9 Proven Adsense Alternatives that Make Money (Earnings Screenshots)

This post is based on extensive personal testing and use of many ad networks on my largest B2C niche site which currently receives over 2.5 million monthly page views.With this level of traffic, I’m able to quickly test ad networks and determine whether they’re worth using.Below is my list of 9 top Adsense alternatives or ad networks additional incremental revenue.Please note that I use Adsense on my sites along with many of the following ad networks.

IMPORTANT:  While I generate plenty of revenue with the following ad networks, nothing comes close togenerating the amount of revenue Adsense does for me.  That said, I reserve the best ad spots on my sites for Adsense so I’m sure if I placed Media.net ads in the Adsense spots, Media.net would perform better than it does currently… but I highly doubt Media.net would out-earn Adsense.

9 Best Ad Network Options Other than Adsense

Media.net

I love Media.net (read my review here).  They offer terrific ad customization resulting in high ad conversion and the RPM is decent.

Like Adsense, you can place up to 3 ad units on a page.

Overall, Media.net is a little more lenient about placement than Adsense… although they do have a terms of service you must be familiar with.  Like Adsense, Media.net (and all quality ad networks) will not tolerate garbage traffic and click fraud.

Since starting with Media.net, I’ve consistently increased my revenue with them.  Here’s a recent earning screenshot (just to show you can actually earn decent revenue with their ad network.

Criteo

Criteo is the newest ad network I’ve added to my B2C sites.

What I love about Criteo is you can set a RPM floor so that you’re guaranteed a certain RPM.

Currently I have 2 Criteo ads on my site.  One is placed to display if it generates a higher revenue than one of my Media.net ads.  The other is an ad on its own that will only display if it meets the RPM floor I set.

I set fairly high RPM floors for both units.  It’s only been 2 days, but already the results are very impressive.

GumGum

Specifically, I use GumGum image overlay ads.  These are ads that display banners at the bottom of images.

My B2C niche sites are image-rich, so GumGum is a perfect ad network to add to the site.

You can choose how aggressive the ads display such as 10% of images, 20% of images and so on.  I go with 12% to 15%.  I don’t want every image to have an ad on them.

The one issue with GumGum is you need to have a minimum of 500,000 monthly page views in order to have an account.  If you get this traffic volume and have images on your site, I recommend you give them a shot.

Amazon CPM

Amazon now offers an ad network that operates different than its affiliate program.

The Amazon CPM ads are ad units (up to 3 per web page) you place on your site.  Revenue is generated on a strict CPM basis, which is great.

I believe you still need to be invited to the Amazon CPM ad network.  To find out if you’re invited, log in to your Amazon Associates account and look for a large banner about the CPM ad network.

While you won’t get rich with Amazon CPM ads, they offer great incremental income (read my detailed Amazon CPM Ad Network review here).

Their biggest issue currently is the fill rate.  Seldom do ads fill higher than 50% for me.  Therefore, it’s important to include a backfill (either another ad network or some banner that offers site navigation… the key is to backfill with something otherwise you end up with a blank white space).

Here’s a screenshot of recent revenue from Amazon CPM ads:

Spoutable

Spoutable is a new ad network and it’s a very smart concept.  Essentially, Spoutable uses exit intent technology.  When a visitor indicates they are leaving the site by placing cursor on the browser address bar, the Spoutable ads pop up.

Spoutable ads are in the same format as native ads.  Basically they promote other content much like Taboola and Outbrain ads.  This is good because the ads are promoting other interesting content… not hard-selling something.

The engagement is quite high.  I think the ads look great.

Currently, Spoutable is on an invite-only basis, but you can apply here.

Here are some recent earnings I’ve had with Spoutable.  Revenue fluctuates somewhat, but that’s common with many ad networks.

Note:  Currently I’m testing Spoutable by turning them on and off to see if they cannibalize other ad networks.  I don’t think they are, but I always do this testing with new ad networks.  Overall, the revenue is decent.  If you get an invite to use them, I suggest you test them as well.

EngageBDR

EngageBDR invited me to place some of their ads on my site.  They offered a very high RPM so I gave it a shot.

The revenue these ads generated was awesome and it was based on a CPM basis.  That said, I know their ads generated a lot of clicks… and if those clicks didn’t happen on my site, EngageBDR would have ended their relationship with me.

However, I’m no longer running EngageBDR ads on my site because their ads were slowing my site down.  They were gif format.  They tried to fix the issue, but it wasn’t fixed.  I had readers complained about site performance, so I removed the ads.  I didn’t like removing the ads because they made a lot of money, but I can’t sacrifice user experience for the sake of revenue to the degree these ads did.

I’m including EngageBDR in this list because I think you should give them a shot if you can get into their ad network.  Perhaps you won’t have the same site issues I did.  If you don’t, you can make a lot of money with them… in fact if your site performs well for them (i.e. you generate a lot of converting traffic for them), these ads could exceed Adsense revenue on an RPM basis.

I ran EngageBDR ads for a short time (March 12 to March 31) – here’s what they earned:

Taboola

Taboola ads are native advertising ads.  These ads link to popular and enticing content.  You’ve likely seen them on other websites… they’re the ads that follow “From the Web” or some similar phrase.

Taboola is an ad network I don’t use much.  It’s one I haven’t had a great deal of success with.  However, I’m including Taboola because I have publisher colleagues who generate a great deal of revenue with them.

For some reason Taboola ads don’t work all that great in my niche.  But they do perform well in many niches, so I suggest you give them a shot.  These ads have a relatively high CTR and with a lot of traffic, can generate some great revenue.

Typically these ads are placed in sidebars and below content.  You should also definitely test some in-content placement as well.

FYI, Taboola isn’t the only native ad network.  There are many of them.  Too many to list.  Outbrain is another popular native ad network, but you need millions of monthly page views in order to place Outbrain’s ads on your site.  Taboola doesn’t have such a high threshold.

Vibrant Media

I used Vibrant Media’s in-text ads for several months.  I earned $7 to $10 per day.  It wasn’t much.  I don’t use them any more; however, I’m including them in this list because I think they’re worth trying.

The reason they didn’t do well for me is because my B2C sites are image-rich.  The text is much less important.  Since Vibrant Media’s in-text offering is focused on in-text links, I’m not surprised they didn’t do well for me.

If your site is rich with text-based information and you get 500,000 monthly page views, I suggest testing Vibrant Media.

Ezoic

Ezoic is a different ad network concept altogether.  I’ve been working with them for 3 weeks and am very impressed.  Read more about Ezoic here (my very recent and upated Ezoic review.

Ezoic is a certified Adsense partner.  Ezoic in a nutshell manages and optimizes your ad placement.  Their software for testing ad placement is amazing.  Moreover, every ad placement template has been approved with Google Adsense so there’s no risk of violating Adsense ad placement rules.

Currently, I’m using both Ezoic and my own ad placements… comparing the two.  It takes several weeks for Ezoic to conduct testing.  In fact, testing never ends, but the first several weeks is when the system really tests a lot of ad placements and layouts.  As it does this testing, it rules out poorly performing layouts.

You can optimize your site for revenue, bounce rate and/or page views.  I choose to focus on revenue.

At the time of publishing this post, I’m still in the initial testing phase with Ezoic, but the results are very, very good.  I’m certain I’ll be sticking with them for a long time… even if I use both their layouts along with my own ad placement.

I believe you do need an Adsense account in good standing in order to work with Ezoic.  If they accept your site into their system, I suggest embracing the opportunity.  Just be patient during the first few weeks because the revenue won’t be great as the system starts its testing… but it doesn’t take long for revenue to climb.

Generally, Ezoic states its system can significantly increase a site’s ad revenue through extensive testing, sometimes up to 200%+.  While I don’t expect a 200%+ increase in revenue, any increase is excellent.  Moreover, I like the fact that their ad placements are pre-approved with Google Adsense which means I can’t run into Adsense ad layout/placement issues.

If you use display ads on your site, I suggest giving Ezoic a shot.  However, don’t pull the plug on day 3.  You need to commit to letting the initial extensive testing run its course.

Below is a recent screenshot of Ezoic earnings.  The reason for the wide fluctuations is that I’ve been adjusting the delivery of Ezoic week-to-week.  When earnings were over $3,000 per day, I had Ezoic delivering at a much higher percent.  I’ve dialed it back as I’ve been conducting my own ad testing.  I then compare the two over time.  Overall, Ezoic’s performance improves on an earnings per thousand visits every day which is great.

Update Jan. 2016: => Click here for the new and improved Ezoic (it’s awesome).

Comments About Using Multiple Ad Networks

It’s a balancing act when adding more ads to any web page.  You want to avoid cannibalization of your higher earning ads.

This why it’s good to test new ad networks one-by-one to determine how additional ad networks impact overall revenue.

The reason the above mix of ads works well as an Adsense alternative or in addition to Adsense ads is they offer unique features and operate differently.  For example, GumGum enables you to monetize images.

Media.net ads perform very well in content and below content because the ads look like navigation options.  Amazon CPM ads work great because you can place them anywhere and earn on a strict CPM basis.

More is not necessary more.  Less is not necessary more.  It takes testing.  Every site is unique.  What works well for me may not work well for you.  Nevertheless, the above list is a set of proven ad networks that you can test.

Even if you discover only one additional ad network that works well for you, the 6 minutes it took to read this list was time well spent.

Adsense Compliance

As far as I know, all of the above ad networks are fine to use with Adsense on a web page.  Please note that I am not a Google Adsense employee and so I don’t know for sure… however, I’ve no issue incorporating the above ads on my site with Adsense.  I just ensure the ads aren’t placed next to Adsense and I ensure the ads do not appear in a similar style to Adsense ads.

by Jon Dykstra)   http://fatstacksblog.com