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In general, websites earn ad revenue based heavily on the quantity of monthly page views. Below are several key benchmark ranges. Keep reading to explore how much ad revenue your website can make, and how you can ensure you are on track to make the revenue you deserve. Maybe you've just implemented Google AdSense on your website, or maybe you've been pulling in ad revenue for a while but feel unsure that you're making as much as you should. In any case, there's potential here - not just to pay the bills but to really grow your business through ad revenue. So, how much ad revenue can a website make? In truth, there is no upper limit. However, some common traffic benchmarks, such as those noted above, can provide insight into how much ad revenue you could make with more website traffic, and whether you're making enough right now. Further, as you continue scrolling, here are three key points to keep in mind: The Playwire team has gathered this information through years of helping publishers and content creators maximize their ad revenue. We know what we're doing, and know we can get your revenue where you want it. Contact us to learn more! -- Article Continues Below -- Read The Publishers' Guide to Ad Revenue Never let an online ad revenue calculator be the last word on how much ad revenue you, as a website owner, can make. Instead, rely on data gathered by the ad tech industry experts at Playwire. Here's a potential website ad revenue breakdown by monthly page views: At half a million page views per month, your website is starting to hit the big time, but that may not be paying all the bills. You should be making at least $1,000 per month in website ad revenue at this level, but we have seen the top websites in our ad network make upwards of $5,000 per month at this level. Things are heating up at 1 million monthly page views. If you're not pulling in at least $2,500 per month in ad revenue at this level, you are likely doing something wrong. But even that is the very low end for this tier - some Playwire publishers have reached $20,000 per month with 1 million monthly page views. Anything less than $10,000 per month at 5 million monthly page views is unacceptable. But really, with this much website traffic, you could be pulling in up to $100,000 per month - depending on your niche and various other factors. Still, it's possible - we've helped publishers in our network hit this level. You're pretty much a household name when you're pulling in 10 million page views every month, and your ad revenue should reflect that. Expect no less than $25,000 per month in ad revenue with this much traffic. But keep in mind that the revenue possibilities are enormous at this phase: Some publishers pull in as much as $250,000 every month with 10 million page views. The vast majority of publishers will never come close to 20 million page views per month. If you're among the elite few who reach this level, congratulations - you could make as much as $700,000 in ad revenue every month if you're maximizing every available source of ad revenue. At the very least, publishers at this level will bring in $50,000 per month. How does $2 million per month sound? Playwire has seen publishers in our network bring in that much ad revenue once they cross the 40 million monthly page views threshold. Even if you're not working with a partner like Playwire, you should still be making $100,000 per month minimum at this number of page views. Please keep in mind that these ad revenue breakdowns are based on publisher sites with the majority of their traffic coming from the United States. -- Article Continues Below -- The Complete Ad Revenue Resource Center Did you notice the huge ranges in possible ad revenue at the various page view tiers? Those big margins tell us that a ton of factors contribute to your overall ad revenue earning power. Here are some of the most impactful factors that can push you from the bottom of your tier to the top: Bottom-tier ad revenue numbers are usually associated with basic (borderline boring) website ads. Think of display ads such as banner ads and native ads, and basic video ads. There's nothing wrong with these units, but their CPMs are simply way lower than those of premium ad units like rewarded video, flex leaderboards, sticky ads, and the like. Every time an ad request isn't filled, you leave money on the table. And even if your fill rate is high, you may have lower CPMs than you should if you haven't sourced enough demand for your inventory. Whether you're doing programmatic, header bidding, direct sales, or some combination of those, you need to ensure that you have broad demand from multiple sources. Google ad demand is great, but it's not the only source of demand. Incorporate multiple demand sources to get higher ad revenue and CPMs. One of the key differences between you and a publisher with the same number of page views who makes more than you is probably your ad tech stack - that is, the suite of tools you have chosen to make your digital advertising efforts work for you. For example, are you using a data management platform (DMP)? If not, you're missing the opportunity to create extremely valuable audience segments that can command top dollars from major brands. Ad tech is just one of those industries that attract a lot of players with big egos but little in the way of actual skill. If you're working with one of those players to increase your ad revenue, you may not be blown away by the results. If you're unhappy with your current revenue partner, remember: You're not stuck with them. And making a change could make the difference between bottom-tier ad monetization and top-tier. The simple act of knowing what to measure, and being vigilant about measuring it will help in your journey to increasing ad revenue. Knowing which metrics to monitor, and how frequently to look at them, is the first and foundational step in maximizing your ad revenue. Learn about each of the most important metrics you should be looking at to track ad revenue, and alert yourself to future revenue drops (or opportunities for increased revenue), and find out how to dig deeper into each of these metrics to diagnose problems. Check out our guide for more information on website ad revenue metrics: How to Manage and Monitor Your Website Ad Revenue Metrics. We covered a lot of shoulds and coulds in this post, but will you do what it takes to increase your ad revenue? If you don't have the time to do yield optimization, premium ad units, direct sales, header bidding, and more, you may need to call in the professionals at Playwire. And we'll be happy to make it happen for you so you can focus all your time on creating high-quality content. How much ad revenue can a website make? With Playwire, expect the maximum ad earnings. Ready to get started? Reach out to our team online today. Browse some of our additional resources about website ad revenue:Website Ad Revenue Metrics
Key Points
Ad Revenue Breakdown by Monthly Page Views
500,000 Page Views
1 Million Page Views
5 Million Page Views
10 Million Page Views
20 Million Page Views
40 Million Page Views or More
Factors That Affect How Much Ad Revenue a Website Makes
Ad Units
Demand
Your Ad Tech Stack
Who You're Working With
Measuring Ad Revenue Metrics
Get More Ad Revenue with Playwire
Additional Website Ad Revenue Content
