Imagine being a small to medium publisher, where every decision counts. Choosing the right ad network? That’s at the top of the list.

It’s not just about generating revenue; it’s about finding a partner that understands your needs, supports your growth, and offers competitive rates. In the world of online publishing, the ad network you choose can make all the difference. Let’s explore why these publishers are constantly on the lookout for ad networks that offer not just good, but great CPM rates.

Before we get into the list of top CPM ad networks, let’s quickly have a look at exactly what CPM is.

What is CPM?

CPM, abbreviated for cost per thousand impressions, refers to the cost of having an ad published and seen a thousand times on a website. In short, it is used to monitor ad performance.

CPM is used in ad campaigns that are designed to be seen by millions of people. It helps CPM ad networks estimate the advertising costs and pricing of web ads.

How to Calculate CPM?

CPM may be measured for each ad, each campaign, and each ad placement.

CPM = (Total ad spend / Total measured ad impressions) X 1000

For example, if an advertiser has a budget of $100 and wants to reach 100,000 users, then his/her CPM would be $1 CPM i.e. ($100/100,000)*1000.

Calculating CPM helps publishers decide how many impressions they’ll receive for a specific sum of money. In other words, publishers can estimate how much they’re going to pay for a certain number of impressions.

Advantages of CPM Ad Networks

Publisher ad network based on CPM means that payment for media owners is estimated according to the CPM revenue model. In the CPC model, the advertiser pays for a fixed number of clicks. However, in CPM, they pay for the impressions.

CPM advertising is thus mainly used for brand awareness campaigns instead of performance-based.

Benefits of CPM advertising: 

• The high volume of traffic.
• Easy ad performance tracking for publishers.
• Payment is transferred to the publisher account irrespective of the clicks
• CPM ad networks often can feature a lower threshold traffic eligibility.

Factors Affecting CPM

Several factors can influence the value of CPM, including:

• Geography
• Cookie data
• Device types
• Niche
• Purchase intent
• Website quality
• Ad sizes
• Number of ad units
• Past performance
• Ad viewability
• Clickthrough Rate (CTR)
• Seasonality

Read more: AdSense CPM Rates: Factors that Affect Your Earning

Is a CPM Ad Network right for you?

CPM is ideal for ad campaigns focused on delivering a specific message or boosting brand recognition. The real benefit here is the visibility your ad gets on high-traffic websites. Instead of worrying about clicks, the main goal is to get your brand noticed. This makes CPM a great choice when you want to spread awareness and make a strong impression without relying on user interaction. In this case, click-through rates become less important because the primary value comes from the exposure and awareness your ad generates.

What are the Best CPM Ad Networks?

Here’s a list of 15 CPM ad networks which offer some of the highest payouts in the industry:

1. Media.net as a CPM ad network

Media.net is a leading ad tech company comprising of 1000+ employees and offices spread across New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Zurich.

By revenue, Media.net runs the second-largest contextual ads program globally and works as the trusted advisor to top management across various large publishers.

Some of their publisher clients include Forbes, Hearst, Meredith, Yahoo, MSN, Reuters, Kiplinger, The Street, Ziff Davis, NY Daily News along with a host of long-tail publishers.

The program, Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ads powered by Media.net, brings the breadth of advertisers from Yahoo! Bing Network and the deep capability of managing technology, relationships, and business operations from Media.net.

Publishers can use the Media.net platform to create and customize ad units that display text ads from across the Yahoo! Bing Network.

To qualify for the program, publisher websites must, among other things, possess a significant amount of original content that is updated regularly and not infringing any third party intellectual property rights. The complete program guide is available here.

2. BuySellAds

With no minimum traffic requirements, BuySellAds is a great choice for website owners who have just started out. Now you can make sure that the few hundred visits on your site do not go to waste and earn you money over the long-term. And as your traffic grows, so will your earnings.

BuySellAds offers you 75% of the revenue they get from the advertisers. They also let you get the money you have earned on demand. Just put in a request and you can get your payment in the next 2-3 days.

The only condition is that you can only request payments twice a month. You can get a payment on your PayPal for just $20. Payment options for cheques and online wire are also offered and entail a minimum payment threshold of $50 and $500 respectively.

Ads are available in a lot of sizes, can be customized for specific size needs, and are Google AdSense compatible. While you work on your websites until it is ready to be approved by AdSense, BuySellAds is the perfect way to generate that little extra revenue.

Before you read about the next ad network, we’d like to do a little self plug about ourselves too. Take a look at what AdPushup does and why we’re hand-picked by Google as a certified publishing partner.

AdPushup is Google Certified Publishing Partner. Over the years, we have helped more than 300 web publishers sustainably increase their ad CTRs, CPMs, and overall revenues without compromising on UX.

Got a minute? Take a look at how we delivered a 534% ad revenue uplift in 6 Months for CCNA7. If you want to learn how our technology can do the same for you, go ahead and request a demo.

3. Revcontent

Revcontent thrives in the native advertising, however, it has started offering display ads to publishers as well. The ad network claims to offer 30-50% higher rates than other platforms. Along with better publisher control and user experience.

As per their audience engagement strategy, it utilizes the audience insight feature to drive better CTR and revenue. The fully customizable widget lets publishers design their sponsored content feed.

It is an invitation based network, where the company audits the publisher’s site and approve it based on their requirements. This makes difficult for small publishers to get on-board. Revcontent has a real-time reporting dashboard with accurate reporting

The payment term of Revcontent is Net-30 with a payment threshold of $50.

Even with the restrictions, it applies to publishers and websites, it still offers a good CPM rate. If you have good quality traffic and looking for a native ad network offering better CPM, then Revcontent is your network.

4. Conversant Media

Formerly known as ValueClick Media, Conversant has publishers who are industry leaders for domains as varied as telecom, automobile, pharmaceutical, and retail. Conversant Media does not put forth a lot of requirements, and you can start using it to serve ads even if you do not get a lot of traffic.

You can start cashing out as soon as you have earned $25, which can be collected through PayPal, or have a cheque mailed your address following a Net-60 model.

5. Criteo

Criteo has quickly gained traction and become a top earner for website owners everywhere. With over 740 billion ads served in 2014 alone and an impressive 7800+ advertisers across the globe, Criteo is placed perfectly to offer website owners ads with high CPM and great conversions.

Criteo sees an astonishing 96% renewal of service agreements by advertisers due to its ability to generate greater revenue for its clients. This effectively translates into more earnings for publishers who get regularly benefit from greater revenues than what the competitors are offering.

6. RhythmOne as a CPM ad network

RhythmOne has a fully-integrated monetization platform for publishers. It offers direct deals, private marketplace, RTB (Real Time Bidding), and header bidding solutions from multiple demand sources. The company also has SDK solutions for app publishers. It deals in the display, video, mobile, rich media, and native ads.

RhythmOne pays publishers via PayPal, ACH, and Wire Transfer. The payment term is Net-60 and the payment threshold is $100. Even with the strict payment rules, It has integrated its technology to deliver higher CPM and yield.

Along with a real-time dashboard, it also has a cross-platform ad format and various analytics for publishers to better understand their inventory. The company puts great value on user experience and publisher safety while offering managed revenue optimization.

7. Exponential

Tribal Fusion is an Exponential Interactive subsidiary and is well-known for continually improving its advertising services to offer its clients and publishers even better results.

With a minimum of 500,000 monthly views and 5000 daily unique visitor requirements, Exponential is a hard ad network to get into.

Benefits of joining Exponential include lucrative rates for CPM ads as well as CPA ads, and a lot of different ad types to choose from, which help you find the perfect ads for your website.

Payments are made at 45 days interval and can be collected through a cheque or PayPal. Highly targeted ads translate into higher revenues for your website, making it a superb choice for niche websites.

8. Adtegrity

Niche bloggers will appreciate the superb range of verticals that Adtegrity caters to. With over 30 verticals to choose from, the ads tend to be better targeted. 50% of the website’s monthly traffic must originate from the US, and you also need 50,000 monthly visitors to be eligible for Adtegrity.

Adtegity follows the Net-45 term for a minimum threshold of $50. Publishers can expect payment via PayPal or check. The company pitches ‘save-time’ feature to publishers. Meaning, it claims to accelerate the serving process so that publishers can focus on their content.

9. RevenueHits

Owned and operated by Intango Ltd, RevenueHits is an ad network for publishers. The company serves more than 2 billion ad impressions daily, Also, it claims to offer a 200% fill rate across all geographical locations. And it mainly deals with display and mobile ads.

The available payment methods are PayPal, Payoneer, Bitcoin, and Wire Transfer. Next, the payment terms vary based on location and the publisher’s revenue. The in-house technology of RevenueHits gets publishers clean ads and safe demands.

It has a real-time multi-tracking reporting system where publishers can track impressions and clicks. And finally, understand their earnings in eCPM (effective CPM). RevenueHits offers personal account managers and email assistance.

10. Amobee

Amobee has acquired popular CPM ad networks like Kontera and AdConion. Meaning, Amobee is ready to offer better CPM services with the technologies of these companies.

If you are a popular publisher with thousands of impressions per month, then you will love the potential for revenue generation that Amobee brings to the table.

As with all the leading ad networks, Amobee also lets you get paid using PayPal, ACH, and cheque with a minimum payment of $50 based on the Net-45 term.

11. AdBlade Network

AdBlade lets publishers put ads on the paid content as well. The niche of the product makes it a lucrative market to tap into, and you get a high CPM rate for your efforts. AdBlade also caters to the needs of a number of verticals, so finding ads that your audience will like and therefore click on, is easier.

Your website should generate a minimum of 500,000 visitors per month to be accepted by AdBlade. Such a high number means that most rising bloggers and newly created websites will find the ad network too exclusive.

For those who do qualify, they will be displaying ads to websites like Fox News, and Yahoo! and getting paid very well for it.

Payments get credited to your PayPal after 30 days if they are over $100, and you can run AdBlade ads alongside AdSense without any problems.

12. Adcash

Adcash offers display and native ad services to publishers. The network is known to put user engagement and experience at top priority all the time. Being an invite-only network, publishers need to submit their website for review. If the publisher’s inventory is accepted, the publisher can start adding ad units to webpages.

The company offers payment via PayPal, Skrill, Wire Transfer, Bitcoins, and Payoneer. The minimum threshold is $25 with flexible payment terms. It offers payment in the Dollar, Euro, and bitcoins.

It has easy to understand dashboard that shows the overall growth of publishers. Using which publishers can create customized ad units for their inventory. And if anything looks too complicated, Adcash has quick response time for their Support.

13. HilltopAds

HilltopAds matched publishers and advertisers for the benefit of both parties. The company serves more than 12 billion traffic. It is mainly a CPM network offering direct deals with precise targeting options. It has a self-service platform that lets publishers track the performance of their inventory for various placements.

It is one of the fast-approval ad networks offering Net-7 payment terms with a threshold of $50. The publishers get paid via PayPal, Bitcoin, ePayment, Wire Transfer, Web Money, Epay services, and Paxum.

Publishers get native ads, push notifications, video ads, and display ads with HilltopAds. Ad network rotation feature increases the visibility of the best working ad units by moving them to a more viewable location.

14. ClickAdu

ClickAdu is a pop-under ad network for publishers offering high CPM rates. The company is very transparent about the average eCPM offered for various geographical locations and ad formats. 

The company has no minimum requirements for publishers and the approval process is straightforward. The available options for publishers are PayPal, Payoneer, Paxum, E-Payments, Wire Transfer, and Web Money. It follows a Net-15 term with a $100 threshold.

Additional features are split testing, automated payments, and safe ads along with various ad formats. Overall, ClickAdu can be a great CPM ad network for publishers looking to experiment with pop-under ads.

15. Infolinks

Infolinks specializes in intent-targeting advertisement, which means that they will help you host ads that align with the content on your website.

Using contextual advertising, Infolinks will scan the content on your website and then host ads that will have a higher chance of leaving an impact on your users. This makes sure that viewers on your website won’t be dissatisfied with the advertising. 

Infolinks charges a profit share of 30% for its services. The platform has no minimum traffic requirement but does have a threshold for $50 minimum payments.  

Apart from ensuring relevant ads on your platform, Infolinks also offers multiple ad formats for its clients. These formats can also be customized by you to maximize your profit.

Factors to Consider When Choosing an Ad Network

When it comes to choosing an ad network partner, you should know what your needs are. You can do this by understanding your business and the industry you’re part of. Apart from these, there are multiple other things you can consider when choosing an ad network as a publisher. Below, we have mentioned some of these:

Ad Formats & Placement

With multiple different types of ad formats on the market, ad networks usually have their own specialization in certain ad formats. Before establishing your partnership, make sure that the network is compatible with your brand and can successfully host ads on your domain. 

Revenue Method

All businesses have their own way of making a profit and sharing it as well. As a publisher, you should look for a partner that matches your needs. Looking for higher payout rates is a good strategy, but you should also know about revenue methods. Below, we have explained them:

• CPM: Cost Per Mille (Earn revenue per 1000 impressions)
• CPC: Cost Per Click (Earn revenue when users click on an ad)
• CPA: Cost Per Acquisition (Based on specific user actions like purchases, signups, etc)
• Profit Share: A percentage of revenue is shared with the publishers

Each networking agency will have a different revenue method; that’s why you need to focus on the revenue method.

Fill Rate

Fill rate is the number of ads that are served in comparison to the ad requests. Look for higher fill rates, and you will likely be making the right decision. To calculate the fill rate, divide the number of successfully served ads by the number of ad requests. 

Traffic Requirements

Ad networks usually have set minimum traffic requirements for publishers. This prohibits certain publishers from doing business with network ad agencies. Before even considering an ad partner, check if it has a traffic requirement and see if your domain is eligible to do business with it.

You can also find firms with no traffic requirements, which can be beneficial for small businesses.  

Reputation 

Before you make a deal with any company, make sure it has a good reputation online. You can do this by checking reviews online. 

Audience and Demographics

Just like your website has a niche, ad networks also have a certain demographic it serve. 

As a publisher, you should look for a partner who belongs to the same industry as you and aligns with your business. Choose an ad agency that can successfully target the audience that you cater to. 

Analytics

Analytics plays a big part in the advertising world. Look for a network provider that offers analytics to you. Whether it is performance reports or real-time data, both are important, so choose an agency that shares it with you.

UX

User Experience is everything in the online world. Distracting ads can do great damage to your website, choosing the wrong ad network can ruin the UX of your website, and the opposite is also possible. Look for networks that can improve the look of your website and the overall experience.

Support and Assistance 

Even in 2024, customer service is still important. So look for an ad network that will stay connected with you and properly assist you with any query that you may have.

As your means to generate income, ad networks play a big role in how much your assets will benefit you. That’s why the selection process needs to be done the right way.

Final Words

In conclusion, finding the right CPM ad network can significantly boost your earnings as a publisher. By choosing from the top 15 CPM ad networks we’ve highlighted, you can ensure your ads are placed in the best possible spots to maximize your revenue. Remember, it’s not just about the rates—look for networks that offer great support and service to truly enhance your experience. Dive in, explore your options, and start maximizing your earnings today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deepak Sharma

Deepak has a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the ad tech landscape. Whether it’s through in-depth articles, thought-provoking insights, or compelling storytelling, he’s dedicated to helping people navigate the complex world of ad tech with the simplicity of his words.