Monetization Tools & Tech

5 Killer Ways to Boost Your CPMs over the Holidays

sovrnmarketing // November 11, 2015

Want to Maximize CPMs? Here are five pro tips to earn more this holiday season.

The holiday season sees the highest CPMs of the year, which is why it’s crucial for publishers and bloggers to develop an advertising strategy before the holidays hit.
Based on CPM trends to-date in 2015, we’re estimating a 19% increase in holiday CPM’s from last year, as well as a daily average CPM increase of 27% in November and 13% in December. This translates into huge earnings for publishers.
Here are five ways to capitalize on the highest CPMs of the year this holiday season.

  1. Use five or fewer ad zones per page.
    Less is more! When you have five or fewer ads per page, advertisers consider the inventory more valuable. We recommend using around five ad zones to both to maximize revenue and drive up the CPM.
  2. Set a high price floor for the top partner in your ad stack.
    In order to capture high-CPM campaigns, put a high price floor in place for the top partner in your ad stack. That way your first partner will serve high-CPM campaigns and leave second-tier campaigns for ad networks further down the waterfall.
  3. Use a maxfill partner for the last partner in your ad stack.
    In order to capture 100% of all ad requests, use a maxfill partner such as Google AdSense at the bottom of your stack. Maxfill partners fill 100% of all remaining inventory, meaning you won’t miss out on any revenue.
  4. Make sure your site is mobile-responsive.
    Mobile will account for 51.9% of all digital ad spending in 2015, so make sure your site is responsive before the holiday season comes around. At Sovrn we recommend using the 300×250 mobile ad unit as it sees the highest mobile CPMs.
  5. Fine-tune your entire ad stack before the holiday season.
    Before the holiday season hits, compare the performance of all of the ad partners in your stack. Move partners up or down depending on their performance, and remove low-performing partners if necessary.

Having an optimized ad stack guarantees you’ll be able to take advantage of the season’s most lucrative campaigns. Pay particular attention to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the 7-10 days prior to Christmas Day- they see the biggest CPM spikes of the year!

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Have additional questions about how to maximize CPMs over the holidays? Check out our Blog for more tips.

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