8 Best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers in 2024

Picture this- you are a blogger with a good number of visitors per day (in thousands, at least) on your site. Now, you want to earn revenue by monetizing your blog. The ad tech industry has seen a prominent shift towards a digital conformed culture in the last few years. While browsing the web, you come across an article like this one, telling you about the benefits of CPM Ads, one of them is earning revenue whether the visitor clicks on the ad or not, and now you want to host these on your website. 

You’ll first need to know what CPM Ads are all about. CPM refers to Cost Per Mile or Cost per thousand Impressions. This means that you will get paid a fixed amount whenever an ad displayed on your website reaches 1000 unique views/ impressions. An impression simply refers to one particular visitor on your website, whether the ad is clicked or not. 

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Most CPM networks pay $1 to $10 per one thousand impressions, depending on the traffic you get. So, if you are charging $3 CPM, you will get paid $3 when the ad reaches 1000 impressions. But why should you choose CPM over other ad pricing like CPC? Here’s why-

• A steady stream of income through your website 
• Profitable for sites with high traffic
• Measurable insights to determine your revenue

However, if your site is capable of getting more clicks on the ads than views on the ad, then CPC might be a better option for you than CPM. You can also explore other options like CPA and CPL. Hence, you need to be aware of the type of audience on your website and carefully make a decision.

CPM is calculated using the following formula:

How do Ad Networks Help?

Ad Networks are recommended for websites with less than one million page views per month. They can help publishers to maximize revenue by collecting their ad inventories and bundling them to sell to advertisers. In return, they take a small commission on the revenue you earn. If you want to save your time and effort, display targeted ads, and get a dedicated support team to help you monetize your website, then you should start looking for an ad network(s) that is reliable and helps you earn maximum revenue.

We have curated a list of the 8 Best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers that can help you in taking the final call. 

8 Best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers

1. Media.net

Media.net is a leading global ad network with its presence in various cities including Dubai, Los Angeles, Bangalore, Mumbai, New York, and Zurich. It is a great choice for publishers who get approx 50,000 views per month and are wanting to host CPM Ads on their platform.

They are also known for running the world’s second-largest contextual ads program. You have an option to join them with a partner link which in turn helps you to add 10% to your revenue for the first three months.

2. Propeller Ads

Propeller Ads is a great option to maximize your revenue as they can offer even higher CPM rates than Google Adsense, especially if you have website traffic coming from the western continents. They have a variety of ad formats including pop-under ads, interstitial ads, dialogue ads, and standard banner ads. 

They also offer real-time reporting services. They follow a Net30 Payment Policy which means the payment will reach you within 30 days and they also have multiple payment methods.

3. Undertone

An ad network with diverse ad formats, Undertone is quite popular among publishers with a minimum of 500,000 monthly impressions. Although their eligibility criteria are high, the revenue you can earn with Undertone is higher than Adsense and some other popular ad networks as well. 

They are a reputed ad network and allow only unique, original content and reject any illegal/ spam content. Their campaigns are highly optimizable with features like appearance, performance, floor price, etc.

4. Conversant Media

Conversant Media is a popular option for publishers to monetize their websites, mobile-optimized sites, as well as mobile apps. It is a great option for media owners who function across different business verticals. They offer a variety of ad formats including standard desktop formats, display ads, rich media, video, native, etc. 

They also provide additional features such as header bidding, real-time analytics, and a responsive support team. They are a reliable and proven ad network, having worked with over 5000 brands and tens of thousands of publishers. 

5. AdCash

AdCash is another ad network that allows publishers to monetize web traffic with minimal effort. They claim to fill your inventories 100% of the time. Various ad formats that are available include a native, interstitial, banner, and pop-under. They also do not have any minimum traffic requirement for publishers. 

They offer a robust support system along with a personal account manager. You’ll also get dynamic CPM monetization and user experience, however, you can also set it up manually. Their ads are of high quality and they provide an overall positive experience for publishers.

6. BuySellAds

Another ad network with no minimum requirements for website traffic is BuySellAds. They let you directly deal with the advertisers. For example- if you write blogs about women’s lifestyles, you can pick out advertisers selling women’s products.

BuySellAds charges a 25% commission which is slightly higher than the industry standards (20%). (Source) They also have a Google AdSense compatible system which means you can combine your ads with ads from Adsense for maximum effect.

7. Criteo

Criteo is a unique ad network that offers direct header bidding, which means that it eliminates any intermediaries in the supply chain so that you get the most value from your ad inventory. This is because you can set a floor price (base price) on the platform. They have a high-quality demand comprising 22,000 global retail and brand clients.

Criteo also offers highly competitive CPM rates. Although they have a higher payment threshold as compared to other ad networks, that is $150, but you can always pair Criteo along with Adsense or another ad network to maximize your earnings. Criteo pays CPMs which are almost twice or thrice of what Adsense pays. (Source)

8. RevContent

RevContent is among the highest-paying and one of the best CPM ad networks for publishers, but it comes with a minimum threshold of 50,000 website visitors per month. Although it is hard to get accepted as a publisher at RevContent, once you do, you can enjoy benefits like quality content recommendations, a precise and smart dashboard with real-time reporting to organize all your campaigns, and a dedicated account manager. 

They offer various ad formats including push, display, native, video, and mobile. It is one of the highest-rated ad networks as well corresponding to its high-quality ads.

Measuring success

You can measure the success of your campaigns with the CPM metric. It is simply the average of multiple CPMs and helps publishers determine their revenue from ad sales. 

A high eCPM indicates higher revenue, while a lower eCPM indicates average revenue.

By using an ad network that runs on CPM, publishers can increase their website revenues as they are dependent on the number of website visitors they get.

The above-mentioned are the best CPM ad networks for publishers. There is no one-size-fits-all approach with ad networks. You have to carefully estimate your needs, your site’s analytics, and the overall package you’re getting in order to come to a decision. In most cases, multiple ad networks can be used in combination for best results.