Mediavine and Raptive Change Entry Requirements

New Ad Requirements at Mediavine and Raptive

In a two-week period, both Mediavine and Raptive made some big moves, and we wanted to quickly summarize the changes before providing our thoughts.

Raptive drew the proverbial first blood and reduced their traffic requirement from 100,000 pageviews per month to just 25,000 pageviews per month. In the process of doing so, they effectively completely depreciated their smaller site product, Raptive Rise, and rolled everything together into one cohesive program with lower traffic thresholds.

Although this threshold is pretty easy to follow, they do have some extra caveats for those who are in the 25,000 to 99,999 pageviews per month range, including requiring a minimum of 50% of traffic from the USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia (if you're over 100,000 pageviews per month, this requirement drops to 40%) plus a few other more conventional stipulations. From what we can see, all members of Raptive, regardless of size, receive a 75% revenue share.

All in all, Raptive's requirements are simple, to the point, and completely unexpected. Raptive wants more established blogs and made big moves here.

Mediavine followed suit and turned the ad game on its head with a more progressive style of earning tiers under the Mediavine umbrella. While we will warn that these may sound confusing, we'll do our best for a concise summary:

• Journey: Traffic requirements reduced to 1,000+ monthly sessions with a 70% revenue share. The same product as before, just with lower entry requirements.
• Official: A new name for what we would call “regular Mediavine” admits sites on Journey after they exceed $5,000 minimum annual revenue and comes with a 75% revenue share.
• Select: A higher tier at $100,000 to $249,999 annual revenue at 80% revenue share. Tiers starting with Select and above offer a higher revenue share and more support. Qualifying for these tiers requires hitting the income threshold annually.
• Signature: A next higher tier at $250,000 to $500,000 annual revenue with an 85% revenue share, amongst other extras.
• Premiere: $500,000 to $1,000,000 annual revenue with a 90% revenue share, amongst other extras.
• Premiere Plus: The highest tier at $1,000,000+ annual revenue with a 90% revenue share, amongst other extras.

• Clarification Notes: Although the initial graphics provided by Mediavine lumped all of these tiers into a single hierarchy, the structure feels fairly similar to the legacy products. Journey is a separate product for smaller sites, “Official” is conventional Mediavine as we know it (and once you're in, you're in- you won't be downgraded back to Journey if traffic drops), and everything else is a premium tier that you can qualify for based on the previous year's performance.
• It is worth highlighting that existing Mediavine members can keep their current plans and revenue shares and do not have to join this new hierarchy system. So if you have extra revenue share from loyalty bonuses or being a part of the former Pro levels, two features unavailable to new subscribers, you should be able to (may want to) keep your existing plan. This structure is for new sign-ups and any current members who opt to transfer over.

Mediavine has done two things with this change- lowering the barrier of entry for smaller sites for Journey, but also increasing the progressive tiers for larger and larger sites (they have all of the levels outlined in this help page). Some of these higher tiers existed in the past, but this structure is just a bit easier to follow from a network-wide perspective.

We'll talk more about these breakouts in the following discussion, but these are two admittedly somewhat drastic changes. Both ad networks are offering better mechanisms for entry for those who run sites with lower traffic, and Mediavine seems to be rolling out a higher-end approach to cater to the largest of sites as well.

But as we know, the vast majority of bloggers are impacted by the lower tiers. So let's break that down in a robust discussion of who these changes benefit and who they may hurt.

Where Things Stand From Our Perspective

We are still letting the dust settle on this one, as Raptive and Mediavine have made some earth-shattering style news in the programmatic ad world. But still, we have some initial opinions. Please keep in mind, these are our opinions alone, and we are expecting some clarifications that may change our stance in the future.

First, it appears that both ad networks have recognized that bloggers have maintained serious challenges in building up traffic figures in recent algorithm updates, social networks slashing outbound traffic, and, of course, all of the AI nonsense going around these days. So both networks are moving in the right direction to help bloggers monetize with premium ads on lower traffic, which we fully support.

Raptive's change feels like the simplest and easiest to follow. Get 25,000 pageviews per month, and you qualify to apply for the main product with all the benefits that come with it. Simple, straight, to the point. No more Raptive Rise, no impossibly hard traffic threshold to reach for the coveted main product. 25,000 pageviews per month and a strong audience from select countries you can apply- ironically, this is pretty much what Mediavine was like when we first joined in 2017.

Mediavine, on the other hand, recognized that traffic is not the end-all, be-all metric for advertising potential. Journey being reduced to 1,000+ sessions per month opens up Mediavine to more bloggers (and undercuts other mid-tier networks not mentioned in this article). But “Official” Mediavine (aka what current users just call normal Mediavine) and higher tiers are now income-based thresholds for new members to gain access to, which takes traffic out of the picture entirely.

In theory, earnings are heavily variable for many reasons, and this setup rewards advertising results, not overall sessions. This may be good for some, bad for others. One point we've heard being discussed is that this also seemingly encourages bloggers to max out ad density settings to maximize revenue, which could be a downside to this income-only push. Personally, we would've liked to have seen an income target or traffic target to cover both bases, but right now it seems to be income-based only.

In either case, these moves benefit creators with lower traffic as the threshold for entering the two ad networks that are considered gold standards has been lowered, and in some cases, quite significantly. So kudos to both of these networks for moving in the (mostly) right direction on that end.

• As always, remember that Mediavine's entry requirement is often listed in terms of traffic sessions, whereas Raptive's is in pageviews. So those with high pages-per-visit may want to keep this in mind.

Second, a point of confusion on the Mediavine side is that they had previously had more mechanisms for increased earnings, like their annual loyalty bonus program (+1% revenue share per year for the first five years) or grandfathering bloggers into Pro even if their traffic dropped. The new program, effective January 2026, states that eligibility for higher tiers is based on performance from the previous calendar year only.

From our understanding, those currently on Mediavine can opt to stay with their current “legacy” structure if they have some of these old benefits, and it may be wise to do so depending on where you are. Likewise, we have also heard that if you are on Journey and get upgraded into “Official” Mediavine in the new setup, you'll never drop back into Journey if your traffic decreases. Once you're in at that threshold, you're in for good- they're still two separate products, and you won't be forced back into Journey's system once on-boarded at the “Official” level.

The more premium tiers, Select through Premiere Plus, are where the annual qualifications come into play. If you qualify for Select one year and earnings go down the next, you may revert back to “Official.” So we personally think of any higher tier beyond “Official” as a sliding rewards scale for having a good year at best. From what we understand, you will not permanently lock into these higher tiers (as Pro users previously were) and must re-qualify for the tiers yearly. That said, “Official” will always be the floor once you reach that level.

From our interpretation of all of this, most existing Mediavine members will likely benefit from staying put and not transitioning to these new tiers, as the legacy bonuses that will be grandfathered in are likely better for many existing users except those who easily qualify for Select or above. Raptive, on the other hand, has no tiers that we're aware of, so their flat traffic level for entry and 75% revenue share may make sense for some who don't want to jump through more hoops (I should note I'm currently making more on an RPM basis with Raptive at 75% revenue share than I was on Mediavine at 80% revenue share, for what it is worth).

But if you have any legacy perks, just note that if you opt to move to the new program, they're not coming with you. So take some time to think about if, or why, you would want to switch when given the option.

• In talking to fellow bloggers privately, this came up as the #1 concern for existing Mediavine publishers. The perks of the new program can also be drawbacks, depending on which way your traffic is going. Traffic goes up and down, after all, but the requalification rules likely will only impact those at the Select level or higher.

Third, it feels like these two networks are in a race to swoop up more lower-trafficked bloggers first, onboard at all costs, and figure out where we go from there later. The race to get a blogger on board first likely means a great deal in the advertising world, as we all know that changing networks is a big task, and most bloggers are happy sticking around with what is working well enough.

If you have 1,000 pageviews per month and join Mediavine at the Journey tier, and you hit $5,000/year in annual income and get upgraded to the “Official” tier before you would otherwise have qualified for Raptive, you're going to be much less likely to switch to Raptive when you hit their traffic threshold. So this feels a bit like whoever gets a blogger first will likely hold them longer, and thus, requirements to join are shifting down, down, down to capture more and more bloggers earlier in their journey.

That said, I was not earning enough on Mediavine Journey to hit that $5,000/year threshold before I hit Raptive's 25,000 pageviews per month requirement, so there are some open-ended questions there as well. Will people get upgraded on traffic despite not hitting the income threshold? Stranger things have happened, and we just don't know until we hear first-hand accounts in 2026. These gaps are the ones we're most curious about watching for as time goes on.

From clarifications we have heard, it also sounds like Mediavine may have a way for new member sites to onboard at “Official” or higher without requiring them to hit $5,000/year in annual income, but we are unaware of what those details would look like now. Our guess is that if you have a fair bit of traffic, you may just onboard straight at “Official”- but this one has not been clarified yet, either.

Finally, and perhaps to reiterate one more time just to be expressly clear, we don't know what the future will hold.

In the past, we've heard many claims that high traffic, and perhaps more importantly, quality high traffic, helps drive higher RPMs network-wide, and lowering traffic requirements, in some sense, feels like a contrary move to that. We're not going to complain, because we do believe blogs of all sizes should have access to quality premium ad networks, but it is a big question for the future that could impact both ad networks overall.

Will Mediavine benefit by keeping Journey-level sites in a distinctly separate product from those in “Official” levels or higher? Will Raptive see changes from reducing traffic requirements to 25,000 pageviews per month? We can see the concerns from the blogging community loud and clear, but for now, we just don't know.

So, Who is “Winning” the Ad Wars?

In a way, it feels like Mediavine and Raptive are in a low-key ad war right now, and these changes all primarily benefit bloggers as a whole. There are still many questions that need to be answered, and it is hard to say if one network has made a better call here overall.

Mediavine definitely has an incentive to onboard more new bloggers at the Journey level, but we're concerned that switching to only income-based requirements to upgrade to the main product could preclude many bloggers that otherwise would've qualified on traffic (while conversely opening the doors for others, which is admittedly a good thing for those select bloggers). Mediavine will score many more bloggers under 25,000 pageviews per month tier because of this change.

We are, admittedly, concerned about how the application and upgrade process will work from there.

Will bigger sites be able to access “Official” at the start when applying? Will you get auto-upgraded as soon as you hit $5k annual revenue, or do you have to wait until January 1st the following year? What if you have a good month that shows your averages will get you there sooner rather than later? Basing things on the previous calendar year is a good start in theory, except we can all come up with a dozen issues that could influence things along the way. Some of these details will likely remain unclear until we see data in real time. All of these concerns favor Raptive to some degree- simplicity is often the best choice, and we're listening intently.

Likewise, it seems like Mediavine is also attempting to cater to the biggest of the big sites on the opposite end, possibly trying to steal those users back from Raptive, too. That's also fine, but we don't know many bloggers who will ever get to those highest-tier categories. (If you're a blogger making $1,000,000+ a year in ad revenue, we'd love to interview you, just saying.)  So on the large site side of the spectrum, Mediavine's moves are loud and clear, too.

Raptive's changes appear to benefit those more in the middle, whereas Mediavine looks to have more gaps for those in the middle than before. These will likely get addressed as time goes on, but right now, we admit that we have more questions about where Mediavine is heading than we have answers, whereas Raptive's requirements are crystal clear.

However, we think everyone's ad network progression logic is pretty straightforward. If you have more than 1,000 sessions per month and less than 25,000 pageviews per month, there is no reason why you shouldn't sign up for Mediavine Journey unless you simply do not want ads on your site at all. You may not make a lot of revenue at 1,000 sessions per month, but it is a start, can get you extra revenue to reinvest in your business, and is a much better place to start in your programmatic ad journey than it used to be.

The big question is where you go after that– will you first be upgraded to “Official” Mediavine, or will you hit Raptive's 25,000 pageview per month requirement? Personally, I switched my wine blog from Mediavine Journey to Raptive because I hit their session requirement first, and my RPMs rose a fair bit. Had Mediavine upgraded my site at any point before that, I would've potentially considered staying with them longer.

We could see this as a case of whoever approves you for one of these two levels first is a great move, and it is really as simple as that. If you can get into Raptive at 25,000 pageviews and haven't been upgraded to “Official” Mediavine, you may consider switching to Raptive. If you get auto-upgraded to “Official” before hitting Raptive's session requirement, also great! As long as you're in either product, you're in a good spot revenue-wise. While I think that Raptive pays slightly more than Mediavine from my own experience, they're both great products with strong revenue potential at the end of the day.

Ultimately, we love both companies, and that's all there is to it.

But for more established bloggers, particularly those who have higher loyalty tiers on the old Mediavine setup, the future is a bit less clear. We could see some cases where switching to Raptive may make sense. We could also see how holding onto your legacy benefits and not converting to the new tiers on Mediavine also makes sense. We won't know the finer details until we see the new Mediavine program in action, but if you are a blogger who is reading all of this and going, “I don't know, Raptive may be nice right now,” we can certainly see the argument to explore their services further- after all, it is exactly what I did, and it is working out great for me so far.

At the end of the day, these moves may sound a bit confusing, but they are benefiting (most) all bloggers when we really could use an assist, and we thank both ad networks for opening up new advertising tiers to help bloggers continue doing what they do best- creating great content.

To apply for Mediavine Journey, click here. To apply for Raptive, click here. We are affiliates for both networks and may receive a commission for joining. But, as always, all opinions are our own.