On this blog, we’ve been constantly advocating for shifting from working with a single ad network to using ad mediation services. We have been also discussing the benefits of this shift. However, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s why in this article we will put aside theoretical matters and look at the case study of one particular website.
In the beginning, there was a video converter website with his fair share of daily traffic (330k). The owner of this website used tabunder ad type to monetize his traffic and got nearly 190K of impressions. He worked with one well-known and reputable ad network that offered him an excellent flat CPM rate ($1.2). Despite this generous rate, webmaster’s daily income was only $55.
One day the owner of the website decided to do something to boost his revenue. He realized that working with a single ad network was not profitable anymore and decided to switch to an ad mediation service, namely AdSpyglass.
It took him just a couple of days to make this grand change and adjust all the settings, but for those of you who know that time is money – do not worry! Even during these tuning days, the income was bigger than when working with a single ad network.
SPOILER ALERT! The revenue of our protagonist has almost doubled since his switch! His daily income is now $100+/day. Mind you, this is not the limit, not at all. But let’s take a look at the detailed statistics:
Pay particular attention to the “Ad network impressions”: the previous ad network counted ~50k/day whereas the real traffic was 121k/day! We will discuss this little trick later on.
After switching to AdSpyglass, the CPM rate actually decreased to $0.83, but do not make any hasty conclusions! Since with ad mediation service all real traffic is counted, the income has magically increased.
The Great Mystery of CPM
High CPM rate is a bait all publishers fall for. That is why ad networks tempt you with all those numbers. $1.2 was a very attractive CPM rate for our webmaster, the only problem was that it was utter nonsense, it was completely fake! Well, let’s be reasonable. There is this formula:
CPM = (Income / hits) * 1000
And there are two ways to increase CPM: by increasing revenue (which is obviously good for publishers) and by decreasing hits (which is obviously the most comfortable way for ad networks).
No ad networks shun using the little trick of decreasing hits. Whereas working with a single ad network you do not have any alternative statistics you are completely ignorant as of your real rate. In the case of this website the real CPM was not so alluring, in fact, it was only $0,45 ($55 / 120k hits), but the webmaster could not possibly know this.
So do not fall for the bait no matter how attractive that flat rate offered by an ad network seems to be. You need money, not CPM, so the only solution would be working with multiple ad networks simultaneously, using ad mediation and having honest detailed statistics. That way you will know real CPM, real traffic and will get real money.
Final thoughts
There are advantages and disadvantages to every ad network. Thanks to ad mediation services like AdSpyglass, publishers can link themselves up to all of the platforms above and reap the benefits that each can offer.
Our process is simple:
- AdSpyglass automatically selects the most profitable offers from top ad networks and displays ads with the highest CPM on your websites.
- AdSpyglass gives our publishers complete transparency over the data we collect
- We automatically switch your ad tags to the most profitable offers
These create three huge advantages for our users:
- An income boost of up to 100% automatically.
- There is no need to change ad tags to reply on your websites templates. You manage all your ads such as network ads or your own ads directly via AdSpyglass admin panel. It helps to avoid mistakes while you add your website templates and saves your time, even more so if you have numerous sites.
- You can see detailed statistics from all inventory ad networks in AdSpyglass reports allowing for granular analysis and the optimizing of campaigns from all your networks in one admin panel.
Read also PropellerAds Ad Network Review
Read also Four Ways to Monetize an Adult Tube Site
Read also Best Adult Ad Networks
And compare all ad networks’ CPM rates by countries here: Top Ad Networks.
