Questions, answered plainly.

Isthihaaru is a Maldivian advertising platform. It shows a wall of cards, each one a local business. People turn the cards over because prizes are hidden behind some of them and drop at random through the day. Advertisers get attention from people who chose to look, and a count of every appearance, turn and click.

The usual options are billboards, radio, television, local news websites, and Facebook or Instagram. Which is right depends on whether you are selling to residents or to visitors, and on whether you need to know what your money did. There is a plain comparison of all of them, including where Isthihaaru is the wrong choice, at isthihaaru.com/advertising-in-maldives/.

It varies enormously by medium, and most sellers quote per position and period rather than per person reached. On Isthihaaru, packages start at MVR 2,500 per month with no setup fee and no minimum term, and the prices are negotiable. One line in the news bar is sold by the week instead, from MVR 600. The full list is at isthihaaru.com/pricing/.

Yes, as a giveaway partner. You provide a prize — a meal, a voucher, a product — and your name appears beside it on the wall and on the winner's claim code. There is no fee. It is the cheapest way to find out how the audience responds to you before committing to a package.

There are 4 card packages: Island, Atoll, Ocean, Horizon. They differ in how often your card is dealt, and the largest includes the banner above the game. Sold on their own, there are also Banner, Landing, Event bar, Bar notice. Current prices are at isthihaaru.com/pricing/.

How many times your card was dealt, how many people turned it over, and how many followed the link to you. Those are counted rather than estimated. Most advertising in the Maldives cannot tell you any of the three.

No. There is no minimum term and no setup fee. If it stops being worth the money, stop.

People in the Maldives. The game is limited to the Maldives region, so the audience is residents rather than visitors abroad. If you are selling to tourists before they travel, this is not the right place to spend your budget.

Prizes are hidden behind a small number of cards and appear at random moments through the day, so nobody can predict when. A winner gets a claim code. Prizes are either funded by us or provided by a giveaway partner, who is named beside the prize.

Write to [email protected] or call +960 753 5369. Tell us roughly what you sell and what you were thinking of spending, and we will say honestly whether it is a good fit.