Click here to go to the latest Media.net website (2021) – at the time of writing, Media.net is offering a 10% earnings boost in your first 3 months on this page.
Media.net is an ad network that most people think of as an alternative to AdSense. I tried it in mid-2019 and found that it was absolute garbage for the sites I ran it out, making basically nothing. Here are the kind of results I was getting from it when placing multiple ad-units on a page (click image to enlarge):
I made $1.42 out of 19,579 ad impressions. These same websites were making at least $2 RPM (per thousand impressions) with AdSense and Google Ads, and significantly more with Ezoic which is my favorite monetization method. In my case, it seemed that Media.net’s contextual advertising system was not working at all for my sites, as it was only ever showing extremely generic ads (“make money online”, “best cruise deals”, “remove spyware” etc) that had nothing to do with the content of the sites I was running Media.net on. The only good thing I could say about Media.net over AdSense was that they approved sites quickly.
But this is just my experience only, and perhaps others have done better with it. That’s why I put out the following request:
We’re writing a big piece about Media.net and would like to hear from internet marketers who have used it – what do you think of it? Did it make you any money compared to other ad networks like AdSense? Any and all comments welcome.
What follows is the Media.net reviews and submissions we received. If you’ve used Media.net yourself, please submit a review and we’ll publish it here.
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I have used Media.net in the past for one of my freelance websites and I must say that it's among the highest paying contextual ads network and one of the best alternatives for AdSense. However, I used it along with AdSense. But I must say that I didn't find Media.net any better than Google AdSense when it comes to the cost per impressions (CPM). I think you earn more as a publisher when publishing Google Adsense ads as compared to the Media.net ads. *Bottom Line:* AdSense is better than Media.net when it comes to the CPM --William Taylor, VelvetJobs |
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'Media.net has a lot of positives and negatives. Firstly, it's free and that is not something that can be said about a lot of these services. It is also very powerful, with a lot of graphs and reports to help you track performance, which is integral in our line of work. The customer support is also really fantastic, and after the website is approved they can help optimize the website for maximum earnings. However, the ads require double clicks, something that most people don't do when they see something they like. You only also earn is the traffic is from the US, Canada or the UK, which cuts out a lot of people potentially. Personally, I would give it a try and see if it works for you, something like Google AdSense may be better suited to your needs.' --Dustin Vann, Trusy Social |
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Since 1995, I have been running my own sites (500 of them at one point), back before ad networks even existed, so I have tried many different ad networks over the years. I signed up with Media.net in 2012 and am very happy with what they offer. Overall, AdSense is the best ad network in my opinion, but there are various reasons why sometimes AdSense is not a good fit and I would rather use a different. Other than Media.net, I have never found any ad network ever that generates significant revenue. Media.net is my only backup ad network. There are two situations where I use Media.net over AdSense: 1. Many of my sites are entertainment sites (jokes, funny videos, etc.) and AdSense does not always do very well with those. AdSense is amazing for targeted pages, like for articles or blogs about specific topics (business, travel, technology, cars, etc.), but when the keywords are for something where few relevant paid ads exist (such as silly puns or pranks), AdSense may not be best. 2. AdSense has very strict webmaster guidelines in terms of all sorts of things they don't allow. This ranges from certain types of content to exactly how their ads must be placed on the page. While Media.net of course has rules like this also, they are not exactly the same. --Eric Borgos, Impulse Communications, Inc. |
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In my experience, this free advertising network allows me to track the performance of my blog and fix any adverts on the sidebars. I have also found that the ad design provides me with intuitive blueprints which blend with the layout - which I can change if I wish. The addition of a dedicated Customer Service Representative means that if anything goes wrong, the company is just a call away! I cannot recommend the service highly enough! --Ollie Smith, Card Accounts |
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Our experience with Media.net was not a good one. The CPC payout for each visitor was too low, especially compared with our experience with Adsense which pays out substantially more. --David Reischer, LegalAdvice.com |
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Throughout my time blogging I have experimented with several ad networks, one of which was Media.net. I'd love to share my experiences with the platform and why I think bloggers should stay away from this ad network for the most part. My Experiences: I started dabbling with ads on my blog within the first three months of running it. At the start. I used Google Adsense. My blog hardly earned more than $50 a month, and it was a slow process of learning how to tweak and optimize my ad placement. Anyway, I stuck with Adsense and continued to grow traffic. Eventually, Adsense was pulling in more than $100 per month, and I was adding in affiliate links to my blog to earn even more money. I added Media.net at this time to try and boost my ad revenue. I actually used a Adsense-Media.net split, placing a few Media.net ad blocks near the top of my content. I'm in the finance niche, and let me tell you: my Media.net ads were hideous. The keyword ad blocks were stuffed with grotesque sentences about 'low interest mortgage refinance offers' or 'best mortgage interest calculator' or whatever keywords must have been paying well for that day. Outside of that, Media.net is a 2-click ad network (users have to click the Media.net ad and then a following ad for you to get paid), so my downstream CTR wasn't even that great. It was way more volatile than Adsense, and ultimately, this hurt my revenue. Even if my RPM was better with Media.net, I wouldn't use it over Adsense just because of the look. I think Adsense links units are a strong contender if you optimize your content for particular keywords as well. --Tom Blake, This Online World PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/media-net-review#tom |
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Hi, my site is recenthighlights.com and strawhatmanga.com. I get around 1.5 million views on total on these websites. So I applied for Media.net and got approved and used it for around 15 days. I would like to say that it's much better than ad networks like Infolinks and Bidvertiser. My site was getting an RPM of $1.2-$1.5 whereas with Adsense my RPM goes over $3+. Media.net pays poorly in comparison to Adsense but websites not able to get Adsense approval should check Media.net. If you have good traffic, I would recommend Monumetric and Mediavine. If you have traffic from tier 1 countries like the US, Canada, UK then you should try Media.net otherwise I would recommend you to ignore it. You would not even get $0.5 RPM for traffic from third-tier countries. I have closed my Media.net account and focussing on Adsense only. --Gautam Kumar, Recent Highlights |
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My experience with Media.net was positive overall compared to other ad networks, but it wasn't worthwhile in the end because it still suffers from the same drawbacks as all ad networks in general. During my tests with Media.net, I made a higher RPM than standard AdSense ads. I also liked how they fit the context of the page. However, to get higher RPMs, it still required aggressive placement that I wasn't willing to do from an editorial perspective. Additionally, the RPMs did not justify prioritization above direct partnerships and product development. --Nate Shivar, ShivarWeb.com |
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We were a media.net user for about 6 weeks early this year, but pulled the plug due to abysmal results. Our RPM for the total time was under $1, which was by far the lowest result we got from any of the ad networks we've tried. You win some, you lose some. This one was the latter. --Denny Putsh, Hitting The Golf Ball |
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We have been utilizing Media.net for nearly three months now, and unfortunately, have not found their service or products to be up-to-par. Media.net offers advertisements which are below quality and stock and appear slightly spammy. We have seen a reduced amount of clicks on those creatives, particularly when compared to AdSense. In addition, Media.net bases their creatives on the context of the page and not on a users specific history or interests. This leads to a reduced CTR and creatives which are more generalized. Lastly, Media.net had advertised their network as paying off-of an eCPM basis. This promise has not been met and we have not seen CPM payments made thus far. I would avoid working with Media.net and would look to stick with AdSense, eventually to graduate to Ezoic and then MediaVine. --Robert Moses, The Corporate Con |
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I have a portfolio of 7 different websites and interestingly enough, I've found that there are certain niches where Media.net will outperform Google Adsense. I make sure with every website I test Google Adsense and Media.net against each other to see which ones yields a higher return. In most cases, Google Adsense has higher earnings, but there have definitely been situations where Media.net does better. I think the key to figuring it out for yourself is to test around 5,000 pageviews on your own website with ads to see which is the better performer. --Ron Stefanski, YourHouseNeedsThis.com PERMALINK: https://outwittrade.com/media-net-review#ron |
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I used Media.net on my blog Swift Salary for about 2 months before moving to an exclusive ad network. While I liked how Media.net worked, the amount of revenue it generated just wasn't enough. But first, I'll start with what I liked. One, Media.net has great ad customization options. It was easy to make the ads fit nicely with my theme and brand, and that was a huge plus. The ads were also unintrusive and didn't affect the user experience on my site too much. Another thing I liked was that the ads were easy to set up. Media.net was the first ad network I ever joined and I was able to get set up in under an hour. My account manager was quick to help out when I ran into issues as well. Now, for the downsides. As I said above, Media.net had a pretty low RPM for me. About $1.25 per 1,000 impressions. To give you an idea of the difference, the ad network I'm with now earns me about 10x that. --Dylan Houlihan, Swift Salary |
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I think Media.net does provide a valuable service. As a new blogger, because of the timing when I started my blog and the reach of Pinterest, I was able to have more than 10,000 pageviews my first month of sharing my blog. I applied to a couple of ad agencies that I knew had lower traffic requirements, and one of them never even got back to me after our initial communications, but Media.net did, and setting up ads with them was easy. I have never used Google AdSense, but I have heard that you can make more money with Media.net than with Google. You are not going to make a ton of money with your ads through Media.net, but one of the things that I heard as a new blogger was that if you planned to have ads on your site, you should do it early on so that your readers will be used to it and not be annoyed when you suddenly start using ads later. I don't know how true that is, but that is one consideration, and it did help me decide to use ads early on myself. However, perhaps the best reason to use an ad agency like Media.net is that even though you won't make a ton of money, they will allow you to make a little bit of money as a reward for your work. And that money earned can show you that yes, you can make money blogging, and it can help keep you motivated in the early months of blogging when your reach is small and you are putting in effort without a lot to show for it. My traffic has increased substantially since starting my blog so I now use a higher-paying ad network, but I am grateful that agencies like Media.net that work with websites with less traffic are an option, for sure. --Stacie Heaps, Families for Financial Freedom |
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My company entertains a large volume of visitors regularly, making it possible for us to include ads on our website. Feature-wise, Media.net offered a lot that I find appealing and convenient. Its customization feature is flexible, which is a plus for site owners who like tailor-made ads to match their websites’ themes. You can decide where to place your ads, so they don’t stick out badly when incorporated on your web pages. As for revenues, though they fluctuate across different niches, Media.net still provides a decent Revenue per mille (RPM). We certainly earned money from using its services. This makes it one of the best ad networks out there.. Our experience with Media.net is great overall. --John Stevenson, Top VPN Canada |
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Benefits of Media.net: As a business owner it is very important to stay on top of technology trends and learn how to stand out on social media to build an interactive audience and boost company performance. No matter what industry you are in, there are specific methods that can be applied to create your target customer and reach people to successfully increase leads, sales, and rank. Meida.net is a great platform to use when creating advertisements in order to attract the exact people you want and boost awareness of a business. For our gaming website where we offer the best information on everything to do with computers, video/ computer games, technology for virtual reality, and interesting topics, we introduced the Media.net system and started to gain a following quicker and more related to our brand than before. Real gamers began to reach out to us and our site became more useful for people who were interested in what we had to share. Our finances started to grow after adjusting the ads to create the perfect marketing attraction. --Matthew Lyons, Game Gavel |