Not all ad formats are created equal. The difference between a publisher earning $2 RPM and $12 RPM often comes down to which formats they're running and where.
Click Dudes Editorial Team
Click Dudes helps publishers maximize revenue through AI-powered monetization, premium demand access, and advanced optimization strategies.
The ad format decisions you make — which sizes to run, where to place them, which types to enable — are among the highest-leverage decisions in publisher monetization. A publisher running only 300x250 banners in low-viewability positions might earn $1.50 RPM. The same publisher, with the same traffic, using optimized sticky ads, in-content placements, and video, could easily achieve $8–12 RPM. The format choice doesn't just affect CPMs — it determines how many demand partners can bid, what viewability scores you achieve, and ultimately how much each impression is worth to advertisers.
Display ads remain the backbone of most publisher monetization stacks. The highest-performing display sizes are the 300x250 (medium rectangle), 728x90 (leaderboard), and 160x600 (wide skyscraper). The 300x250 is the single most important ad unit — it consistently achieves the highest fill rates of any format because virtually every DSP and demand source supports it. For desktop, combining a 728x90 leaderboard above the fold with 300x250 units in the content sidebar and below-content areas creates a strong foundational stack. For mobile, the 320x50 and 320x100 banners serve as anchor units.
Sticky ads — ad units that remain fixed in the viewport as users scroll — consistently deliver the highest viewability rates of any format, often 80–95%. High viewability directly translates to higher CPMs because premium advertisers pay a significant premium for guaranteed viewable impressions. A sticky footer ad on mobile (320x50 or 320x100) can deliver CPMs 2–3x higher than equivalent non-sticky placements. On desktop, a sticky sidebar 300x250 or 300x600 performs exceptionally well for long-form content where users scroll extensively. The IAB defines viewability as 50% of pixels in view for 1 second — sticky ads blow past this threshold by design.
Video ads command the highest CPMs of any format by a wide margin — typically $10–50 per thousand impressions compared to $1–8 for standard display. Even outstream video (video ads that play within content without requiring a video player) delivers $8–20 CPMs. Instream pre-roll in a content player can reach $20–50+. The challenge for content publishers without video content is finding the right video format. Outstream video widgets (which auto-play video ads between paragraphs) are the most accessible option. They don't require you to produce video content and can be added to any text-based article. Rewarded video, more common in apps, is increasingly appearing on web for interactive content.
Native ads are designed to match the look and feel of surrounding content, making them significantly less prone to banner blindness than traditional display ads. Platforms like Taboola, Outbrain, and Sharethrough specialize in native content recommendation units that often deliver $1.50–4 RPM on traffic-heavy content sites. The advantage of native is user experience — readers are less disrupted. The disadvantage is CPMs are generally lower than premium display. However, native ads add inventory without competing with existing display units, making them a pure additive revenue stream. For news and content publishers with high pageview counts, native units below articles can add meaningful incremental revenue.
Anchor ads (fixed to the bottom of the viewport on mobile) and interstitials (full-screen ads between page views) represent the highest-CPM formats but require careful implementation to avoid policy violations and UX damage. Google's Better Ads Standards set specific rules: interstitials cannot appear on mobile within the first 15 seconds of a page load, and anchor ads must be closeable. When implemented correctly, mobile anchor ads (enabled via Google Ad Manager or AdSense's ad balance feature) consistently deliver some of the highest RPM improvements of any format change — often adding $0.50–1.50 to overall site RPM.
Sticky ads offer consistency. In-content ads offer scale. The truth is you need both — but the ratio depends on your traffic behavior, content type, and CPM goals. Here's the full breakdown.
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