This guide shares the average revenue for content sites.
Below, you’ll find the average revenue per user, per month, per year, and per ad platform for content sites that are monetized with display ads. You’ll also find the average profit you can expect to receive as a content publisher from each ad platform.
As you’ll discover in this guide, there are a variety of factors that affect the average earnings for content sites as well as how much revenue is shared with the publisher by each ad platform.
Average Revenue for Content Sites
The average revenue for content sites is $5-50 for 1,000 views. The total revenue depends on the ad platform, website category, type of content, amount of website traffic, user location, and the average number of ads displayed on the site.
Average Revenue Per User
The average revenue per user for content sites is $0.005 to $0.050 with the highest-earning users being located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.
Average Revenue Per Month
The average revenue per month for content sites is $50 to $500 for 10,000 views. Seasonality affects average revenue per month because advertisers adjust spending during each quarter of the year.
Average Revenue Per Year
The average revenue per year for content sites is $500 to $5,000 for 100,000 views over the course of the year.
Average Revenue Per Ad Platform
There are many ad platforms that can be used to monetize a content site. The most popular choices are AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine, Adthrive, and Monumetric.
Each ad platform offers a different revenue share with content publishers, so the average earnings will be different depending on the platform being used on the website. However, the same principles apply that affect the average revenue numbers: website category, type of content, amount of website traffic, user location, the average number of ads displayed on the site, and seasonality.
As for the average revenue per ad platform for content sites, you can expect the following earnings based on various income report data that’s been published online by bloggers and website owners as well as my own experience with content sites:
- AdSense pays $8-20 for 1,000 views on average. Publishers receive 68% of revenue.
- Ezoic pays $10-40 for 1,000 views on average. Publishers receive 90% of revenue.
- Mediavine pays $30-50 for 1,000 views on average. Publishers receive 75% of revenue.
- Adthrive pays $15-35 for 1,000 views on average. Publishers receive 75% of revenue.
- Monumetric pays $5-20 for 1,000 views on average. Publishers receive 70-85% of revenue depending on the average number of pageviews.
Note: These revenue numbers are only averages; meaning your content site may earn more or less than these amounts. To maximize your website’s revenue, you’ll want to attract users from the highest-earning locations, publish content on high-paying topics, increase the average number of pageviews per session, and encourage repeat visits.
Something else to keep in mind is that some ad platforms like Mediavine have incentive programs like a Loyalty Bonus that increases the average profit for content sites. Every site owner on their Mediavine anniversary will get an additional 1% added to their revenue share, up to a maximum of 5%. There’s also an invitation-only program for content sites that earn a minimum of $500,000 in annual ad revenue which increases revenue share to 85%.
However, platforms like Ezoic have revenue incentive programs for content sites at every level of earnings. The Ezoic Premium program gives content site owners 100% of the revenue earned through video and display ads. You can read my complete Ezoic Premium review here to find out how it works to your advantage as a content publisher.
You can also use my Ezoic affiliate link here to get started today. Setup and integration can be approved in less than 24-48 hours after creating an account.
Average Revenue By Website Category
Here are some examples of how much Google AdSense pays per 1,000 views on a content site in various categories. As mentioned previously, AdSense pays publishers 68% of revenue share while keeping 32%. Other ad platforms like Ezoic, Mediavine, and Adthrive will pay you more money than AdSense for these same categories because they offer 70% to 90% revenue share for content site owners.
- Arts & Entertainment: $5.62 per 1,000 pageviews
- Autos & Vehicles: $9.20 per 1,000 pageviews
- Beauty and Fitness: $13.01 per 1,000 pageviews
- Finance: $32.13 per 1,000 pageviews
- Food & Drink: $14.33 per 1,000 pageviews
- Health: $17.40 per 1,000 pageviews
- Home & Garden: $23.35 per 1,000 pageviews
- Real Estate: $14.50 per 1,000 pageviews
- Sports: $4.23 per 1,000 pageviews
- Travel: $14.10 per 1,000 pageviews
If you want to learn more about ad revenue for content sites, then check out these related guides:
- How Much Money Do Websites Make From Ads?
- How Much Does AdSense Pay Per 1,000 Views & Per Click
- How Much Does Ezoic Pay Per 1,000 Views
- Ezoic vs Mediavine (Comparison)
Average Revenue for Content Sites Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide on the average revenue for content sites.
As you discovered, the average revenue per user for content sites is $0.005 to $0.050 or $5-50 for 1,000 views. However, the average profit depends on a variety of factors like the website category, type of content, amount of website traffic, user location, average number of ads displayed on the site, and the ad platform’s revenue share with publishers.
