CPM, CPC, and CPA are the three main ways that digital media companies charge advertisers for online advertising.
CPM stands for cost-per-mille, mille mean one thousand. In the case of online media, media companies charge advertisers for impressions, which are counted in 1000s.
Let’s say you want to charge $10 per 1000 impressions on your blog, that means that you will charge $10 for every 1000 people who see an advertisement. The way that online advertisers count impressions is by page views, so 1000 pageviews equals 1000 impressions for each ad display on single page. If you have 10 ads on the page and you’ve got 10,000 impressions. At $10 per 1000 impressions, that’s $100!
For you to know how advertisers determine how much they will pay for each impression? There are standard ranges, but as any good sales person knows, it’s all about how you pitch it.
CPM rates can vary depend on where your site visitors come from and it can range from $0.25 to $200, or more. Media companies tend to be able to charge higher rates if
(a) if the advertiser is selling a higher cost good (like fancy watches or electronics) and
(b) if the advertiser believes that the audience is a particularly good fit for their product and particularly prone to open their wallets.
CPC stands for cost-per-click. This is the rate that websites charge advertisers every time someone clicks on an ad. If the CPC for a site is $50, and an ad gets clicked 1000 times over the course of the month, the advertiser pays the publisher $50,000.
Many sites will offer you the ability to choose which type of advertising you’re interested in. However, the vast majority of ads on Google are purchased on a CPC basis.
Google is famous for their cost-per-click ad selling strategy—all of those Google Ads you see on your search results or next to your email? Google only charges those advertisers if you actually click on the ad. If no one clicks, Google makes no money.
Looking to only pay for ads that drive action? Then you want to check out CPA or cost-per-action (also known as pay-per-performance (PPM) or cost-per-acquisition (CPA)). When a media company charges an advertiser using a CPA model, the advertiser only pays out if a user clicks AND does a specific ACTION.
What does that action have to be? Depends on the advertiser! If Egwunutshellblog ran ads we might pay only for users who signed up for our newsletter. Amazon, on the other hand, might pay only for users who actually bought a book.
One of the best and worst things about online advertising is that it’s really easy to track. Want to know how many people saw your ad? Look at the page views! Want to know how many people clicked? Look at the click rate.
On the surface this looks like a good thing, but that depends on who you ask! Advertisers like it, but media companies don’t because it has dramatically brought down the amount that advertisers are willing to pay for ads because now they know exactly what they are getting.
Cost-per-impression is actually how television and magazine advertising has always been priced. Back in the day, magazines used to do all kinds of funny math to bump up their number of impressions. One major American magazine used to count 8 impressions per copy of the magazine!
How could eight people look at EVERY copy of the magazine, you ask? Well you have to account for all the people who picked it up in the grocery store aisle or flipped through it at the doctor’s office or shared it with their friends. But all of these is difficulty to track if you ask me.
Have a question about CPM, CPC, and CPA? Feel free to leave a comment below promise to get back you as soon as possible.
10 Best CPM Ad Networks for Publishers
There is no one-size-fits-all solution in ad tech. If you're a publisher looking for an ad tech company that will provide you with high-quality CPM ads and provide specialized CPM advertising programs, check out the CPM advertising networks mentioned in this list. All of these networks will provide you with a good user experience and CPM rate, but before making a decision, always think carefully about what’s best to achieve your goals and where CPM fits into that.
Let’s take a look at the features of the current and emerging ad networks to evaluate and figure out where they can best help grow your business.
Top 10 CPM Ad Networks:
1. Publift
2. Google AdSense
3. Adcash
4. Exponential (Formerly Tribal Fusion)
5. BuySellAds
6. Propeller Ads
7. UberCPM
8. Conversant Media
9. Adbuffs
10. Media.net
1. Publift
Publift is a simplified and cutting edge programmatic advertising technology provider. Named one of Australia's Fast Starters 2020 by The Australian Financial Review and Statista, they have partnered with over 250+ publishers and app developers worldwide.
Publift’s clients typically see a 55% increase in ad revenue. In their own words, they’re “obsessive about growing publishers’ businesses." As a Google Certified Publishing Partner, Publift is an excellent choice for publishers who want to monetize, grow their business, and serve quality ads with minimal impact to their UX.
2. Google AdSense
With Google AdSense, publishers are free to use both CPM advertising and CPC (cost-per-click campaigns). AdSense has a large advertisement pool that pays well, but its approval system is quite strict. Publishers get 68% of the revenue, and Google obtains 32%. AdSense helps publishers pick from 450 categories of ads and offers publishers a reach of 2 million advertisers worldwide.
The main drawback is that AdSense accounts need clearance, which is not simple to obtain. Nonetheless, it is one of the best CPM ad networks in the world. The platform offers a wide range of publisher options when it comes to campaign controls, payment, and more.
3. Adcash
Adcash has advertising costing billions of dollars per month and over 200 million viewers per day. They claim to fill inventories 100% of the time, allowing publishers to monetize web traffic with minimal effort.
While the platform prides itself on offering dynamic CPM monetization and user experience, you can opt-in for the manual process, too. Adcash also accepts smartphone advertising and has a smart network for personalized targeting.
There is no minimum traffic requirement to get approval and numerous payment systems are available.
4. Exponential (Formerly Tribal Fusion)
Exponential, formerly Tribal Fusion, is one of the most highly-ranked ad networks on the internet, providing a variety of ad types. The platform offers publishers and advertisers custom-tailored plans to monetize. It provides elevated CPM rates, and a huge opportunity to earn revenue with the help of extremely targeted ads.
The need for highly tailored and pertinent content is high with this ad network. The company gives 55% of the total ad revenue generated to the publishers, but with a base standard of 500,000 unique visitors per month, it is extremely difficult to get accepted.
5. BuySellAds
BuySellAds is an option for beginners since there are no minimum traffic thresholds, allowing website owners to get started right away. The ad network helps publishers in setting direct deals with advertisers. It also enables them to monetize the traffic that is using ad blockers.
Pay demands for BuySellAds should be received twice a month and are reviewed in 2-3 days. A minimum payment threshold of $20 may be transferred through PayPal. A minimum payment threshold $50 and a maximum payment threshold of $500 must be available for cheques or wire transfers.
6. Propeller Ads
Propeller Ads is an excellent eCPM ad network with good eCPM speeds. It's also simple to try their service, which allows you to monetize your website or smartphone traffic in less than five minutes. You can get started right away by following a few simple steps to add and check your domain ownership.
Propeller Ads supports a range of ad types, including OnClick PopUnder Ads, Web Ads, Banner Ads, Layer Ads, among others. PropellerAds is an outstanding alternative as one of the strongest CPM ad networks. Net30 payment policy and a minimum $100 requirement are two excellent features. Propeller also offers real-time reporting.
7. UberCPM
UberCPM is one of the fastest rising CPM ad networks, with instant site permissions and an eighty percent profit share for publishers. UberCPM is an ad exchange network that positions your inventory on different exchanges so that numerous advertisers can bid on your domain. Publishers may receive monthly payments via Wire Transfer, PayPal, or Payoneer.
They will also provide real-time statistics and customer service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The features include a flat $10 threshold, subscription fees, and a sales distribution of 80% for publishers. Start wherever you like, with no minimum traffic requirements and an easy-to-use dashboard.
8. Conversant Media
Conversant Media called ValueClick one of the leading ad networks in the industry before 2014. It's an online advertisement firm with a track record of more than 15 years. Their operation only accepts high-quality websites.
They have a broad variety of ad formats. You have full power over advertising, so you can select whether or not to view them on your blog. Their customer service is excellent. Conversant Media pays on a regular basis, with the minimum payout threshold a mere $25.
9. Adbuffs
Adbuffs is also a CPM and a CPC ad network. It is connected to the most important ad exchanges. Adbuffs technology allows major publishers to increase sales by encouraging a large number of advertisers to bid on inventory. It is also the ultimate AdSense replacement network, with prices that compete with, and even surpass, AdSense for certain publishers.
Adbuffs accepts payments through Payoneer, PayPal, and Bank Wire on a NET 45 basis. Approval usually requires 24-48 business hours, and only the best performing publishers are approved. This is a network that is both creative and efficient, with real-time bidding. CPM prices that are reasonable, and advertisers and publishers must obey stringent approval protocols.
10. Media.net
Media.net is one of the world’s leading ad networks. With offices in Dubai, Los Angeles, Bangalore, Mumbai, New York, and Zurich, they run the world’s second largest contextual ads program from Yahoo! Bing Network Contextual Ad network. Media.net’s clients include Forbes, Yahoo, MSN, and Kiplinger, among others.
To apply, you must have original material. Content must also be revised on a daily basis. Infringement on the intellectual property interests of third parties is not permissible.
You can opt for the CPA for short-term goals and time-sensitive products that are not very expensive. While, if you have time to gather the data and work the marketing funnel from top to bottom – start with the CPM and work your way down to the CPA. This classical approach will give you more insights along the way.