Publishers look for high CPM rates, which depend on the cost of Adsterra 1000 impressions. Yet, a website’s traffic volumes don’t always return equal numbers of ad views. It’s time to get things in order!
From this short guide, you will learn about how much Adsterra pays for 1000 views and how you can improve CPM rates without even increasing the number of website visitors. After reading, you will be all set to shift your monetization strategy to a new level.
Table of Contents
Main Objectives
- Explain how Adsterra pays for 1000 impressions and how CPM works
- Show publishers how to increase their CPM and maximize earnings without increasing traffic
- Highlight the key factors that influence CPM rates and payouts
- Provide a guide to profitable traffic types and monetization strategies
How are Adsterra 1000 impressions linked to CPM payout rates?
Ad networks start paying for every 1,000 views when you place ads on your website. But not only. Your payout rates hinge on the number of clicks and user actions. This way, a publisher’s CPM and revenue will depend on the price per ad view, pay-per-click rates, and conversions.
In your Adsterra publisher’s account, the CPM rate includes all types of payouts. Conversions and clicks are the highest-paid, so you might see your CPM soar one day and decrease the next day. All those payouts will be distributed per 1,000 impressions. It’s also called “effective CPM” (eCPM) or earnings per 1,000 impressions.
The eCPM rate counts all types of a publisher’s earnings (ad views, clicks, conversions) obtained within 1K of ad impressions.
Get Fair CPM Rates
How Adsterra counts 1000 ad impressions for publishers
At Adsterra, we count impressions exactly as other ad networks do. Every impression is equal to one full load of an advertisement on a web page.
If five website visitors have seen one ad on one page, you get five impressions. The same will happen if a visitor has seen five different ads while navigating your website. The same will happen if one visitor sees one ad five times.
It sometimes happens that impressions are not scored, and now, we’re going to make this issue clear.
Views vs. impressions, or how to avoid discrepancies
Your Adsterra earnings per 1000 views equal every 1000 views of the whole advertisement load. So, the ad is counted as viewed when:
It loads fully, and users can observe more than 50% of the banner.
A user doesn’t leave the page before contacting this ad.
Publishers who manage website metrics always use Google Analytics to track traffic. They might notice that GA4 marks high figures for the number of visits, while on Adsterra, they see fewer ad impressions. This is called a discrepancy.
Ad discrepancy: Why your ad network’s stats show fewer impressions
It’s natural when you see some minor changes in stats. A disparity of 10–15% is ok, since every platform uses its own algorithm for counting user sessions. But what if you send massive traffic, but get many fewer impressions? Here are some common reasons and methods to combat discrepancies:
- Users close pop-ups before they load
We remember that one impression is a fully loaded ad. So, when users close a new browser tab with ads (aka Popunder) before it loads, it can’t be counted as an impression. - Native Banners are visible at less than 50%
Suppose a user doesn’t scroll your page enough to see native ads. This is frequently the case when publishers put native banners right before the page footer. The ads are loaded, but many fewer people scroll the page to reach them. - Users massively use VPNs and proxies
Some advertisers decline anonymous traffic; that’s why some ad impressions won’t be scored. - Zero tolerance to bots
Adsterra doesn’t count false impressions and bot clicks. They’re not the same, but they’re very much alike: remnant traffic bought in bulk also shows poor performance. Advertisers detect and block such ad views.
As you can see, you only must take care of traffic quality and ad placement to avoid losing potential money. What else can affect your payouts?
What must a publisher know about ad impression quality
when sending traffic to an ad network to monetize a full blast?
What must a publisher know about ad impression quality when sending traffic to an ad network to monetize a full blast?
Jitendra Vaswani, world-famous digital nomad, CEO at DigiExe
From my point of view, when sending traffic to an ad network to fully monetize through a blast, publishers must ensure high-quality ad impressions. Key factors include:
Optimization: Continuously analyze and optimize ad
placements and formats to improve click-through rates and conversions.
Audience Relevance: Ensure the traffic is relevant to the ads being served. Targeting the right audience increases engagement.
Viewability: Ads must be positioned where users easily see them. Higher viewability rates lead to better monetization.
Ad Fraud Prevention: Verify that traffic is genuine and not from bots or fraudulent sources, as this affects ad network trust and earnings.
User Experience: Avoid overwhelming users with too many ads. Maintain a balance for better engagement and long-term results.
CPM calculator: How the CPM rate affects publishers’ incomes
When your CPM is $2, it means your Adsterra 1000 impressions now cost $2. Ok, but how much can you earn, then? Another example will help us to make it out.
Calculating the CPM price
Supposing your website gets 5,000 visitors per day. These users generate 10,000 page views per day (they can see many pages or reload the same page). Your ad network’s stats show you the CPM of $2. Then, your daily revenue formula will be: 10,000 pageviews / 1,000 (the cost per thousand impressions) = $10. You got 10 CPMs, meaning you’ll be paid $2 ten times. In total, you get $20 per day for one single website. On average, it’ll be $600 monthly, a pleasant addition to your advertising revenue.
Remember that the CPM payout rates also include conversions! So, today, you may have the $2 payout, and the next day, $0.2, only because your visitors stopped converting. And the following day, you will have $4, just because users converted more!
The stats below reveal how a publisher earned $100+ in just four days by driving quality traffic. As you may have noticed, there were not many ad views, clicks, or CTR since our partner earns from pop-ups only.
Here’s how to earn 100 dollars in 4 days by driving significant traffic
Another example is provided by a website owner whose strategy was to drive social traffic to his website. Loads of relevant pop-up ad views returned enhanced profits.
You can now see how CPM rates affect the amount of money earned. But how exactly does the price per 1000 views count? Why does one publisher from India enjoy a CPM of $25 while others with the same geo can only make $0.2? To find the answer, we must look at those who pay publishers — the advertisers.
Who decides on the cost of 1,000 impressions?
One might initially think that ad networks alone establish how much they will pay for ads exposed on publishers’ websites. But this is not like that. Now, we will explain all the ins and outs.
Advertisers set publishers’ CPMs. They come to an ad network to promote their goods and services. All they need is their ads to reach as many users as possible, but not all users: only those who buy products, install apps, or subscribe to digital services. This is called targeting. Advertisers set preferred user parameters like country, city, device type, OS, etc.
How do advertisers determine your Adsterra earnings?
When advertisers choose which traffic to buy, they decide on the price (aka bid). Advertisers may be ready to pay a lot for, say, mobile users from the USA, but only if they get relevant audiences, which means:
- People view ads
- They click on ads
- They purchase goods and services
” Advertisers also determine the pay-per-click rate and the CPA (pay-per-action) price according to their preferences. So, views and clicks from the USA are traditionally paid higher than those from Pakistan. However, if your visitors from Pakistan deliver multiple conversions, your CPM may soar overnight.”
All these facts state the same truth: payout rates change daily. Let’s examine the main factors affecting CPMs and publishers’ revenues.
Factors that can affect CPM rates, along with traffic volumes
Publishers notice their CPM can spike one day, drop the next day…and lift again. Several factors affect the price of traffic. Publishers can monitor the dynamics right in their account on the Publishers Statistics page. Now, we are moving to listing some key factors associated with volumes and defining CPMs.
It all depends on the volume of ad offers and the competition. Advertisers compete stiffly during the BFCM sales (and others). And if your GEO is in their target, your CPM may skyrocket.
It makes sense to analyze how your traffic changes during the hottest sales seasons to attract more users who will convert into income.
- Website niche
Advertisers have always paid higher for ads on some trending website categories: News, Movies, Entertainment, and Sports. This doesn’t mean you must rebuild the blog to match the fruitful niche. If you drive quality traffic, you’ll find your fans among advertisers.
- Merchants also bid higher for sports-related websites during sports events, UFC fights, world tournaments, etc. When it comes to the off-season, the cost can decrease.
- CTR or click-through rate
This metric means almost as much as CPM. It can tell a publisher how the audience reacts to ads. If users click ads, advertisers will typically pay more for such users. The higher the click-through rate, the more valuable your website is.
Publishers can amplify their CTRs by following some common tips. First, it is better to place ads in the most visible spots on the web pages. Also, website owners should focus on the nature of advertising slots, especially when it comes to mobile pages. In our previous guide, we listed a bunch of tips on how you can improve your CTRs.
- Seasonality
Seasonality is evident, though it is the most unpredictable factor. Sometimes, advertisers buy all traffic, regardless of the cost, paying as much as possible. Other times, they set the lowest bids.
Seasonality is all about the competition for this or that traffic slice (targeting). Advertisers compete fiercely during the BFCM or Christmas sales. And if your geos are in their target, your CPM may skyrocket. The same happens during the major sporting events.
It makes sense to analyze how your traffic changes during the hottest sales seasons to attract more users who will convert into income.
- Ad offers and ad filters
Widely, you think of attracting quality traffic. And that’s enough to make money. However, we can look deeper and discover traffic segments that have always delivered the highest payouts.
Non-mainstream advertisers have always paid a lot for their offers to be displayed on publishers’ websites. Speed dating platforms, iGaming offers, and anime games are all non-mainstream or niche offers. And suppose your visitors are grown-ups (21+) looking for entertainment content. In that case, you should remove filters from explicit ads and try making money from such ads, as well.
Traffic types that boast of having higher revenues from every 1,000 impressions deserve higher attention! Let’s see which ones are trending now.
Highly paid traffic types
Social traffic
Social traffic is among the best-paid and organic SEO types. Many advertisers are ready to invest a lot in their offers to be exposed to young, advanced, and tech-savvy Meta, TikTok, or YouTube users. As of our recent data slices, up to CPM for the US social traffic can hit $28-50.
Mobile traffic
Universally, more and more users are shopping, learning, and working from mobiles. The COVID-19 outbreak has only fueled this trend. Suppose your Google Analytics continues to expose the dominance of desktop users. In that case, it seems like you will soon need a new plan.
SEO optimization under the Core Web Vitals is the primary step in achieving a good influx of organic mobile traffic. But only if you can offer precious, valuable content.
One more tip is a Webview creation. Webviews transform websites into mobile apps. Well, not literally, but they make them much more usable. One condition here: your inventory must be responsive by design.
iGaming and sports traffic
The iGaming vertical is experiencing a huge boost. Many games are promoted online, while sports platforms attract millions of users willing to support their favorite teams. If you feel your audience has the potential to like iGaming and sports ads, try accepting all advertising offers on your site or blog. You’ll be able to remove them later if needed.
Extra factor: traffic allowlists
Allowlisting is not about traffic types but is tightly connected with selecting the best sources and increasing their CPMs.
Advertisers are brilliant at cost optimization. They can either spotlight your website or a specific placement on it, setting a higher CPM, or decrease the bid if they see your traffic is performing poorly.
Your job is to stay on the allowlist—a list with the highest CPM payout rates. So, keep track of the traffic quality and monitor key metrics: impressions, clicks, CTR, CPM, and revenue. Group stats by country to find your breadwinners. If you’re monetizing with banner ads, group stats by placement to find the best ad slots.
That’s how you can check which geos deliver the highest profits
How publishers can increase revenue from Adsterra 1000 impressions
The first and the main point to learn is that the cost of 1,000 ad impressions is not precisely the revenue. It’s all about traffic quality, its relevance, and the competition for ad views. Still, you can increase your gains by learning the basic rules of the fair game.
- Grow traffic that converts
Make sure you know WHO visits your website and how long they spend drilling down into your web content. Even massive traffic can return insufficient revenues if it doesn’t react to advertising. Earlier, we shared definitive guides on how to generate huge traffic and how to grow traffic that converts.
Keep an eye on seasonal spikes and drops in traffic. Get fewer visits during the leading seasonal sales, like Christmas or Black Friday / Cyber Monday. Your CPM will probably drop precisely on these dates.
- Get more Tier 1 and Tier 2 traffic, but keep an eye on trends
This trend doesn’t seem to fade. Tier 1 users (US, UK, CA, AU, etc.) are the most valuable, and advertisers are more willing to bid higher for their products being exposed to these users.
South African (ZA), Indonesian (ID), Indian (IN), and Vietnamese (VN) traffic has excelled, gaining CPMs comparable to ad impressions on Tier 1. Many hot offers are promoted here. We also notice explosive demand in LatAm ad views, specifically from Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Chile.
We at Adsterra are also witnessing how Tier 3 traffic gains value for advertisers. Our partners earn a lot from Kenyan and Nigerian traffic. The offer range is impressive, from PIN submits to Apps, VPNs, and Sweepstakes.
- Invest in social traffic
Traffic from social networks is on the rise. It literally spiked in CPM rates, moving publishers from this niche to the top of the Adsterra money-makers ratings.
TikTok and Facebook users consume apps, VPNs, software, and e-commerce ads better. Publishers that can attract traffic from these networks can enjoy CPMs that are two—or threefold higher.
Moreover, you don’t even need a website to start earning money if you drive social media traffic. One landing page with valuable content and a Direct Link URL will be enough.
- Refresh traffic and ad placements
Active and loyal users are a publisher’s main asset. But what if they come to your website daily and meet the same block of banners placed in the same places?
Try refreshing your web page structure off and on. Combine codes to avoid oversaturation with the same-sized banners.
Attract new website visitors who can interact with advertisements repeatedly. Loyal readership is excellent, but such users get tired of the exact ad placements pretty fast.
- Use ad formats that appeal to users
It is easier said than done, right? Which formats are out-of-date, and which are better only for desktops? Which ones will your users click, and which will they ignore? One can’t give a rock-solid guarantee that your website visitors will fall for a pop-up or ignore a Native Banner. It’s all about A/B tests and regular user behavior checks.
Novelties can add hundreds of dollars to your income. Social Bar is your trusted partner in traffic monetization. Fresh, neat, UX- and OS-friendly creatives from top advertisers fit any website, whether it is a blog or a catalog, desktop or mobile, iOS or Android-oriented. Please read our guide to Social Bar to learn all the monetization tricks.
Summary
As with any ad network, the cost of 1,000 impressions on Adsterra depends on several factors. And publishers can actively work on improving CPM rates by:
combining ad formats;
researching and adding brand-new ad codes;
fusing websites with relevant traffic;
Investing in mobile and social traffic;
boosting websites’ download speed and mobile-friendliness, etc.
Ensuring ads are visible to users.
Every 1,000 impressions will pay you dividends. And remember: you’re not alone in this journey! With Adsterra’s 24/7 live support, every publisher, regardless of the website traffic volume, gets expert advice on making the most of traffic!
