A $20 RPM is not automatically better than a $15 RPM. What matters is the money left after the switch.
In the worked example below, the higher rate looks attractive. But if traffic falls 20%, extra fees and switching costs leave the publisher $600 worse off over six months. That does not mean switching is bad. It means the offer needs a break-even check.
Check your own switching costs in the free planning lab →
First, make sure both RPMs count the same thing
RPM means revenue per thousand units. The unit matters as much as the number.
Raptive’s RPM guide distinguishes session RPM from page RPM. Mediavine’s mRPM explanation uses sessions in which at least one ad was served. These rates should not be compared as though they had the same denominator.
Before entering an offer, write down:
- The traffic unit: pageviews, sessions or monetized sessions.
- The revenue basis: money payable to you, or gross advertising revenue before the network’s share.
- The complete date range and currency.
- Any extra fees, temporary guarantee and end date.
Our calculator uses page RPM after the network’s share. Do not subtract that share a second time. If your report only gives session RPM, use your own matching pageviews and earnings to calculate page RPM. Do not use an internet conversion factor.
The six-month comparison
These are chosen assumptions to explain the calculation, not earnings from a real publisher or prices quoted by a particular network.
| Starting figures | Value |
|---|---|
| Monthly pageviews before switching | 100,000 |
| Monthly revenue if you stay | $1,500 |
| Current page RPM | $15 |
| New network page RPM, after revenue share | $20 |
| Extra monthly fee | $100 |
| One-time switching cost | $600 |
| Comparison period | 6 months |
With no traffic change, the new network earns $2,000 per month before the extra fee. The monthly gain is $400. Over six months, that is $2,400, less the $600 one-time cost: $1,800 ahead.
Now keep the new network RPM at $20 and change only traffic:
| Sustained traffic loss | New network monthly revenue | Six-month gain versus staying |
|---|---|---|
| 0% | $2,000 | +$1,800 |
| 10% | $1,800 | +$600 |
| 15% | $1,700 | $0 |
| 20% | $1,600 | −$600 |
At 20% loss, revenue is still $100 higher each month than the $1,500 baseline. But the extra monthly fee uses up that difference. The one-time cost is never recovered within this scenario.
A lower traffic count is a stress-test assumption here. We are not saying changing networks causes traffic loss, or predicting how your site will perform.
Download the four worked scenarios as CSV. The file contains examples, not measured publisher accounts.
Find the traffic loss you can afford
For this example, the switch needs $1,700 per month: $1,500 to match staying, $100 for the extra fee and $100 to recover the $600 cost over six months.
At a $20 page RPM, that requires 85,000 pageviews. Starting with 100,000, the allowance is 15,000 pageviews, or 15%. Below that traffic level, the switch loses money relative to staying under these assumptions.
The formula is:
Affordable traffic loss = 1 − (baseline revenue + extra monthly fee + switching cost ÷ months) ÷ new network revenue at unchanged traffic
Multiply by 100 for a percentage. If the no-loss case already falls short, there is no allowance to spend. If new network RPM is zero, the tool does not invent a useful percentage.
The planning lab updates this limit as you change the inputs. It also shows the new network RPM needed at your chosen traffic loss, the gain over your selected period and simple payback. Your entries are calculated locally; no account is needed.
A benchmark is context, not your offer
We rechecked our published historical RPM records for this guide. The median is $15.21 page RPM, with the middle half between $6.88 and $25.16. These are descriptive quartiles of the stored per-business RPM values, using linear interpolation between ordered observations.
The published research table contains 123 historical, sale-selected display-ad businesses. It is not a random sample of publishers, a current rate card or a test of Mediavine against Raptive. A business appearing as sold does not provide a verified final transaction price.
The spread is a reason to use your own reports. It cannot tell you what RPM a new network will deliver on your site.
Check what happens after a guarantee ends
Mediavine’s switching-cost article makes a comparison over a longer period than the initial guarantee. It is provider-authored marketing with illustrative assumptions, not independent evidence that every competing offer loses money.
Ask the provider for the terms that apply to your site. If the rate changes after an introductory period, calculate the periods separately. Our constant-RPM example does not model a changing guarantee, delayed payments, taxes, variable fees or the value of your own time unless you enter it as a cost.
Keep common cash costs separate from extra switching costs. Common costs cancel when comparing the two options, but still matter to whether the business is profitable at all.
Measure the outcome without fooling yourself
Save the starting reports and the date of each implementation change. Compare complete periods with matching units. Look at revenue, traffic and page RPM together. Break down large changes by country, device and page group where your provider supports it.
If earnings fall, our traffic-up, revenue-down guide helps separate arithmetic changes from possible causes. For eligibility rather than earnings, use the current ad-network requirements guide.
A successful switch is one your evidence supports after costs. Start with the break-even number, then test the assumptions that could overturn it.