We've all heard about "the ramp up period" with programmatic advertising, but what does that really mean? And, more specifically, what does it mean for you?
When you launch new programmatic ads, it can take time to rebuild the history between your site and advertisers as they learn about the new inventory you have available. You've basically just hit the reset button on your ads in the open marketplace.
Every site is different and how fast or slow this process is varies from site to site, and can be impacted by the volume of traffic you have (larger sites ramp up faster) as well as the countries your traffic originates from.
Let's look at a few things that can affect that time frame.
-
The age of your domain. If your site has an established history with advertisers, they can re-learn the details faster. If your site is new to programmatic advertising, or just new in general, it can take longer for advertisers to learn about your readers and how best to serve them. Some partners require as much as 1 year of domain history before spending, so if you have a brand new site, you’ll want to account for that.
-
How much traffic you have. Larger sites have more inventory. Advertising algorithms can adjust more quickly when they have more data to analyze. Advertisers will learn about your traffic faster when you are starting off with a larger number of impressions to fill.
-
How much US traffic you have. CPMs and fill rates tend to be higher for US traffic. If you have less than 65% US traffic, it can take a little longer for advertisers to figure things out. There's just not as much competition.
-
What quarter we are in! This is a big one. If you go live in Q4 when spend and competition for impressions is high, and demand for inventory is also at a high volume, your ads will "ramp up" much faster than they would in Q1 when spending is more conservative. The same can be said for the second half of Q2 (high!), or the first bit of Q3 (low). This has to do with brands and how they set their yearly budgets and plan for the months ahead.
Your earnings from display ads are just this equation: CPM * IMPRESSIONS / 1000
CPMs are higher at some points in the year (think holidays, Prime days, during an election, etc.) and lower in others.
Knowing what to expect from seasonal trends can help map out the length of time it takes to hit your stride.
-
Your ads.txt file. This is another big one, especially right after you launch with Journey. The sooner advertisers can read your ads.txt file and know they are spending on a Journey site, the sooner you will see that spend increase. If you've gotten a reminder email about your ads.txt file, don't delay! Learn how to check and update your ads.txt file here.
Help move things along.
There are a few things you can do to help speed up the process.
BONUS! They are also all things that will help you earn more long term.
- Optimize Your Content by making sure that your content is formatted in a way that will monetize well. Think short, easy to read paragraphs, lots of beautiful images, and maybe even a small sidebar!