Media.net Ad Network Review : Earned 3X More Than AdSense (Bing, Yahoo Ad Network)

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remember the day I logged into my Media.net dashboard and saw my earnings.

My chin almost hit the ground.

Google AdSense outperformed 3:1…

What?! 3X MORE THAN AdSense? But… but that's Google! Everyone uses AdSense to monetize their blog.

When I first started using these on one of my smaller niche sites, I made less than $5 a week. **Sad entrepreneur sounds**.

But everything changed when I realized the secret sauce.

Media.net is one of the best-kept secrets in the eCom world, but not so well kept. And once I really learned how to use it properly, I went from making just a few hundred dollars a month with AdSense to making about $2,000 a month from highly targeted, contextual ads.

The best part? Media.net did it all for me. I did nothing but sign up.

In this Media.net review, I want to tell you the pros and cons, how to get started, why I love this ad network (But why you might not), and how to actually use it the right way. Also, a BIG UPDATE that all the other reviews are missing and the fees associated with it! It's pretty important.

Ready to maximize your income? I!

Before we begin, I would like to warn you that the Media.net links in this post are affiliate links, which means we will receive a small bonus once you sign up and start using it. On that note, if you sign up using our link, you will receive an additional 10% winnings bonus for your first 3 months with them. It's a win-win!

What Is Media.Net and Why Is It Gaining Popularity?

Media.net is one of the world's leading contextual ad networks, with reach spanning 100 million US desktop users. They are almost entirely powered by Yahoo and Bing!

Media.net Overview:

Parent: Bing and Yahoo!
CEO: Vaibhav Arya
Network: CPC
Volume: 70 million paid clicks/month
Traffic Restriction: none (technically; I'll explain later in the restriction section)
Sign up: Media.net
Unique Selling Points: Ad optimization, contextual ads, sticky sidebar, personal account representative
Publisher Information: See here
Terms: Click here
Payment terms: Net 30 via bank transfer or online payment processor (Major update below)
Restrictions: Adult, tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and many other "bad" niches (covered below)

The main advantages of this network as an alternative to Google Adsense are high revenue per thousand impressions (RPM), highly targeted contextual ads that generate more clicks, ROI optimization is done for you, and soft sidebar ads that adapt to your website. without disturbing your visitors.

The company has seen tremendous growth in recent years and recently reported $232M in profits. I don't know for sure, but I think it's because Media.net is restricting your site for quality, not size. In other words, unlike most of the big ad networks, they don't mind not getting a billion visitors a month as long as you have a high-quality site.

This means that even small bloggers can monetize their sites and start making real money as long as they have quality content and traffic from the US, Canada, or UK.

Wait, Karl… what the hell is contextual advertising?

A contextual ad is an ad that appears only within the context of your site.

Take Katherine, for example. A lovely woman interested in yoga.

Comes to your niche site "acroyogie.com" and reads your article "5 best tips for stretching before performing the inhuman heights of acro yoga success".

Instead of seeing random ads with clickbaity copy and intrusive design, it was greeted with only highly relevant yoga ads that blended design and color gently into your site.

You can't even tell they're advertisements without straining your eyes.

This means fewer customer conflicts, higher clicks, and more profits for you and advertisers.

How Media.net Payments Work What are their RPMs? BIG UPDATE!!!!

Media.net pays for the number of impressions you generate. NOT for click count like some other networks ( HINT: Smoogle rhymes with SmadSmense ).

Advertisers bid for a spot on your site as they would in an auction.

We've seen our RPM go up to $20 on good days, but it's also down a few dollars. It depends. I think a fair average is between $5-10 / $1,000 depending on your niche.

The payment structure works like this:

You get a set rate for every 1000 impressions and Media.net pays you after 30 days. The minimum threshold is $100. Let's say you generate 10,000 impressions at $5 RPM, they'll pay $50 for it. But you won't get paid for 2 months as you have to reach the $100 threshold.

2021 Payment Update: Media.net no longer pays via PayPal. Please read this again. Since 2019 the available forms of payment are either Payoneer or bank transfer. NO PAYPAL.

Does Payoneer charge fees?

Yes, you should be aware of the fees your processor charges. Not sure why everyone is complaining. Literally, $1.50 for them to send money to your bank.

Payoneer fees are:

Bank Transfer

Following are Payoneeris charges: Within US: 

Bank Transfer (In U507:51,0 •

Bank Transfer (in local currency): $1.50 

Prepaid Card: 53.00 Outside US: 

Bank Transfer (In USD): $15.00 

Bank Transfer (in local currency): 53 .296 above mid•market rate • 

Prepaid Card :$3.00 



Media.net Story Time - How I Started Making Real Money and How Can You Do It?

When I first started, I said how I barely made money with Media.net.

I was easily making a few hundred dollars a month from AdSense, so I was a bit skeptical when a good friend told me that he was getting double the returns using a different network.

But as a businessman (and constantly wanting to draw my attention to new things), I tried…

A FULL FAILURE.

I made like $5 a week and Media.net was out of my mind. I watched the AdSense money pile up and forgot.

Now, this reviewer makes thousands of dollars a month from Media.net and does almost nothing with AdSense.

What happened?

Two things:

1. I transferred control to my account representative for optimization

I am a lone wolf. It always was. That's why it's hard for me to open up my business to someone else (2MeIRL). However, as soon as the account rep took over and started optimizing my ads, my revenue skyrocketed.

I was wrong from the start. After getting close to my agent, I listened to their advice and let them fix it, things escalated. I never looked back.

2. I realized I was in the wrong area

Here's the thing about Media.net: It works great in some niches and oh my god what went wrong in others. If you're not in the right niche/business model, you're doomed from start to finish.

That's why so many entrepreneurs get stuck with terrible results and stick with AdSense. This is a huge mistake. In fact, the best way to optimize ROI is to use them together. I'll cover that later...

Media.net works great in product-heavy niches with lots of buying options. Consider pets or yoga. If someone comes to your pet blog, they A) have disposable income and B) have tons of product options like dog collars or fancy sweaters worn by Beverly Hills dogs.

This is the sweet spot. This is the kind of niche where you can earn thousands a month. If you're into something that isn't a lot of products, you can't really have success with them.

Media.Net Benefits: Why We Use Media.net (And Why You Should Use It A Lot)

1. Highly Content Ads

Photo Sorce By Media.net


Media.net gets more clicks than any other network WITHOUT the lousy clickbait ads.

This is due to the unique and innovative design of their ads. They developed a system called "The Display Network (TTP) for Search".

This great machine learning system is next level. Not only does it get the searcher's keyword, but it also understands the intent behind a search and shows even higher quality ads (SkyNet is real). So, rather than a completely irrelevant or at best somewhat relevant ad, all the ads on my blog match exactly what a researcher is looking for. Here is a screenshot…

2. Native Ads for Greater Purchasing Purpose

Native ads are ads that follow the same natural pattern of user experience on a website.

Basically, this means that ads are mixed into a site that looks like regular content. You know the "sponsored content" you see on sites like "The Atlantic". Yes, that's what we mean. Media.net's native ad play is in place and this could result in more clicks and higher purchase intent.

3. Ad Optimization Made For You (Account Representative)

This blew me away. When my friend told me that there is an ad network that rates high for 1000 impressions AND optimizes your ads for you, I had to check it out.

As a busy entrepreneur, I cannot explain how amazing this is. Take this…

After the machine-learning algorithm, SkyNet works its end-of-human magic, your account representative and a team of ad optimization enthusiasts continually test each ad for the highest return on investment down to the page level. And it's all done for you. So they handle all your communication and optimize your ads as well.

Oh yes and SkyNet… So, Media.net's algo is also constantly optimizing by ad type. If the algorithm determines that a video ad will outperform a text ad, BOOM, it will instead embed a video on your page.

So you get a dedicated account representative who optimizes your blog for its ads and constantly tests it to give you the best ROI. And you don't pay a penny for it. This increased my income from under $10/day to about $70/day and I did nothing. This is more than about $2,000/month.

4. Advertising Designs Genius

Photo Sorce By Media.net



Ads fit seamlessly into my site. I'm 100% sure that's why my click-through rates are borderline crazy these days. Did you notice anything different in these ads?

  • They're immediately confused: If it didn't say sponsored, you would have no idea these were advertisements.
  • No clickbaity copy : Only natural, highly relevant text. Do you know what this means? CLICK!
  • They look professional: Gentle, non-intrusive, clean_ hard to beat this look

Media.net Cons - What Can Be Improved?

Nothing in the world is perfect—except for brownie cheesecake—but since Media.net is an ad network and there's no cream cheese, butter, eggs, and sugar, I'll address my 3 caveats about the service before you sign up.

1. You Only Get Paid For Second Click

This is most people's biggest frustration with the service, and I totally get it.

Here's how it works:

You only get paid if someone clicks on another ad page from your page. If they click here, then you will get paid. This bothers many people. I know what it's like to be a new blogger who needs clicks to eat.

The thing is, Media.net's clicks are much more valuable than your standard click from a click-through ad. They only use high-quality, contextual ads in traffic to quality sites. So advertisers are bidding MUCH more for that traffic. If you have a quality site that gets good traffic, you'll be better off with this model.

2. Approvals Seems Arbitrary

Media.net takes publisher standards very seriously. Maybe I'm a little too serious...

They only work with "quality" sites that have traffic from certain countries. The thing is, quality has no particular meaning. It is subject to their approval.

And while I say there's no official minimum, I've heard some horror stories about endorsements gone wrong. I was approved with only a few thousand visits per month, but I know others who were denied with 10,000 visits/month for no apparent reason.

3. No Page Level Reporting

Ok, that's the only REAL downside to Media.net. The other two are somewhat bad, but also somewhat good. That's the only bad thing anywhere.

As a competent site builder, I have tons of different content types on my site, so having detailed data on how ads are performing on all types of content would be a HUGE help.

The site-level reporting they offer is excellent, but without this page-level data, I feel like I'm leaving extra money on the table. I guess letting the account rep and team do the optimization is the opposite.

If Media.net employees read this: GET SOME PAGE LEVEL DATA!

Media.net vs Google Adsense: Is Media.net an Alternative to Adsense or an Add-on?



Is Media.net replacing Google AdSense?

My definitive answer isIt depends on the situation.

I personally use Media.net for almost all my high-value pages. So if it's premium real estate on one of my product-heavy niche sites, I use Media.net and only Media.net.

But I don't see why everything has to be one or the other. They both look and feel different, and while both perform well in certain niches, they're sad in others. So why not use both?

It can be annoying or confusing at times, but I still use Google AdSense for certain niches.

2 reasons to use Google Ads:

  • AdSense Performs Well Above Content: AdSense banner ads can be spammy at times, but for the most part, they perform well at the top of your site. Media.net performs better in content or sticky bar (against AdSense rules!).
  • AdSense Performs Better in Certain Areas: I cover this path more towards the end, but there are certain niches that you should NEVER use with Media.net. In these cases, I use AdSense.

So the nuanced answer to the Media.net and AdSense question is:

Media.net is better overall, but you should use both together in different ways. Media.net for in-content contextual ads for product-heavy niches, and AdSense for ads above or below your content or in product-lighted niches.

Media.net Requirements


Media.net is one of the best quality networks around. They maintain their standards with one of the strictest approval programs in the industry. Feel free to read the terms of service if you wish. Or just read my summary here.

NOTE: I will not cover every nuance of the deal. Only the important, high-level factors that affect most site owners.

Media.net only approves websites that:

  • Traffic From Primary Location: Sorry, but that's how it is. The majority of your traffic should be from the US, Canada, UK, Australia or other similar countries.
  • Healthy Traffic: The company doesn't claim any restrictions, but your site needs to have healthy traffic if you want to join the party. What exactly is healthy is not up to me. With only a few thousand visitors a month, they endorsed me. I also know people who are certified with 5k.
  • English Content: Self-explanatory. I've heard that they accept multilingual sites whose primary content is English, but I personally have no experience with it.
  • Regular as updated Many Content: Media.net does not deal with sites with low-quality or still block. If you don't regularly post quality stuff, don't bother.
  • Good Design: If your site looks pre-Y2K, you are not being approved. To gain approval from the omnipotent Media.net council, you need a modern, smooth design that is easy to navigate. Most premium WP themes should work fine.
  • Nothing Copyright Infringing: This should go without saying. I don't want hosts of bootleg movies shot in theaters off their iPhones to complain to me that they're not approved.

TIP FOR PROFESSIONALS: Media.net does not endorse sites with excessive advertising. So, even if it's AdSense compatible, I recommend disabling it for a week while the company audits your site.

Media.net DOES NOT ACCEPT Sites That Have:

  • Free hosted web pages
  • Pages under construction
  • Hidden links
  • Manipulative design or content
  • Websites that promote internet abuse. Basically, it means spamming people

No Do They Accept Sites That Link To:

  • Porn
  • Alcohol, tobacco, or drugs
  • Abusive or discriminatory content
  • Violent or hateful sites
  • counterfeit products
  • Sites that can be updated without moderation, such as forums or chat rooms
  • Sites with computer-generated content
  • fake news

How to Use Media.Net

I won't go into too much detail here, but I want to tell you a few key aspects of Media.net from a user's perspective and why I like it so much.

1. Go to Media.net and Sign Up

Pretty self-explanatory here, right?

Sign up and submit your site for approval.

It only takes 10 seconds to sign up!…. Then you have to wait for confirmation. It was faster in my experience where they claim to take 2 business days.

2. Go to Ad Units from your Dashboard

The Dashboard shows your estimated revenue and impressions at a glance.

I'll go into this in a bit more detail now since the most important tab is Ad Units.

3. Create, Edit, and Manage Your Ads

Select Create Ad Unit from the Ad Units tab or directly from the dash.

4. Choose an Ad Size and Name

I almost always go with 300 x 250 for the bar sidebar and 728 x 90 for the first paragraph or over-content ads.

5. Choose a Skin

This is the actual design of your ad, NOT its color. Choose a preferred skin and Media.net will constantly test it against others for maximum return on investment.

6. Choose Your Colors

Customize the color palette to match your site's theme.

7. Click Save & Get Code

You are ready to go and put the code on your site.

8. Always Keep in Touch with Your Representative

I don't know why, but people always come to me with questions about Media.net ads. Repin for it! They are trained to optimize your ads and earn you more money.

I always see if they can reach out to me and give me feedback and optimize my second ad page.

Media.net FAQ

Stop sending me the same questions over and over in your inbox. READ!

Q: How much does Media.net pay per 1000 impressions?

Media.net usually pays around 5/1,000 impressions, one of the best in the industry. You can usually run 3 ads per page, so if you have 334 views, that's about 1000 impressions. At $5 RPM you can earn $5/day or roughly $150/month from just 334 visits per day.

Q: Can I use Media.net with AdSense?

Yes, you can use Media.net with Google AdSense. I even recommend it. Here is Google's view. My rule of thumb is to use Media.net for product-heavy niches and Google AdSense for product-light niches. Also, Media.net has better in-content ads while AdSense has better banner ads.

Q: What does Media.net do?

Media.net is one of the largest contextual ad networks in the world. It specializes in contextual, native, and video ads on high-quality sites.

Q: Is Media.net better than AdSense?

I prefer Media.net, but as I said before, AdSense still has its place. Both are good in different situations. In general, Media.net is better, especially if you take into account the optimization made for you.

Q: How much does Google AdSense pay per 1000 impressions?

Google AdSense usually pays between $1-$1.50 for 1000 impressions.

Q: Does Media.net pay via PayPal in 2021?

No. They updated their terms in 2019 and currently only offer wire transfers and Payoneer.

VERDICT: Is Media.net Legal?

YES… as long as you're in the right niche.

Media.net makes me thousands a month and my clicks are always at the highest level. This is because they serve highly contextual ads on high-quality posts from reputable advertisers.

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