21 Best Ad Networks for Publishers in 2024
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Ad revenue represents one of just three monetization pillars publishers have access to — with the others being subscriptions and affiliate marketing. As such, those publishers that have prioritized ad revenue need to ensure they pick the right ad network.
The global digital advertising market is projected to hit $1.09 trillion by 2027, driven by factors such as the growing adoption of smartphones and the ongoing rollout of the Internet of things (IoT).
The role of digital advertising remains pivotal to brand strategies, with research showing that around 50% of online users search for a product video before making a purchase.
The growth of digital advertising offers immense monetization opportunities for publishers that are in a position to capitalize. A key element of that positioning is the ad networks they choose.
When choosing an ad network, it’s important to consider the ad formats available, the targeting options, the optimization tools and the revenue share. We have listed some of the best ad networks for publishers in the market to help you find the one that meets your requirements.
Ad networks are online advertising intermediaries that broker deals between publishers who want to display ads and businesses that want to place them.
Ad networks mainly solve the fill risk, in other words the publisher’s risk of having unsold ad units.
They collect unsold inventory from multiple publishers and sell it in aggregated packages to advertisers.
This allows the ad network to offer more ad impressions to advertisers than a single publisher could provide and consequently charge a higher price for the ad space. In turn, the ad network passes on a share of the revenue to the publisher.
In a nutshell, ad networks benefit both sides by providing a service that makes it easier for advertisers to reach their target audience and for publishers to monetize their unsold inventory.
An ad network collects unsold inventory from multiple publishers and stores it in a central location. The most popular ad networks, such as AdSense, only choose high-quality websites to work with so as to maintain ad inventory quality.
Some networks are less selective and work with a larger number of publishers with less or lower-quality traffic.
The selected publisher in turn puts an ad network’s tag or a snippet of code in their website’s HTML code.
Ad buyers create a campaign in the ad network’s campaign management panel, or the ad network can manage the campaign on behalf of an advertiser or ad agency.
In both cases, the ad network needs to receive information from the advertiser, such as their target audience, budget and what kind of ads they want to display — e.g., image, video or text.
Once the advertiser’s campaign requirements match the publisher data, ad details are sent to the publisher via the ad network’s ad server and with the help of the previously-inserted ad tag that is responsible for calling the ad.
Ad performance is tracked via the ad network’s tracking pixel, which is placed on the advertiser’s conversion page(s).
Ad networks earn money either by taking a portion of ad revenue or by initially marking up the inventory of the publisher. Publishers are primarily paid according to the number of ad clicks, impressions or conversions.
Ad networks segregate inventory collected from multiple publishers and segment it based on demographics. This allows advertisers to select their target audience more accurately instead of blindly placing their ads.
Some ad networks specialize in a single ad format, such as display ads, videos, etc. This allows publishers in specific niches to work only with networks that offer the most appropriate ad placements for their website content and audience.
On the other hand, advertisers benefit from specialized ad networks in the confidence that their ads will be placed on websites with similar content, resulting in better chances of conversion.
Advertisers no longer need to look for individual websites to place their ads, while publishers gain leads by simply signing with an ad network instead of looking for advertisers.
Additionally, advertisers do not sign separate orders for different publishers but rather work with one ad network that has a contract with many publishers.
Campaigns are much easier to measure as results are aggregated. Ad networks offer reporting tools that show a campaign’s performance in terms of reach and impressions. This allows advertisers to make changes necessary to improve their campaigns without tracking each publisher’s efficiency separately and comparing the results.
Ad networks have direct relationships with advertisers and demand-side platforms (DSPs), enabling them to aggregate demand and sell inventory in bulk.
The best ad networks provide monetization solutions for a variety of ad formats, such as display ads, video ads and native ads. This gives publishers more options to generate revenue from ad inventory than working with a single advertiser.
The prices set by ad networks are generally higher than what publishers could secure on their own for unsold inventory.
This is mainly because ad networks can provide bulk impressions to advertisers, which are then passed on to publishers through higher cost per 1,000 views (CPM), which we’ll delve into a little later on.
Ad networks have access to large amounts of data they can use to target ads more effectively. This results in higher click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates, leading to higher revenue for publishers.
Google AdSense, for example, is one of the largest ad networks with more than 2 million advertisers.
Choosing the right type of ad network is crucial for the quality and volume of the traffic. Here are the four main types of networks publishers can use to generate ad revenue.
A premium ad network works exclusively with big brands and well-known companies to provide high-quality traffic at a higher price.
The advantage of working with such networks is that publishers access big budgets and well-crafted ad campaigns that usually convert well. The downside is that it can be hard to secure a premium network’s approval as they are very selective with the inventory they offer advertisers.
A vertical ad network focuses on a specific industry or niche, providing access to websites that are related to this particular niche.
Examples of niches that vertical networks target are healthcare, finance and travel. As the target audience here is very specific, campaigns that run through vertical ad networks usually generate less traffic but have a higher conversion rate.
Inventory-specific ad networks for publishers provide access to a specific type of inventory, such as video, mobile or rich media ads. They usually have a great deal of experience with the type of inventory they offer, and provide insights on how to make the most out of it.
Affiliate ad networks provide performance-based advertising, meaning the publisher is only paid for ad conversions.
These ad networks connect content creators, bloggers and other online publishers with companies ready to pay for the promotion of their products or services. Publishers earn commissions for the promoted products and often do it transparently by disclosing their use of affiliate links.
Publishers need to evaluate different ad networks to see which one is the best fit for their website. The most fitting ad network for a website should generate enough profit without harming the quality of the content and user experience.
Here are some factors to consider when choosing the best ad network.
Though there is no single accurate measure of an ad network’s size, one can gauge this by the number of advertisers and publishers the ad network already has in its system.
This information is usually publicly available on the network’s website, and it can help publishers understand whether the network is big enough to guarantee a constant flow of advertisers. If there is no relevant information available, publishers should evaluate the quality of the network’s main advertisers.
If the network boasts reputable clients that are more likely to have big advertising budgets and demanding traffic requirements, then the network is more likely big enough to support the publisher’s needs.
Popular ad networks, such as AdSense and AdRoll, have been around for many years and have built a solid reputation within the industry. When working with these networks, publishers can have confidence that payments will be processed on time.
However, when cooperating with lesser-known ad networks, it’s necessary to check their reputation before signing a contract. Reading reviews and talking to other publishers who have already worked with the network are smart choices.
If the ad network is new on the market, it’s a good idea to look into the team behind the curtain. If that team has experience in the industry and comes from a well-established rival, then the network is worth considering.
It’s essential that publishers carefully scope out the type of advertisers that the ad network works with, as this will determine the quality of the ads publishers will be expected to display on their websites. Ad quality is usually determined by a website’s content quality, relevance and design.
For publishers to ensure they’ll receive high-quality and contextually relevant ads, they should check the ad network’s advertiser requirements. Networks that have strict requirements and vet their clients carefully are more attractive.
Alternatively, publishers can opt to manually review ads before displaying them. If some ads are irrelevant or are poorly designed, publishers can report them to the ad network and refuse to display them. However, all this takes and eats up resources on both sides.
The most common compensation models are cost per click (CPC), cost per mille (CPM) and cost per action (CPA).
With the CPC model publishers are paid every time a user clicks on an ad. Revenue varies depending on the type of the product being advertised, the platform, the ad as well as the niche. For example, Google Ads’ CPC rates for search ads stood at $0.67 in 2021, while Google Ads’ CPC rates for display ads were $2.32.
With the CPM model, publishers are paid based on the number of impressions the ad receives, regardless of whether it was clicked or not. The CPM rates largely depend on the website’s traffic, the main audience’s location and the CTR. The CPM for display ads usually fluctuates between $0.30 and $2.
Finally, with the CPA model publishers are only paid if a user takes a specific action, such as filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter, etc. In other words, the CPA shows the total cost spent on a single customer to move them along the advertiser’s sales channel.
The CPA model is often used in performance-based advertising, where advertisers are looking to generate leads or sales.
Now that we have a bit more insight into the ad network landscape, let’s review the best ad networks in 2024.
Please note that because these are not deep-dive reviews, we’ve listed the following platforms alphabetically rather than in order of preference.
AdMaven is mostly known for supporting pop-under ads, but it also works with lightboxes, display advertising, slider ads and interstitial ads.
AdMaven has one of the lowest traffic requirements on the list, making the network accessible to many small-to-midsize website owners.
One great advantage is a flexible payment plan, which allows the publisher to choose the payment method and payment schedule according to their preferences. Additionally, it supports many ad models.
One drawback of AdMaven is that its user interface is complicated. It takes some time to learn.
Model: CPA, cost per install (CPI), cost per lead (CPL), CPC and CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 2,500 monthly visitors
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AdPushup is an ad network that helps publishers with ad optimization and revenue maximization. One key feature is the pro-user adblock monetization solution, which helps publishers recover lost revenue from blocked ads.
The advantage of AdPushup’s adblock solution is that visitors can still hide the reinserted ads if they don’t want to see them.
It’s challenging for newly started publishers to integrate AdPushup, as the network only works with publishers generating more than $5,000 in monthly ad revenue.
In addition, payments are only issued from US banks, which creates additional difficulties for international publishers.
Model: CPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None, but publishers must generate more than $5,000 per month in ad revenue.
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Adsterra allows the monetization of any traffic channel, whether it’s desktop, mobile or in-app. This is mainly possible due to a social bar, an exclusive ad format that doesn’t require specific ad placements.
This means the ad’s creatives can have any form and shape, such as chats, video teasers, messenger icons, in-page pushes, notifications and more.
The network also deploys its signature Anti-Adblock solution, which increases publisher revenue by 20%.
The minimum payout — a sum of money an ad network pays the publisher — is $5 on Paxum and Webmoney. The payout for non-wire transfers is $100 and for wire transfers it’s $1,000.
Model: CPM, CPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 50,000 monthly impressions
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Amazon Publisher Services (APS) is the center for ad operations within Amazon’s marketing services. It’s one of the largest and most reputable ad networks, along with Facebook and Google. APS offers Unified Ad Marketplace (UAM) and Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM) solutions. Both UAM and TAM are server-side header bidding solutions.
The network partners only with highly reputable publishers, enforcing a rigorous selection process. Many small and mid-size businesses find the network too exclusive and difficult to join because of this.
On the other hand, APS also cooperates with the best advertisers, so publishers are sure to receive high-quality ads and good payouts.
Because of the large size and high quality of Amazon’s ad network, publishers rarely experience website slowdown periods or other technical difficulties.
Model: PPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 5000 unique visits per day
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CodeFuel, which is a native ad network, offers traffic monetization opportunities across multiple channels, including websites, apps, browsers and extensions.
The network is mostly concentrated on verticals in education and technology, which means websites with relevant content are more likely to perform well. However, publishers from other niches are also welcome to join the network.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Criteo is a global technology company that provides a performance marketing platform for the world’s largest advertisers. From display and video ads to native ads, Criteo covers a wide range of ad formats.
The two key features of Criteo include RTB and the opportunity for publishers to set up direct deals with advertisers. This allows for more transparency and control over the entire process, from ad creation to delivery.
Payments are made monthly, which adds stability to publisher budgets.
The drawback is that a comparatively more complicated UI takes a long time for first-time users to learn.
Model: CPM, CPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Epom supports 30+ rich media ad formats, including video ads, banner ads, screen modifiers, pop-unders and more. Its intelligent matching algorithm and precise targeting tools provide publishers with an almost 100% fill rate with the highest possible CPMs.
The company provides highly responsive customer support to publishers, while the technical support team is available 24/7.
Moreover, publishers can have a personal team at Epom advise on the ad formats and ad spaces that will maximize the publisher’s earnings.
Model: CPM, CPC, CPA
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 500,000 monthly impressions
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Ezoic is a Google-Certified Publishing Partner and is also a certified partner of Cloudflare, JW Player and the Flippa website exchange.
Ezoic’s unique AI-driven ad testing model allows publishers to test the ads they will display by placement, location and other criteria. This lets publishers see what works best for their visitors and is likely to generate more revenue before they go live.
There is no minimum monthly traffic requirement to use Ezoic. If the website has less than 10,000 monthly traffic, it can join the network via the “Access Now” monetization program for growing websites.
Model: CPM, CPC, CPA
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Freestar is one of the most popular ad networks that provides professional assistance for audience development to publishers.
The audience development team offers SEO consultations, group traffic sessions, content strategy and other related services to help publishers increase their web traffic and earn more.
One of Freestar’s success stories is that Al Jazeera recorded a 135% increase in ad revenue per 1,000 impressions after partnering with the network.
Freestars encourages potential publishers to have at least 1 million monthly pageviews, but it accepts websites with less traffic as well.
One of the drawbacks to consider is that there is a long lock-in period for publishers, meaning that they will have to stay with Freestar for an extended period before being able to cancel their contract and move to another network.
Model: CPM
Suggested minimum traffic: 1 million monthly pageviews
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Google AdSense is a leading ad network that matches ads to a specific website based on the content and visitors.
AdSense is more accessible for new advertisers as it does not have a minimum traffic requirement and is also known for being more user-friendly for beginners.
However, approvals can take a while to go through and some publishers may struggle if their niche is not considered profitable enough.
Model: CPM, CPC, Active View CPM, cost per engagement (CPE)
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Headerbidding.co is a solution from Automatad that allows publishers to participate in header bidding, or ad auctions.
This advanced programmatic technique allows publishers to receive bids directly from the demand partners. As partners compete for the publishers, the suggested CPMs go up.
However, it’s worth noting that the bidding auction is conducted when the page loads. This process can cause latency, or slow page loading times, which can frustrate users. One solution to this problem is to have a good server and network infrastructure.
The platform accepts websites with any traffic. However, it suggests having 1 million monthly pageviews as an optimal starting point.
Model: CPM
Suggested minimum traffic: 1 million monthly pageviews
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Index Exchange allows publishers to monetize display, video, CTV, mobile and native ad inventory from a single source.
Additionally, due to being a trusted partner for many industry-leading DSPs and advertising agencies, Index Exchange helps publishers access a large spectrum of global premium demand.
One potential drawback to consider is that the interface is not as user-friendly as other networks on the list. When starting with the platform, publishers are more likely to face a steep learning curve.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Pros
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Media.net is one of the world’s leading ad tech companies. One of its best features is that publishers receive exclusive access to Yahoo! Bing Network, and can access high-quality ads with increased revenue.
The contextual ads system filters users’ intent via relevant search keywords and places only targeted ads, generating higher click-through and conversion rates for publishers.
The drawback is that Media.net requires a minimum of 10,000 monthly page views from websites in the US, UK and Canada. Additionally, website content should be primarily written in English.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 10,000 monthly pageviews
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Mediavine is a popular ad network among lifestyle and food bloggers. While it’s not a strict vertical ad network blocking publishers from other niches, lifestyle content creators tend to perform better with Mediavine.
The network works only with the CPM pricing model, so it may not be suitable for bloggers used to working with CPC or CPA.
Mediavine pays the publisher’s revenue share every 65 days, which is longer compared to many other networks that pay on a monthly basis.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 50,000 sessions or around 60,000 pageviews
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Pros
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PubGalaxy is a global network of more than 2,000 publishers with over 20 years of experience. After joining the platform, publishers can sell their inventory on more than 20 premium networks.
The network is selective with advertisers. PubGalaxy publishers receive ad placement requests from Google Ad Manager, OpenX, Rubicon, Index Exchange and others.
PubGalaxy supports multiple ad formats, including native, video, interstitial and more. The ad quality protection technology ensures that 99% of malicious or intrusive ads are blocked.
Model: CPC, CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: An average of 50,000 monthly pageviews
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Pros
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Publift is a premium ad network that works with businesses from around 60 countries, including MetService, Pay Calculator, Envato and others. It’s a Google-Certified Publishing Partner, which means it’s accredited by Google for helping publishers succeed with Google AdSense and Google Ad Manager.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 500,000 pageviews per month
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Pros
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Raptive, which was AdThrive until its April 2023 rebranding, is a premium ad network that is mainly focused on publishers and bloggers in the lifestyle niche.
There is no strict requirement restricting publishers and bloggers from other niches. However, the food, travel, home, DIY, parenting industries and similar niches are more suitable for Raptive partnerships.
Besides the niche focus, Raptive requires sites to have 100% original content and consistently attract at least 100,000 pageviews per month, the majority of which should come from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
However, the network does promise a 20% uptick in RPM within the first two weeks of joining, backed with a guarantee to pay the difference if it can’t deliver.
The geographic restrictions make the network less suitable for small international bloggers.
One of the advantages of Raptive is payment security. If a certain publisher doesn’t pay Raptive, the network will make ad payments on their behalf to the publisher.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 100,000 monthly pageviews
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Pros
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Revcontent is a native advertising platform with wide monetization opportunities for many devices, including desktop, mobile, a multitude of geographies and more.
It offers enhanced support to publishers and optimization solutions that can be used to improve the user experience and content performance.
What’s special about Revcontent is its granular brand safety. In other words, publishers have control over the content they are requested to display. They can block certain ads by keyword, image, category and more.
One drawback, however, is its long payouts — Net 50, meaning payments are made once every 50 days.
Model: CPM, CPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: 50,000 monthly visitors
Features
Pros
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Sovrn is a technology company that provides traffic monetization opportunities for all websites regardless of traffic.
One of Sovrn’s best features is the automatic insertion of affiliate links into the publisher’s existing content. So backfilling the affiliate link after signing up for Sovrn is a breeze.
What’s also great is that there is no minimum traffic requirement. The platform offers monetization opportunities for all website owners.
One thing to consider is that effective CPM (eCPM) rates — an estimate of the revenue for every 1,000 ad impressions — for non-US traffic are lower.
Model: CPA, CPC
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
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Pros
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TripleLift is a premium programmatic ad network that partners with major advertisers such as Nestle, P&G, Microsoft, Toyota and others. The network supports multiple ad formats, including online video, display, CTV, branded content and native.
A highlight of working with TripleLift is the fact that native ads are genuinely native, matching both the look and feel of the publisher’s site while being contextually relevant to the content.
The drawback is that integrating with TripleLift’s technology can be time-consuming when most other ad networks on the list require little to no integration efforts.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: None
Features
Pros
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Vuukle cooperates with 25+ trusted demand-side platforms (DSPs), including Google Ad Manager, Amazon Publisher Services, PubMatic and more. This ad network supports both video and display ad formats and provides publishers with a 40% uplift in CPMs.
Publishers can receive reports categorized by ad unit, device or category updated every hour and easily track their performance and earnings.
It’s one of the most AI-driven ad networks on our list, which is also a very user-friendly platform for both publishers and advertisers. The network works with 420+ publishers around the world.
Model: CPM
Minimum Traffic Requirement: Not required, so long as the majority comes from the US
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Pros
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Working with ad networks is one of publishers’ core monetization strategies. However, ad network partners need to be chosen carefully to avoid placement requests for low-quality and irrelevant ads. Such ad placements may benefit publishers in the short-term, but run a serious risk of ruining their long-term reputation.
The best ad networks listed above are all trusted and have solid working relationships with advertisers and publishers. Yes, some do have high requirements in terms of traffic and content quality. But if the publisher’s goal is to build a sustainable online business, then these requirements shouldn’t represent a significant obstacle.
Monetization is only one aspect of business sustainability, however, and publishers should also be on the lookout to improve their operational efficiencies wherever possible. Given that for most publishers operational efficiencies can likely be squeezed out of the software they use, consider exploring our list of best digital publishing platforms in 2024
Payout rates and revenue share vary based on the network, the advertiser’s bid price and the publisher’s content and traffic.
It’s essential that publishers research and compare multiple ad networks and their payout models to find the one that best suits their needs and goals.
There are multiple ad networks — such as AdThrive, Ezoic, Sovrn and Media.net — that pay better than AdSense. With that being said, it’s a good idea to experiment with different ad networks and ad formats to find the combination that works best.
The three most popular ad network systems are:
A vertical ad network focuses on a specific niche or industry. They may have a limited number of publishers and advertisers, but they offer highly targeted advertising options.
The amount of money that AdThrive pays to publishers varies based on a number of factors, including the amount of traffic that the site receives, the geographical location of the site’s visitors, website niche and the ads’ performance.
