Advertising

After switching my local blog from Mediavine to Raptive in late 2025, I have had a bit of an unhealthy obsession tracking my year-over-year performance in RPMs to figure out if one network performed better than the other. (I have the full data on Mediavine vs Raptive so far here.)

But around March of 2026, something interesting happened- my RPMs cratered from YoY increases of +40-50% to YoY decreases of about 5%.

That is a massive swing which, on the surface, could have some strong implications on network-to-network performance.

But after doing a deep dive into my ad analytics and talking to Raptive directly, we found an interesting setting change that was the most likely culprit here- we switched from WP Rocket to Perfmatters for caching. In doing so, we stopped deferring Google Analytics from loading, and the new setup started tracking a lot of short pageviews that previously were not counted, and our RPM calculation changed dramatically. (Raptive has an article on this, too, and our experience syncs up pretty well.)

It turns out, it likely had little to do with network-to-network performance at all, and was primarily due to a tracking change!

So in this one, we thought we'd break down what we saw, how we figured this one out (assuming this theory is correct, of course), and share a bit about why all of this is important only really if you engage in benchmarking.

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In late 2025, I decided to make a change on my websites- I moved from Mediavine to Raptive.

On one hand, I was curious to see how the networks compared. On the other hand, I had been hearing that Raptive was making moves to help bloggers earn more revenue.

Given that they accepted a second site of mine on at much lower traffic than I would've got in to Mediavine for (pre changes to traffic requirements which were announced a few weeks later), I figured if there was any good time to test a switch, it would be now.

So how are things going? We share some insights in this Raptive review!

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After being on Mediavine for 8 1/2 years, I decided to make a big move. I switched my programmatic display ads to rival company Raptive.

I did not make this change lightly. As you'll read time and time again in articles I write about programmatic advertising, I love Mediavine (present tense- I still love them). But I was hearing better and better things about Raptive with each passing year, wanted to see what the ad network was all about, and, perhaps more importantly, how it compares to Mediavine.

So let's dive into the Mediavine vs Raptive debate more now that I have some initial data from two of my sites.

Note: I joined Raptive in October 2025. I am updating this article monthly to incorporate new RPM data to show year-over-year performance between the networks. In August 2026, I realized I had a reporting discrepancy starting in March 2026 likely stemming from changing SEO/caching plugins that may have influenced RPM data reporting. A discussion for what I am seeing will follow.

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It is never a dull moment as a professional blogger, and in October 2025, the programmatic advertising world got flipped on its head.

Raptive (formerly AdThrive) made the announcement that they were lowering their traffic threshold from 100k monthly pageviews to 25k monthly pageviews, and effectively incorporated their smaller site product, Raptive Rise, into their main platform for one standalone product.

Mediavine, of course, responded in kind and a week or so later made moves by lowering Journey's traffic requirement and shifting to a more income-based generation model for higher tiers.

So in this one, we thought we'd break down the changes and provide some commentary with our thoughts on where the industry is going from here.

Note: The following analysis is based on our understanding of the new traffic requirements for both ad networks only. Please reconfirm all eligibility requirements directly with each respective network prior to joining. As these changes recently came out, things are liable to change, and further clarifications may come about as well. We have not received any direct clarification from either network at this time, and may update in the future if we hear any more details from our contacts.

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As our new websites grow, we take the opportunity to try out different ad networks to see how they perform over time on the same sites.

In the past we've tested Adsense vs Monumetric and found that Monumetric was, to no one's surprise, a clear winner. Premium ad networks are just that much better than the basics, after all.

But after my wine blog qualified for Mediavine Journey, we thought we'd repeat the analysis comparing what is, in all honesty, two very similar companies- with rather similar earnings and some negatives of each worth keeping in mind.

Note: I tested Monumetric on my wine blog in 2022 and Mediavine Journey on my site in 2024. Due to the significant volatility in the market in recent years, it is hard to compare earnings/RPMs over time. While I can make the argument that RPMs tend to be down a fair bit now versus back then, it really is hard to make too strong of conclusions in this one.

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When it comes to display advertising on our blogs, we often highlight premium ad networks like Mediavine as the gold standard in programmatic advertising.

But, of course, these products also come with high barriers for entry that many bloggers simply do not qualify for until they grow to a sufficient size.

Mediavine Journey is one product designed with lower traffic requirements in mind, and while this one pays out a bit less than what we would expect from the classic product, we're ecstatic to have the option to earn a bit of income as our smaller sites grow.

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Whether we like it or not, third-party cookies on Google products will be leaving us shortly (although the “when” element of this question remains to be seen- first it was 2023, now it appears to be at least 2024).

With this comes a lot of uncertainty about just what happens after that, as third-party cookies are used for so many things. For bloggers, one of the biggest uses of third-party cookies revolves around all things ad revenue, as these cookies are used for targeted advertising on our sites based on user's search history. The better the targeting, the higher ad rates you have historically achieved (and we're talking serious money here- my single best day was $83.90 RPM).

The shift to first-party data will change a lot of this, and ad services, like Google's exchange, are testing a variety of new targeting methods to help deliver ads to users while keeping their privacy in mind.

Naturally, this will impact earnings. Google tests have shown that there could be a collapse in ad revenues upwards of 60%, while others, like Mediavine, counter that first-party cookies will only impact Chrome traffic (as other browsers have already phased out 3rd party cookies) and that Chrome accounts for roughly 63% of market browser share outright (although it is 35-50% on our sites). So that 60% drop may be more like 20% to 40% for most of us once the dust settles.

The good news is that these figures are all based on cookies disappearing and no other solutions coming about. Ad networks, like Mediavine, are working hard on first-party solutions to help protect member revenue (and even improve it!) after the switch. The bad news is that the same may not be able to be said for those on other ad networks, as it will likely take time for everyone to settle on what is the “best” solution.

In this one, we wanted to mostly ignore what ad networks are doing for a minute and instead focus on what you can do as a blogger to be prepared for the first-party cookie switch. The solution to this revenue problem is on us as much as on our ad networks!

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When my wine blog, The Grape Pursuit, started to grow, I was hesitant to monetize it too soon. Partly because I didn't have to (my other sites earn enough revenue for me daily), but also because I was holding out for when I qualified for a premium ad network, like Monumetric or Mediavine, in order to make any user experience hit worthwhile.

But for the sake of understanding the state of the advertising market, we decided to put together a little test and turned on AdSense just a little bit before we qualified for Monumetric to see how the two networks compared.

So, what were the results of our AdSense vs Monumetric study? Read on.

Note: RPMs as discussed in this article are based on a page view basis to be in line with AdSense's reporting structure. Some networks report session and page view RPMs, which may be confusing if not clarified upfront.

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When it comes to premium ad networks for blogging, there are no shortage of options out there.

Some, like AdSense, accept blogs of all shapes and sizes and pay out accordingly (read: low RPMs- revenue per 1,000 views). Others have higher barriers for entry be it on page views/sessions, audience demographics, and more and often can give you higher RPMs proportional to how strict their barrier for entry is.

When my wine blog, The Grape Pursuit, hit 10,000 page views per month, I was able to ditch AdSense and make the leap to Monumetric– a premium ad network with one of the lowest entry requirements out there.

After my first month on this one, I thought I'd share a bit of a review of what the network is like, pros and cons, and of course my earnings outright!

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I've tried a number of advertising options on my travel blogs over the years, be it through Google Adsense, ad waterfalls with multiple networks (back when Amazon ads were a thing, at least), and private ad networks like Mediavine, all with one goal in mind- optimizing my CPM advertising revenue.

When I first started on Adsense, I was lucky to get $3 CPM (on a session basis). Now on Mediavine, I get between $30-$50 CPM depending on the time of year. With my two travel blogs often receiving 150,000 to 250,000 sessions per month combined, this increase in advertising revenue was a make or break difference for me in being able to turn my blogging career into a full-time job.

But I have to admit I was hesitant on joining Mediavine at first due to their exclusivity clause and traffic requirements (previously 50,000 sessions per month, but now at $5,000/year revenue for those who apply from Journey- which I estimate to be around 25k sessions per month), but after a few rave reviews from colleagues I jumped in and never looked back.

We should never have hesitated on this one. So let's dive down into a Mediavine review for more!

Note: While Mediavine requires $5,000/year annual ad revenue to join the “Official” tier, they have a newer product for smaller sites called Mediavine Journey that accepts 1,000+ monthly sessions! So be sure to read our Mediavine Journey review too if your traffic doesn't meat the entry requirement here.

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