Ad Revenue

Advertisement is one of the most profitable businesses. People use newspapers, magazines, billboards, TV commercials, and other media to promote their products. Nowadays, the internet provides them with a platform where online users can look at their goods easily from websites, applications, social media, and others. Many brands are taking their chance to capitalise on this to increase their profit.

Understanding ad revenue

It is the profit you get from showing a brand advertisement. In fact, people have been using this term since the early 19th century. It prevailed along with the rise of print media. Today, you can also get this through digital media. The way this works is you have to pay for the spot that providers provide to put your promotional materials.

As an example in digital media, if a tech brand wants to promote their new products on the website of the College of Contract Management. That brand has to pay the commission every time a user visits your website and clicks on that ad. Moreover, there are many sources you can pick to get the ad revenue. Those options are:

Display ads

You can find this type of promotion on websites, blogs, and apps. This visual-based advertisement uses images, short clips, or graphics. Also, it uses a short and catchy phrase or message. The owner of the platform is in several forms of advertisement, such as banner, interstitial, responsive, and retargeting. The website owners can earn ad revenue through pay-per-click (PPC) or pay-per-impression. This method can be beneficial, but people often ignore it due to “banner blindness”.

Video advertising

This is where you use videos to promote your products or services. Usually, you can find this in streaming services and social media. There are several types, such as in-stream, out-stream, bumper, story, and shoppable video. It is one of the most highly engaging and attention-grabbing methods. However, this can be expensive and takes time to produce. Also, people can feel ad fatigue if overused.

Social media advertising

There are around 54.8 million people or around 79% of the total population in the UK social media in January 2025. Hence, since many individuals are using social platforms, this can be a lucrative opportunity for businesses to show what they offer in the digital world. Social media companies can get ad revenue from advertisements in the shape of images, videos, stories, and more. Through this advertising approach, you can reach many users and increase engagement easily.

Print advertising

It is a paid promotion that uses newspapers, magazines, brochures, flyers, posters, and billboards. Even though digital media is more popular for gaining ad revenue, there are many companies that are still using print media. This means that this will be less competition for attention compared to digital clutter. The downside of this method is people are reading less, especially for the younger audiences.

Broadcast advertising

Before the age of the internet, this strategy was one of the most lucrative ones. Many people watch television or listen to the radio. Businesses were using commercials to get the opportunity to reach a wide audience. This makes those sectors generate a high amount of ad revenue. Although it can reach a vast demographic, it is hard to reach niche groups precisely.

How do you make ad revenue?

Before you can earn it, there are preparations you need to follow where each platform usually has different requirements. It is because they want to protect the quality of the commercial, ensure the value of the content, and maintain advertiser trust. Also, if the audience feels the ads are not aligned to their value, it will ruin their experience. When this happens, the chance of them not using your brand again increases. Here’s a general breakdown of how to make ad revenue for your site:

1. First, you will need a platform to host your content, like a website, mobile app, social media, podcast, or others. From this platform, you are going to join an ad network or an online advertising network. This will allow you to connect businesses to connect with your website to host the advertisements.
2. After that, you are going to choose the types of ad revenue you want. It can be a display, video, in-app, affiliate, or sponsored post. Each type has different uses and advantages or disadvantages. You are going to choose the ad model you want to use. There are cost per click, cost per mile, cost per action, and cost per view.
3. Now is the hardest part, which is growing your traffic or audience. You will not receive any ad revenue if you don’t have anyone looking at your platform. This means you need to create high-quality content that fulfils the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) requirements. When you have the traffic, you need to keep track of how many people are visiting your platform and look for improvement.