7 Things Publishers Can Do to Increase Ad Revenue

As you know, the online advertising industry is rapidly growing. According to the Dentsu ad spending report, global advertising expenditure is expected to rise by 3.8% year-on-year, reaching $740.9 billion in 2023.

Moreover, increased mobile and desktop users and improved advertising technologies have also spurred and encouraged publishers to look beyond traditional methods and adopt new advertising avenues to reach advertisers.

Advertising is a critical aspect of any business. In most cases, the revenue from advertising makes up most of the revenue for a publisher. The rate at which revenue from advertising increases or decreases can have a huge impact on the business. So here are the top tips that we'd recommend looking into to increase your ad revenue this year.

1. The Benefits of Using Programmatic Advertising

The rise of programmatic advertising has been a boon for publishers. It was valued at 493 billion U.S. dollars in 2022, based on the most recent projections by Statista. It is anticipated that this amount will increase to 725 billion by 2026.

Programmatic advertising allows publishers to sell their inventory at the highest possible price while having more control over how much they get paid. Here are five ways embracing programmatic advertising can help you maximize ad revenue:

2. Using Data to Optimize Ad Performance

If you know what your users want, you can provide them with more engaging content that keeps them returning to your website repeatedly. This not only increases the amount of time they spend on your website but also helps provide better advertising opportunities for advertisers.

Data is a powerful tool for publishers. It enables them to optimize ad performance, maximize revenue and improve user experience. Here are five ways publishers can use data to increase ad revenue in 2023:

• Measure the impact of inventory optimization on revenue
• Improve targeting with real-time bidding algorithms and serve relevant ads based on user behavior across different devices
• Use data to create more personalized experiences for users
• Use data to identify underperforming ad campaigns to scale back or eliminate them if needed

3. Native Advertising that Appeals to the Users

Native advertising can be more effective than traditional display ads because they blend in with the content on the page, making them less intrusive and more engaging for the audience. Publishers can offer native advertising options to their advertisers to increase engagement and boost their ad revenue.

The benefits of native advertising include

1. Better user experience. Monetize your content with minimal disruption to the user experience. Traditionally, many publishers have used display ads on their websites, which can detract from the site's usability and aesthetics by covering up content and cluttering up the page design — which readers despise. Native ads help solve this problem by integrating seamlessly into the existing design of a website so that they hamper the user experience.
2. Increased traffic. Ads designed to look like part of the website’s content attract more attention than traditional banner ads, which readers can ignore or skip over. Native ads also help publishers enhance their brand image and increase interaction with their readership.
3. Higher click-through rate (CTR). Native ads perform better than traditional display ads. Because users aren't distracted by the ad, they're likelier to click on them than traditional display ads, resulting in higher CTRs and increased revenue for publishers.

4. Incorporating Video Advertising on the Website

When it comes to advertising, video is the new king. Video advertising offers a unique opportunity for publishers to engage with their audience in a way that other forms of advertising simply cannot. The benefits of incorporating video advertising into your strategy are numerous and can positively impact your brand. Let’s take a quick look at them.

1. Increased engagement. Video ads have been shown to have increased levels of engagement compared to static image ads, which means they're more likely to lead to conversions and lower abandonment rates.
2. More effective. People are likelier to remember brands after seeing them in a video ad than if they just saw the brand name as part of a text-based ad.
3. Flexible in user. They can be used with other forms of advertising, such as text and banner ads. This makes it easier for you to reach different types of users rather than just those who prefer text content.

5. Implementing Header Bidding

Header bidding is a type of programmatic auction where all the available ad inventories are sold simultaneously, and multiple demand sources compete to fill those inventories.

Because header bidding allows multiple demand sources to bid on each impression, you can maximize your revenue by exposing inventory to more advertisers. Here are some benefits of implementing header bidding:

1. More competitive auctions. Header bidding allows you to set the parameters for your auction, which means you can choose the demand sources (SSPs, networks, and exchanges) that compete with each other. This enables you to be more competitive and drive higher prices from advertisers.
2. Increased fill rates. It also helps publishers increase the ad fill rates, which means you’ll get more impressions sold than before when you didn’t have any competition.
3. Increased transparency. Each demand source can access all ad requests, making each bid more transparent. This allows publishers to see what kind of CPMs each demand source offers and adjust their bids accordingly.
4. Reduced latency. Header bidding allows publishers to manage latency better than traditional waterfall models because they can potentially receive bids from multiple sources asynchronously within milliseconds of making an ad impression available on their website.
5. Improved user experience. Header bidding improves the user experience because it reduces page load time by significantly reducing latency between the time an ad request is made and when an ad is served.

6. Creating Engaging Content

Engaging content is the key to attracting and retaining readers, which means it's also the key to increasing revenue. Publishers can attract more readers and increase their revenue by creating compelling content and distributing it in various ways.

Here are some benefits of creating engaging content for publishers:

1. Attract new readers. If you're a publisher, you want more people reading your articles, which is why you publish them in the first place. Creating engaging content is one way to attract new readers. If people enjoy reading your articles, they'll likely return for more.
2. Retain existing readers. Creating engaging content isn't just about attracting new readers; it's also about keeping them once they're already following your brand or website. Engaging content helps keep existing readers coming back more repeatedly because they know that when they read an article on your website, it will be interesting and worth their time.
3. Increase ad revenue. Since you're running ads on your website, then creating engaging content will help increase ad revenue because engaged readers who see ads while reading an article are more likely to click on them.

7. Offering Custom Ad Packages

Ad packages are a great way to get your ad space in front of the right people. It allows you to offer custom packages for your advertisers, which increases their ROI by providing them with a tailored experience, as they are more likely to pay for a custom package instead of just buying the standard CPM (cost per thousand views) or CPC (cost per click) that's offered in most websites. Publishers also stand to gain more control over their inventory by offering custom ad packages. Ads can be customized based on various factors, including

1. Geography. You can create packages that cater to specific regions or states within the country. This is especially useful if you want to serve certain ads to visitors in specific areas.
2. Demographics. You can serve ads based on age, gender, and other demographics of visitors. This will allow advertisers to reach their target audience as accurately as possible, increasing engagement and conversions.

Developing an Ad Revenue Strategy

The future of an advertising program largely depends on the publisher itself. If you are committed to increasing your revenue, consider these tips to increase ad revenue in 2023. One thing is sure: publishers with high-quality content and strong relationship with advertisers will see better results.

Meanwhile, they have to get smarter about how they serve ads and also about how they manage the user experience. As with any growing industry, though, competition is fierce, and only those publishers who increase their ad revenue stream will find success.