platforms” as a serious option to attain Individuals.

However advert consultants say the wariness from outstanding manufacturers on far-right social networks, which have positioned themselves as free-speech options to Silicon Valley giants like Meta and Google, is pushed by the sorts of conspiracy theories and hyperpartisan politics usually discovered on the websites.

As well as, they are saying, Reality Social has a comparatively small person base and plenty of older customers, who’re much less fascinating for the manufacturers. Entrepreneurs have complained that Reality Social’s ad-serving know-how, run by Rumble, a right-wing video streaming web site, gives restricted instruments for monitoring an advert’s efficiency or for displaying adverts to customers based mostly on their demographic profiles. These instruments, now customary amongst bigger advert networks operated by Google and Meta, are very important for figuring out an advert’s success.

“The extra you stray from that secure heart, the extra you grow to be the perimeter or the acute on something, then the much less cash you’re going to get,” mentioned Tom Denford, the chief govt of ID Comms, an promoting consulting agency.

Reality Social and Trump Media & Expertise Group didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Corporations can usually use instruments supplied by digital advert companies to forestall their adverts from showing close to phrases or phrases that may upset prospects — like battle, assault or suicide. In a mirrored image of the wariness that manufacturers have over Mr. Trump and his politics, the phrase “Trump” ranked because the eleventh most typical blacklisted time period offered by advertisers in 2019, in line with information from Integral Advert Science, an organization specializing in model security.

“It’s actually harmful for main advertisers to be carefully related to a political determine and likewise a political motion,” mentioned Bob Hoffman, an promoting business veteran and the creator of The Advert Contrarian, a publication crucial of the business. “It’s not of their greatest curiosity to get entangled in that quagmire.”

Related challenges confronted Twitter after Elon Musk purchased the corporate and mentioned he would create a extra permissive setting free of charge speech. Advertisers fled that platform or paused their campaigns in response, inflicting a big drop in income.

“They pulled off Twitter as a result of they don’t seem to be positive that Twitter can fulfill their model security pointers, and they’ll keep off till they’re reassured,” Mr. Denford mentioned.

Mr. Musk additionally welcomed Mr. Trump again on Twitter, reinstating his account in November. Meta, which owns Fb and Instagram, introduced this week that it could reinstate the president’s accounts after he was barred in 2021 from the social media companies, which mentioned Mr. Trump’s posts ran the chance of inciting extra violence after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.

Mr. Trump is obligated to make his posts obtainable completely on Reality Social for six hours, and he has not posted to different social networks since Reality launched. That deal expires in June however might be renewed.

Rumble, the video streamer that manages adverts for Reality Social, earns $15 million to $25 million yearly, in line with estimates from Similarweb, an organization that analyzes web sites. Rumble didn’t reply to requests for remark.

When adverts launched on Reality final yr utilizing Rumble’s platform, entrepreneurs complained that it supplied restricted methods to focus on adverts to individuals based mostly on their demographics — like age, gender or pursuits. It additionally supplied no option to monitor whether or not the advert resulted in a sale, a function coveted by advertisers and supplied by giant advert networks like Google.

Maxwell Finn, a web-based marketer, mentioned in a YouTube video that he was certainly one of Reality Social’s high advertisers, spending greater than $150,000 on adverts, together with these for Trump-themed hats, shirts, cash and novelty payments.

Within the video, he referred to as the advert platform “irritating” and “naked bones,” including that it lacked even primary performance, forcing his firm to manually monitor advert efficiency — a way that will show not possible for advertisers with bigger budgets.

“Do I feel this can be a platform the place you might be spending tens of hundreds of {dollars} a day, particularly when you solely have a couple of merchandise?” he mentioned in one other video. “No, most likely. The viewers is simply too small.”

Over time, the low-quality adverts on Reality Social have irritated its personal customers, who’ve complained to Mr. Trump after repeatedly seeing the identical disturbing photographs or after falling for deceptive gimmicks.

“Are you able to not vet the adverts on Reality?” requested one person in a put up directed at Mr. Trump. “I’ve been scammed greater than as soon as.”