Ezoic and Mediavine are two of my favourite ad networks that I’ve used and tried. I utilize one with the majority of my websites, while the other is rarely used.
In my experience, Ezoic gives almost the same revenue as Mediavine (slightly more), has a lower application threshold, and more than adequate support. Because of this, I don’t see any reason to use Mediavine, which may lead you to question why I use them for one of my sites, which I’ll explain below.
Ezoic vs Mediavine – Which Makes More Money?
Because both Ezoic and Mediavine are respectable firms, neither will send you spammy, hazardous advertising, therefore the only thing that matters to you is how much money they can make you.
For this section, I’ll go over four of my websites that I tested on both platforms and their performance on each network.
Mediavine
- Food-related website – average CPM of $7.32
- Outdoors-related website – average CPM of $5.69
- Website with a travel theme – average CPM of $7.26
- Website with a foreign audience (India and Nepal) – average CPM of $2.22
Ezoic
- Food-related website – average CPM of $8.55
- Outdoors-related website – average CPM of $5.39
- Website with a travel theme – average CPM of $9.78
- Website with a foreign audience (India and Nepal) – average CPM of $3.24
I can’t predict what CPM you’ll get, where your traffic will originate from, or what your site’s niche will be. However, this has been my experience with both networks. In my judgement, the results are very evident.
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Namely That:
- In most niches, Ezoic outperformed Mediavine slightly but consistently.
- Outdoors-related (US/Canadian) traffic is slightly better on Mediavine.
- For international traffic, Ezoic is clearly superior.
Which has better Support?
From my personal experience, both of their support services are adequate, with Ezoic being more human-like and willing to be more personal and make recommendations, whereas Mediavine is less human-like but more professional, and appears to be slightly more knowledgeable/technical in their conversations. Perhaps you’d enjoy it, or perhaps you wouldn’t.
The actual difference in terms of support is how they function rather than how you contact them for assistance.
Mediavine
- Sets up ad-units automatically, similar to how Google Adsense does.
- There are fewer options, but it will be slightly easier to manage by default.
- Doesn’t share as much information with you as others.
- Machine learning (Artificial Learning/Artifical Intelligence) is the only source of power.
Ezoic
- You should ideally build up some ad units and deploy them in strategic locations.
- Some ad units will be placed automatically, but not as many in-content (high-paying) ad units.
- Has a fantastic data-analytics dashboard that shows you pretty much every metric you could imagine (and then some!)
- Functions based on machine learning, but permits human intervention to accelerate revenue growth.
The bottom line is that if you’re willing to put in a little time setting up ad units that you think will look good and learning how to manipulate Ezoic’s platform options, you’ll not only see a faster increase in revenue and a better user experience, but you’ll also have more direct control over your website. If that’s the case, and you don’t mind putting in a little time for the initial setup and modifications (likely only a few hours), Ezoic is certainly the way to go. That’s why I’m largely associated with Ezoic.
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Why do I have a website with Mediavine if I prefer Ezoic?
Okay, I’ll answer this question right now, and I’ll go over a few reasons for this, as well as some cautions about utilizing Mediavine.
Diversification
This is the main reason I chose this option: I never want to lose the majority of my revenue if Ezoic goes out of business. It’s incredibly unlikely, especially given how their firm operates (they have low overhead), but it’s still a possibility I’d like to prepare for with a smaller website that would allow me to avoid having to tap into my investments or savings if such a scenario arises.
Contract Term & Revenue Impact
As I mentioned above, in certain circumstances, such as with my Outdoors website, I made roughly the same, if not slightly more, using Mediavine, albeit to a minor degree.
So why move back to Ezoic when, in my case, I was with Ezoic first and wanted to try Mediavine to get a clearer image of which ad network was genuinely better, even though I’m making somewhat more with Mediavine?
But this brings me to a caution: even if I wanted to move back to Mediavine, you won’t be able to do so for 30 to 90 days, and they’ll often want to keep you as a client in the meantime. While I only have a rolling 30-day deal with them for that website right now, it’s still a contract, and if you choose Mediavine and don’t like them, you could be trapped with them for several months. This can be a problem, especially for websites with international traffic, because their CPM for international sites is substantially lower than Ezoic’s, and if you’re not happy, you’ll be stuck with them for months.
Why do I have a site with Adthrive?
Although it isn’t particularly related to this topic, I felt I’d mention it in case you’re interested.
Simply put, they are the best of both worlds, and they pay a fraction more for US-based traffic than Ezoic. However, the reason I only have one site with them is that they have a very tight approval process, requiring longer-form material as the majority of traffic-driving articles, particularly US-centric audiences, and a minimum of 100,000 monthly page views to be authorised.
While they’re excellent until you’re a big boy and can increase your CPM by a dollar or two, most people can’t afford them, and most personal websites won’t receive enough traffic to use them for many years.
What about requirements for each Ad Network?
This is where, in my opinion, Mediavine goes from being a good alternative to Ezoic to being generally ignored.
The reason for this is that Ezoic has a considerably lower pageview minimum criterion. Ezoic welcomes websites with as few as a few thousand monthly pageviews, while they prefer sites with 10,000 or more.
For most users, Mediavine requires 50,000 sessions every month, which equates to 67,000 – 84,000 pageviews each month. This being said, unless you have this many pageviews/sessions per month, you’ll be stuck with a terrible CPM through AdSense or media.net, which makes using Ezoic a no-brainer in my opinion compared to Mediavine.
Ezoic Vs Mediavine
| Ezoic | Mediavine |
| 10,000 Monthly Sessions Required | 50,000 Monthly Sessions Required |
| Easy Approval | Approval Takes Up To 4 Weeks |
| Easy Installation & Setup | Easy Installation & Managed Set Up |
| AI Optimized But Intrusive Ads | Continually Optimized Ads |
| Google Ad & Premium Ads | Google Ad, Double Click, Premium Ads |
| Mid Range Earnings | BEST In Class Earnings |
| No Video Player | Video Player With Ads |
| Quality Support | Dedicated, Responsive Support |
| No Community | Thriving Facebook Community |
| Rating: 82/100 | Rating: 98/100 |