Advertising remains one of the most popular ways for publishers to monetize their websites. By displaying paid ads on your site, you can earn money from advertisers looking to reach your audience.
However, securing direct advertising deals with brands requires significant traffic and resources. This is where ad networks come in – they connect publishers to advertisers, handling all the ad serving technology and administrative work for you.
But with so many ad networks to choose from in 2024, how do you pick the right one(s) for your site? Here’s an overview of 12 top ad networks along with tips for selecting networks tailored to your goals and audience.
Factors to Consider When Choosing an Ad Network
Before diving into the top networks, here are some key factors to evaluate:
Minimum Traffic Requirements: Most ad networks require a certain level of monthly visits to join their program. This can range from 50,000 to millions of pageviews per month.
Payment Thresholds and Terms: What‘s the minimum payout amount and payment frequency? Many networks pay out every month but could have thresholds from $10 to $100+.
Ad Formats and Placement Options: Banners, native ads, video ads, and more. Make sure the network provides formats that align with your site‘s design.
Targeting and Segmentation Capabilities: Can the network target ads to your audience based on geo, device, context, etc? More advanced targeting typically delivers better performing ads.
Reporting and Analytics: Transparent performance reporting helps you optimize over time. Evaluate the analytics dashboards and metrics provided.
Keeping those factors in mind, let’s look at 12 of the best ad networks for publishers this year.
1. Ezoic
Types of Ads: Display, Video
Ezoic is an ad-tech platform built specifically to help digital publishers maximize ad revenue. It goes beyond traditional ad networks to provide free hosting, website speed software, and machine learning technology to optimize ad placements and layouts over time.
With advanced geo-targeting and segmentation capabilities, Ezoic claims to deliver the highest ad rates to publishers compared to other networks. Expect premium-level CPMs while also benefiting from many website tools for free.
Minimum Traffic: 10,000 pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Net-30, $10 minimum
2. Media.net
Types of Ads: Native, Display, Video
As a major contextual ad network, Media.net analyzes page content in real-time to show relevant text, image, and video ads. It provides the code needed to automatically match ads to your articles based on words and phrases.
Media.net offers an interface to block ad topics and categories you don’t want showing. It also lets you A/B test ad units to find the highest performing placements. Expect premium demand and high CPM rates here.
Minimum Traffic: 10 million pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Net-60, $100 minimum
3. AdThrive
Types of Ads: Display, Video, Native
AdThrive focuses heavily on contextual ads for lifestyle websites in categories like food, home, parenting, travel, and more. It provides custom ad units optimized for engagement across desktop and mobile.
A major benefit with AdThrive is that it offers guaranteed payment rates, protecting your earnings even if advertisers fail to pay. Expect exceptional account management and optimization guidance as well.
Minimum Traffic: 100,000 pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Net-45, $100 minimum
4. Google Ad Manager
Types of Ads: Display, Video
Formerly known as DoubleClick for Publishers, Google Ad Manager provides enterprise-grade ad serving technology and global demand. It offers robust targeting based on demographics, context, formats, viewability and more.
Expect access to premium brands and advanced analytics with Google Ad Manager. While designed more for major publishers vs. individual bloggers, it remains a leading monetization platform.
Minimum Traffic: No official minimum
Payment Terms: Net-60, no minimum
5. Amazon Associates
Types of Ads: Affiliate Product Links
The Amazon Associates program lets publishers earn commission by linking to products on Amazon. You can manually link to products or use Amazon‘s Product Display ads to automatically serve contextual product recommendations.
When your readers click through and complete a purchase, you earn affiliate commission based on the category and product. With over 1 million products to potentially link to, Amazon makes it easy to monetize product mentions on your website.
Minimum Traffic: None
Payment Terms: Net 14-60 days, $10 minimum
6. Taboola
Types of Ads: Native Recommendations
Taboola helps publishers drive revenue by recommending editorial content, videos, and ads at the end of articles. These placements blend seamlessly into the layout while encouraging users to click and continue discovering content.
The network boasts 500 million daily impressions while maintaining strict publisher quality standards. If your content focuses on entertainment, news, or trends, Taboola can be very effective.
Minimum Traffic: 500,000 pageviews/month+
Payment Terms: Net-60, $100 minimum
7. Skimlinks
Types of Ads: Affiliate Commerce Links
Rather than display ads, Skimlinks monetizes articles by transforming existing product references into affiliate links. It automatically changes URLs to insert its own tracking code without impacting the user experience.
The network supports over 24,000 merchant programs including major brands like Microsoft, Lego, Nike and Sephora. Just write naturally about products and Skimlinks handles the affiliate link and tracking functionality behind the scenes.
Minimum Traffic: None
Payment Terms: Net-30, $10 minimum
8. Revcontent
Types of Ads: Content Recommendations
Revcontent serves up engaging content recommendations promoting relevant articles, quizzes, slideshows and more. These placements use attention-grabbing headlines placed in sidebars, below articles or in between paragraphs.
The network delivers over 3 billion content recommendations each month. Key selling points include quality vetting and optimization guidance. It‘s ideal for informational websites looking to boost engagement and clicks.
Minimum Traffic: 50,000 pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Net-30, $50 minimum
9. Google AdSense
Types of Ads: Display, Video, Text
Google AdSense really needs no introduction – it remains the most popular program used by publishers of all sizes for over 15 years. You‘ve certainly seen these familiar text and display ads on websites before.
AdSense automatically delivers relevant ads based on page content, user location, device type and other signals. Expect quality performance thanks to Google‘s immense demand pool. The interface also makes it easy to control ad types and placement.
Minimum Traffic: None
Payment Terms: Net-60, $100 minimum
10. Adsterra
Types of Ads: Display, Video, Popunders
Adsterra serves over 10 billion impressions each month across a network spanning 100+ countries. In addition to banner ads, it provides a full ad stack with popunders, native ads and more to maximize earnings.
Publishers can take advantage of A/B testing tools and advanced segmentation options to optimize campaigns. Expect dedicated account management and real-time reporting on performance as well.
Minimum Traffic: 200,000 pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Weekly, Net-15, $100 minimum
11. Chitika
Types of Ads: Text Links
Part ad network, part affiliate network – Chitika inserts targeted text links across publisher websites to display contextual advertisements and recommendations. So you may see relevant product links, merchant sites or blog articles promoted.
The network boasts over 100,000 publishers running Chitika ads. A highlight includes robust analytics to evaluate link performance by page, referrer source and geography.
Minimum Traffic: None
Payment Terms: Net-30, $25 minimum
12. Monumetric
Types of Ads: Display, Native
Monumetric prides itself on a high-touch, managed ad optimization program. Each publisher gets support from personal ad analysts and success managers who tweak placements and ad types over time.
The network vets both advertisers and publishers carefully and for quality. Expect premium CPMs but with a $99 setup fee if you have less than 80,000 pageviews per month.
Minimum Traffic: 10,000 pageviews/month
Payment Terms: Net-30, $100 minimum
Choosing the Best Ad Network for Your Goals
With this overview of top ad networks in 2024, evaluate their features and capabilities based on your current traffic and monetization goals. Most publishers use a mix of different networks across display ads, affiliate links, and content recommendations to maximize overall revenue.
Be sure to regularly assess performance data across networks and try new ones over time. As your traffic grows, you may gain access to additional premium ad platforms as well.
