The goal of starting a website is to earn money from it and these days, the most reliable source of blog revenue is from ad networks.
With Ad Networks, you can add HTML codes to your site and make money from it, the only problem is that premium ad networks only accept websites with a lot of page views and that isn’t the case if your site is relatively new.
Google needs time to trust your site and you also need backlinks to start showing up on search results, that’s why I’ve come up with this list of the Best Ad Networks for Small Publishers.
Reminiscing back to the days I got started with blogging, I wrote content but I couldn’t find ad networks to monetize with, all these ad networks like AdThrive, Mediavine, etc, weren’t that popular, it was only AdSense I knew about.
But you don’t have to go through the same hassle as I did because I’ve used several criteria and metrics to compile these ad networks and they are as follows:
- No Minimum Traffic Requirement
- Low Payout Rates
- Decent enough ads
So, enough of the intro, here are the Best Ad Networks for Small Publishers:
Ezoic
Ezoic is the number 1 choice for Small Publishers because they’ll give you decent ePMV (earnings per 1000 pageviews), with Ezoic on my new site, I’ve been able to make $15 for 1000 visitors.
They also pay you via PayPal, Check, or Bank Wire and you only need to make $20 before the next payment date, for someone like me who makes $15 for 1000 visitors, I need 2000 visitors to make $30.
Ezoic utilizes AdSense and Google Ad Exchange to increase your earnings and display quality ads, the ads that’ll be shown on your website will mostly be AdSense ads (for display) and Outbrain ads (for native).
You don’t need any minimum traffic requirements to get Ezoic Approval for your site but you need some traffic, and great content (so Google Ad Manager will approve your site).
If you’re having trouble getting Ezoic approval, check out my article on Ezoic Requirements for Publishers in 2022 (updated).
Google AdSense
Yes… I know that you guys may not be expecting this option but it’s true, Google AdSense is one of the best ad networks for small publishers in 2022 mainly because it doesn’t require any minimum traffic.
AdSense doesn’t check your traffic to approve your site, they only need your site’s content – if you’re copying content from other websites, paraphrasing them, and publishing it on your site, you’ll always get rejected for policy violation.
If you use unacceptable words that promote harassment, bullying or cancel culture, etc, just do research and write outstanding content and you should be good.
Your website should have at least 3 categories that should be visible in the main menu, all these categories should have at least 5 articles underneath, this is to avoid AdSense rejection due to Low-Value Content.
Besides writing great content, you don’t need any other requirements to get AdSense approval.
AdSense pays via Wire Transfer and the minimum withdrawal threshold is $100.
Ad.Plus
Ad.Plus is another great ad network for small publishers, they don’t require anything on their end but your site needs to be approved by Google Ad Manager.
Google Ad Manager gives you access to the high-paying Google Ad Exchange and they are as strict as AdSense when reviewing publisher sites, if you don’t get AdSense approval, there is no way you’re getting approved by Google Ad Manager, and the other way round.
Just Write great content and enough, preferably 15 articles under 3 categories, then create the basic pages (about us, contact us, privacy policy, disclaimer) and you should be good to go.
If you’ve been on Ezoic and just decided to spice things up and try a few combinations, you don’t need another Google Ad Manager approval because your site is already approved and that’s why you were able to run Ezoic ads.
Ad.Plus will pay you once you reach their $100, if you wish to know more about them, check out my detailed Ad.Plus Review article.
PropellerAds
PropellerAds is one of the prestigious ad networks for small publishers that approves any website instantly, so far as it’s on a Top Level Domain (.com, .net, .org) and not a subdomain.
With PropellerAds, you can make as much as $5 for 1000 pageviews if you use their Multi tag ad format, it combines the power of all Propellerads’ ad formats in one single line of code.
User Experience, Core Web Vitals, and Bounce Rate are key metrics for ranking on Google and other search engines I suppose, PropellerAds Ad formats are not friendly with those metrics.
I’d only suggest it if you run a website where people need to download files, you can write a blog post that’ll rank on google and you won’t display Propellerads ads on that and then use Download Buttons to point your visitors to the download pages where you have the multi-tag installed.
If you also run a link shortening service, you can use propellerads ad codes all over the place like ShrinkEarn, Shorte.st, etc.
The minimum Payment for PropellerAds is $5 via PayPal and they automatically pay publishers every week.
Adsterra
Adsterra is almost like Propellerads but just different, with Adsterra you get access to banner ads, interstitial ads, pop-ups, and pop-unders.
The Banner ads offered by Adsterra are great and don’t hurt the User Experience on your site which is not the case for Propellerads.
You only need to verify the ownership of your website before you can get access to Adsterra’s ad codes, means of verification may include adding an HTML tag to <head> of your site or uploading a .txt file to your file manager.
Adsterra can pay publishers up to $40 for 1000 visitors, you only need to scatter ad formats all over the place, this entails using more popups, pop-unders, and interstitials and harming user experience as well as significantly impacting your site’s loading speed.
If you’re running a content-based site, I suggest you only use banner ads, you’ll still make a decent amount of revenue if your traffic is from tier 1 countries and they click on the ads.
Adsterra’s minimum payment threshold varies based on the payment method you select, Adsterra pays via PayPal, Bitcoin, Bank Wire, and others.
Check out my detailed comparison article titled – Propellerads vs Adsterra – Which is Better? in 2022.
AdMaven
AdMaven is one of the best ad networks for small publishers, mainly because you can sign up and get access to ad codes in less than 3 minutes.
This ad network is very similar to Adsterra and PropellerAds, in terms of the ad formats, just that it doesn’t offer the Multi tag.
I think AdMaven is better than AdMaven is better than both Adsterra and Propellerads because you get paid whenever you want via PayPal, Payoneer, Wire Transfer, and Paxum.
With that, I believe my article on AdMaven vs Adsterra will interest you, make sure to read it and make your choice.
Bidvertiser
Talk about one of the oldest ad networks, Bidvertiser was founded in 2008 or so, it is one of the best ad networks for small publishers because it automatically approves any site.
Its ad formats are quite similar to that of Adsterra, Ad Maven, and Propellerads.
Bidvertiser pays publishers when they reach the minimum threshold of $20 and they use the following payment methods:
- Check
- PayPal
- Bitcoin
- Wire Transfer
If you wish to know more about Bidvertiser, read my article on Bidvertiser review, it’ll assist you in choosing whether to work with Bidvertiser or not.
I also have an article comparing Bidvertiser with Google AdSense and it’s a good read, and you’ll get to know which of them to sign up for, considering your website and the size of your audience.
AdCash
AdCash is another ad network that is considered to be one of the best for small publishers and like others, instant approval is assured and you can start running ads on your site in 5 minutes or less.
The AdCash advertising network is considerably better than other ad networks mentioned above except Ezoic and Google AdSense, because of the technology it’s adopted in these few years.
With Anti-AdBlock Technology, clean ads, easy integrations fast payments, high fill rate, live statistics, and worldwide coverage, you are sure to engage your visitors while easily maximizing your ad revenue.
AdCash pays publishers via Bank Wire, PayPal, Bitcoin, and Tether, minimum payment thresholds vary by selected payment methods but the lowest is PayPal and Bitcoin with $25 / 25 EUR.
Popcash
Finally, an ad network that specializes in Pop-under ads, those types of ads that lead you from the content you’re on to an ad landing page when you click on anything.
Popcash is not recommended for content-based sites, though it’s perfect if you run a site where people come to download stuff for free or a link-shortening site.
That being said, Popcash is the best ad network for small publishers because your site gets approved instantly and you can implement the ad codes fast and make revenue as fast as possible.
Popcash pays publishers daily with a minimum payment threshold of $5 and your earnings are updated every hour you get paid via PayPal, Paxum, Skrill, Wire Transfer, Payoneer, and Capitalist.
ValueImpression
If you had trouble getting Ezoic, AdSense, or Ad.Plus approval, you should go for ValueImpression, they are connected to Google Ad Exchange and your site gets automatically approved.
Their connection with Google Ad Exchange means that AdSense ads will be shown on your site, though you aren’t on AdSense and this makes you great money.
With ValueImpression, you only get access to banner ads and you’ll be earning $0.26 per 1000 page views on average, it could be more if you get traffic from tier 1 countries.
They pay mainly via Bank Wire and sometimes by PayPal on request and the minimum payment threshold is $50.
If you want to know more about ValueImpression, check out my detailed ValueImpression Review Article, it contains everything you need to know about ValuImpression in detail.
Conclusion on The Best Ad Networks for Small Publishers 2022
I hope you enjoyed reading this article on the best ad networks for small publishers in 2022, most of them don’t have any traffic requirements and have low payout rates.
If you have any questions on these ad networks for small publishers, feel free to leave a comment, and don’t forget to Subscribe to my Newsletter.
