Top 10 CPM Ad Networks for Publishers (2024 Edition)

Top 10 CPM Ad Networks for Publishers (2024 Edition)

Ad networks are not only geared for advertisers. Publishers can increase their revenue and monetize their properties by leveraging Ad Network technologies. There are a lot of ad networks out there, how do you know which one is the right for you? In this post, we’ll guide you through our pick of the best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers.

Short in Time? These Are Our Top 4 CPM Ad Networks

Position
Ad Network
Overview
1
CodeFuel
Start Now!
A complete holistic solution for publishers, enabling them to leverage search, ads, and news monetization options while improving the UX.
2
Google
AdSense
This is the most widely adopted ad network, serving ads on publisher’s sites to help her with monetization.
3
Propeller
Ads
A self-serve CPM platform serving multiple ad formats. Includes a simplified ad creator.
4
Taboola
Works well with niches. Presents content in a newsfeed format and matches campaigns to specific publishers.

What’s a CPM Ad Network and Why it’s Important

Ad networks work as intermediaries connecting the publishers and advertisers. A CPM ad network sells the publisher’s inventory by using a Cost-Per-Mille model. Publishers can work with different ad networks. You can use an ad network to sell your main or remnant inventory.

How Do You Choose the Best CPM Ad Network?

There are numerous advertising networks offering a wide range of ad formats and rates.  Before diving into the list, let’s explore a bit what you need to take into account when choosing a CPM network for your business.

Consider your target audience, who are your potential users? Do your product or service caters to B2B or B2C? Take into account the demographics: age, location, gender, interests, income level. The niche where your company moves is also important. If you are in a generic market, you should choose an ad network that has a large reach.

How To Calculate CPM

Here is the formula: 

CPM = (cost of the campaign/ number of total impressions) * 1000

Let’s explore with an example: 

The advertiser has an ad budget of $2000. The CPM campaign got 10,000 impressions on the ad. Let’s apply the formula: 

CPM = ($2000/10,000) * 1000 = $200

That means you will get $200 for the thousand impressions. 

Stats and Factors Affecting the CPM

Many factors can influence the CPM, the advertiser can control some of them, and some94- cannot. Here are six factors that can affect your CPM as an advertiser or a publisher:  

  • The demand and supply of publishing space:  If there is not a lot of demand from advertisers for your publishing space, your CPM rates will need to be lower. You can raise your rates if your website or app is in a popular niche. Advertisers want to place their products on a popular website with their customers. Also, their competitors. Therefore, the more advertisers bid on the same inventory, the more expensive it will be. 
  •  The advertising platform you use: For advertisers, the social platform or ad network they choose to place their ad on can influence the CPM. Using an ad network to post on websites will have different rates than social media platforms. 
  • The size of your audience: Sites that target a general audience may have low CPM rates, but on the other side, you risk low conversions and sales rates. The more niche and precise the targeting, the higher the CPM. Targeting criteria, such as geolocation, age, and other demographics, can affect the CPM rates.  
  • Seasonality: As the demand for the product increases, so does advertising res such as CPM. Advertisers bid hard around special dates, like major holidays, Prime day, Mother/Father’s day, etc. Also, during the winter and summer sales, advertisers bid more on their campaigns. 
  • Your campaign goals: Top-of-the-funnel campaigns tend to have lower CPMs, while the rate increases as we go to the bottom of the funnel. 
  • Ad format: Different ad formats will have different CPMs. For example, video ads catch more of the attention of the user. So, usually, they have a higher CPM rate than static ads. 

So, what’s the average CPM rate? Here are some recent statistics: 

In October 2021, Pinterest had the highest CPM rate on social media platforms, and Twitter had the lowest. (Source: Statista)

  • In Google

CPM of ads on selected social media networks

  • In Google AdSense, the CPM can range between $030 to $2. For link ads, the CPM rate can be as high as $5. 

How Do You Choose the Best CPM Ad Network?

Many advertising networks are offering a wide range of ad formats and rates.  Before diving into the list, let’s explore a bit of what you need to consider when choosing a CPM network for your business. 

Consider your target audience; who are your potential users? Do your product or service caters to B2B or B2C? Take into account the demographics: age, location, gender, interests, and income level. The niche where your company moves is also important. If you are in a generic market, you should choose an ad network with a large reach. 

Challenges and Advantages of CPM Ads?

Regardless of the type of digital property you have, it is important to keep an eye on analytics and reports to ensure you are maximizing your earnings. Here are some pros and cons of signing up to a CPM network for your web business:

Pros
Don’t need to find advertisers yourself
No need to chase payments
No need to A/B test ads

An ad network simplifies looking for and selecting advertisers for your site. You won’t need to manage ad placements, you just have to place a line of code and CodeFuel will serve advertisers on your site.
The ad network saves you from having to deal with managing payments from advertisers. Instead, you will get a check (or transfer) at the end of the month from each of your ad serving networks.
An ad network can help you from having to go through the effort of placing ads, testing them from performance, rinse and repeat. The network displays the best advertisements for your website, rotating them and ensuring you’ll always have high-performing ads.
Cons
Lower payout
You cannot select the advertiser

Using an ad network instead of marketing ad space directly as a publisher can result in a lower payout. However, programmatic bidding ensures you get he highest bid on the ad placement.
Most ad networks run automated bidding, where publishers cannot control which advertiser will get the ad space.

Best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers

1. CodeFuel

Codefuel is a complete and versatile monetization platform designed to help publishers maximize their yield. It offers intent-based search advertising and contextual advertising solutions for websites, extensions, and applications.

CodeFuel

Features

  • Website monetization: delivers relevant text ads to drive high-intent users and increase conversions.
  • Customized search results page (SERP): leverages search intent by serving search sponsored text ads on a custom search page.
  • App monetization: provides intent-based search and monetization with in-app ads for applications or browser extensions.
  • Search mediation: provides custom and optimized landing pages for media campaigns. Supports multiple media platforms ( Facebook, Google, Taboola, Outbrain). Deploy monetization pages on your own site.
  • Contextual advertising: an intent discovery platform that generates dynamic and contextual ad units to serve relevant ads at the right moment on the website.
  • News feed:  Premium news feed that enhances the user experience.

Pros

Cons

All-in-one: it allows you to leverage search, ads, shopping, and news for monetization. Not suitable for small publishers. For the system to yield maximum returns, it requires a mid-sized audience.
Tracking and analytics
Central management and visibility
Multiple integrations: integrates with MSN, Bing, Yahoo, and more than a thousand quality publishers.
Visibility: a central dashboard provides visibility and insights into your monetization efforts.
High-quality traffic
Easy to use interface
Multiple targeting options
Cross-platform integration: mobile and desktop.

2. Bing for Partners

Bing for partners

Bing for Partners is the Microsoft ad network for publishers. It provides premium inventory and reaches all Windows systems.

Features

  • Search ads: provides customer search on Bing and partners and the user gets served ads according to the search input.
  • Multiple integrations: Yahoo, AOL, and partner sites.
  • Google AdWords compatible: you can import existing AdWords campaigns into Bing Ads.
  • Syndication: This feature enables publishers to get paid to show Bing Ads on the website. The ads are tailored to your audience and content.
  • Supports multiple devices: search results and ads for PC, mobile, and tablet.

Pros

Cons

Provides a range of premium users. Bing is the second largest search engine with growth potential. It doesn’t have a wide reach
Owned by Microsoft, it receives a lot of traffic through Cortana. According to reviews, the overall reach is more limited than other solutions.
Support PC, mobile, or tablet.
Large base of premium publishers.
The average click-through rate (CTR) of Bing Ads is higher than for Google Ads.

3. Google Adsense 

Google Adsense is the most popular ad network with a massive reach. However, this same reach makes it less suitable for niche publishers.

Google AdSense

Features

  • Automated text, image, and video ads: Automatically serve ads according to search terms and relevant content on websites.
  • Ad size optimization: Adapts the size of the ad to the user screen and layout, maximizing the yield.
  • Analytics Data shows analytics to track performance.
  • Search ads: serves text and image ads Provides analytics for search campaigns

Pros

Cons

Custom report generation. Approval and verification is lengthy process.
Analytics track traffic and income. High traffic requirements.
Easy to implement. It doesn’t integrate with specific platforms like Squarespace.
Cost-Per-Click is very low compared to other ad networks.

4. Propeller Ads

Propeller ads has become a popular option for publishers. It is highly focused on maximizing ad performance. Still, it lacks basic features like header bidding.

Propeller Ads

Features

  • Clean ads
  • Compatible with AdSense
  • Wide coverage
  • AdBlock workaround

Pros

Cons

There is no minimum traffic requirement. Although the platform supports non-English sites, the revenue is lower.
Offers a wide range of payment options, including PayPal, WebMoney, Payoneer. Lower CPM for low-quality websites.
Doesn’t offer header bidding.

5. Taboola

Taboola is an ad network that works by delivering curated sponsored content. It has high customization.

Taboola

Features

  • Presents the content in a newsfeed format.
  • Offers publishers A/B testing and editorial insights to improve the quality of their content.
  • Allow publishers to receive more traffic by exchanging existing traffic with third-party sites.
  • Publishers can see post-click behavior, embed their own videos, and customize their website.
  • Supports sponsored content and in-feed videos.

Pros

Cons

Offers templates for mobile web monetization No free trial
The publisher can track traffic and conversions. Only offers one payment method
Analytics and reporting The user interface is confusing and disorganized.

    6. Outbrain

    Outbrain is an ad network that focuses on sponsored content, specifically video. Similar to Taboola, presents the content in newsfeed format, leveraging sponsored and ads. 

    Outbrain

    Features

    • Native out-stream video with varied video lengths from 6 to 120 seconds.
    • Personalized feed with editorial, video, and sponsored content.
    • Optimization engine.
    • Ad server

    Pros

    Cons

    Proprietary monetization method Low earnings
    Easy to install and user interface Delayed reporting
    Quality traffic Native formats only
    Good customer service
    Compatible with Google Adsense.

    7. Adcash

    An ad network that caters to publishers and advertisers. On the publisher side, they partner with SSPs to deliver targeted ads. Adcash

    Features

    • Global coverage in more than 190 countries. All types of traffic can be monetized.
    • Multiple ad formats.
    • Real-time analytics.
    • Anti Adblock
    • Accepts multiple payment methods.

    Pros

    Cons

    No additional charges for processing transactions It doesn’t have a referral program for publishers.
    Several ad formats Lower CPM rates than the market.
    Multiple payment options
    Accepts all kinds of traffic.

    8. Conversant Media

    It is an ad platform for publishers and advertisers that specializes in personalized ads. Conversant media also offers an affiliate network.

    Conversant Media

    Features

    • Formerly known as Epsilon it has publishers in a range of verticals, from telecom to retail.
    • Low traffic requirements.
    • Low cashing requirements.
    • Accepts only Paypal.

    Pros

    Cons

    Broad reach across different industries. Slow and clunky.
    Easy to qualify. Difficult to use interface.
    A quality pool of advertisers. No brand safety measure for campaigns.
    Easy user interface. Doesn’t give an in-depth analysis.
    Real-time data.
    Advanced reporting.

    9. Revcontent

    Is a content marketing platform, focused on connecting advertisers with their target audiences. It works primarily as a demand-side platform but has some services for suppliers. 

    Revcontent

    Features

    • Native and display ads.
    • Audience insight feature.
    • Invitation-based network

    Pros

    Pros

    Cons

    Offers a high CPM rate. Difficult to get approved.
    Real-time reporting dashboard. Not suitable for small publishers.

        10. BuySellAds

        Buysell ads offer advertising solutions for publishers and advertisers. They are focused on the tech niche. 

        BuySellAds

        Features

        • Control panel with an intuitive user interface.
        • Reportings filtered by date range and ad zone.
        • Multiple payment methods (Check, Paypal, Wire)
        • Good support with a Knowledge Base.
        • Focused on the tech, freelancer, web design niche.

        Pros

        Cons

        Offers website display ads, mobile app display ads, desktop, RSS. You can only get payments twice a month.
        Gives publishers the 75% of the revenue they get from advertisers. Limited niche.
        Google Adsense compatible.
        • No minimum traffic requirements.

        11. Exponential

        It is a provider of digital solutions for the advertising industry. For publishers, it offers access to premium advertisers. 

        Exponential

        Features

        • High impact ads
        • Pre-roll ads
        • Gives you 55% of the revenue.
        • Direct, first-look inventory.

        Pros

        Cons

        Lucrative rates for CPM ads. Strict entry requirements make it a hard ad network to get into. You need a minimum of 500,000 monthly views and 5000 daily unique visitors.
        Multiple ad types. Limited reach with only 22 countries on their network.
        Premium inventory.

        Key metrics: What is CPM?

        CPM or Cost-per-Mille is the amount advertisers pay publishers per every thousand impressions of an ad.

        CPM vs CPC

        Some ad networks use a CPC model instead. In this section, we’ll explore what CPC is and the differences with CPM for publishers.

        CPC is the amount a publisher gets paid every time a visitor clicks on an ad on their website

        CPC = (Total cost of clicks / Total measured clicks) 

        How does it work? Let’s explore this with an example. If the campaign generates 1000 clicks and the budget is $100 you’ll get paid $0.1 per click.

        CPC = 100 /1000 = $0.1

        What is better for publishers?

        CPM refers to how many times the ad appears on a website. Therefore, advertisers pay for impressions regardless of the clicks they get. This makes it the safest option for publishers to get revenue. Advertisers may also benefit from CPM because they can get more clicks from generated impressions. Additionally, a CPM ad network that serves highly targeted ads may achieve more for advertisers.

        Related content: Learn more in CPC vs CPM Bidding: What’s the Difference in 2021?

        What Are the Benefits of CPM Ad Networks for Small and Medium Publishers?

        Publisher ad networks based on CPM (cost per mille) are beneficial because instead of paying for a fixed number of clicks, advertisers get more exposure. That’s why it is used for brand awareness campaigns.

        CPM networks are good for small and medium businesses since they represent a lower cost for advertising campaigns. Other benefits for companies include:

        • It is easy to track ad performance.
        • Payment is transferred to the publisher when the page is loaded.
        • CPM ad networks usually have a low traffic requirement for eligibility.

        How to Calculate CPM

        Here is the formula:

        CPM = (Cost of the campaign/ Number of total impressions) * 1000

        Let’s explore with an example:

        The advertiser has an ad budget of $2000. The CPM campaign got 10,000 impressions on the ad. Let’s apply the formula:

        CPM = ($2000/10,000) * 1000 = $200

        That means you will get $200 for the thousand impressions.

        What is a good CPM in advertising?

        According to a study by the average CPM costs for every platform is as follows:

        Average CPM for Google:  Google maintains the biggest market share in online advertising. The CPM for search and display ads is strikingly different, with search ads paying ten times more than display ads.

        • Google search ads = $38.40
        • Google display as = $3.12

        Average CPM for Social Media ads

        • For Facebook ads = $ 8.60
        • For Instagram ads = $ 8,96
        • Twitter ads = $0.38
        • Linkedin ads = $6,59
        • Pinterest ads = $30

        Which ad network has the highest CPM?

        As a rule of thumb, the larger the reach of the ad network, the lower it pays. And the fewer requirements it needs to enter, the lower the CPM.  Here are some examples:

        • Google Adsense: From $0.71
        • Appnexus: From $0.51 to $20
        • 33 Across: From $5 to $15.

        The average range of payment for the top ad networks goes from $0.44 to $20. However, there are many factors besides CPM rates that can determine which ad network is right for you. CodeFuel offers a high yield based on our strong relationship with premium search providers like Bing partners. Having long-standing partnerships with top engines ensures your website brand awareness can grow, providing better exposure and conversions for your advertisers.

        Is a CPM Ad Network right for you?

        CPM advertising can benefit publishers greatly since its revenue does not depend on users interacting or clicking on the ad. Publishers still need to focus on increasing traffic to their sites when opting for a CPM ad network. Since the advertiser’s satisfaction and the outcome will depend on brand exposure.

        Mobile apps and games publishers can use CPM to calculate the revenue made by placing advertisements in their apps. For instance, calculating an average number of served impressions and how many daily active users they have, can be combined with CPM and eCPM to calculate expected profit.

        New websites, apps, and bloggers can make use of a CPM network and make a profit. There are a number of networks with low or no entry requirements for approval.

        Challenges and Advantages of  CPM Ads?

        Regardless of the type of digital property you have, it is important to keep an eye on analytics and reports to ensure you are maximizing your earnings. Here are some pros and cons of signing up to a CPM network for your web business:

        Pros

        • Don’t need to find advertisers yourself: an ad network simplifies looking for and selecting advertisers for your site. You won’t need to manage ad placements, you just have to place a line of code and CodeFuel will serve advertisers on your site.
        • No need to chase payments: the ad network saves you from having to deal with managing payments from advertisers. Instead, you will get a check (or transfer) at the end of the month from each of your ad serving networks.
        • No need to A/B test ads: an ad network can help you from having to go through the effort of placing ads, testing them from performance, rinsing, and repeating. The network displays the best advertisements for your website, rotating them and ensuring you’ll always have high-performing ads.

        Cons

        • Lower payout 
        • You cannot select the advertiser

        Why a monetization platform ensures the maximum yield for publishers

        A complete monetization platform can be your best option as a publisher. It allows you to maximize revenue and some of the benefits include:

        • Enhances the user experience: ad networks with contextual advertising improve the user experience by delivering the most relevant ads according to the user intent. The network prioritizes ads according to the users, their journey, and their preferences.
        • Improve operational efficiency: an ad network can greatly simplify the management of advertisements for web publishers. By saving you time from dealing with advertisers, payments, and placements, it let you focus on improving the website or app, attracting more traffic, and producing better quality content, products, and services.
        • Maximizes yield:  an ad network ensures you get the best paying advertisers for your website or app.

        FAQ’s

        Is low CPM good or bad?

        A low CPM is not always a positive indicator for advertisers, indicating low traffic instead. Publishers may find a high CPM doesn’t result in higher earnings, because some of the inventory may remain unsold.

        How much can you make with CPM ads?

        The amount you can make from a CPM ad depends greatly on the advertiser and the publisher. For instance, if an ad has a $2 CPM and the site gets 10,000 views, the page earns $20 from that banner a month.

        What is a good CPM for display ads?

        Display campaigns average $0.50 – $4 CPM, with an average of $3.

        How CodeFuel can Help

        Codefuel is a full monetization solution that takes the hassle of managing advertisements for digital properties. It helps you maximize revenue by leveraging contextual advertising and intent to display the most relevant ads for the user.