Every single publisher on Earth has noticed how RPMs fluctuate throughout the year. These changes are based on many factors such as advertiser budgets, consumer trends, and seasonality. Publishers can control some of them, but some others are completely out of their hands. Seasonality seems to be part of the last group of factors. But it is not or at least, not entirely. Here is how to leverage seasonality and optimize ad revenue.
Every quarter of the year is different
While Q1 (January, February and March) is usually the time when advertisers and brands lower their ad investments, it is also the start of the year. It is slow, but a start after all. This means that some advertisers take the chance to promote new campaigns, products or services.
Q2 (April, May, June), though, is the end of the financial year for many advertisers and so they try to spend all their budgets. That’s usually one of the best quarters of the year for publishers of all kinds and sizes.
But not all is good news… As you already know Q3 (July, August and September) is the time for those advertisers who just spent it all to plan for the new year. Publishers’ revenues go down in general until Q4 (October, November and December) starts. That’s the highlight of the year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas compensate for the drop in the previous quarter.
However special events such as Valentine’s Day, Father’s and Mother’s Day, etc., can help publishers make some extra money, no matter the quarter or season.
How to make the most of every season
As you might have already guessed, there are a few tips that will always help you improve your revenue throughout the year.
1. New deals & prices
Things have changed, so it’s time for you to negotiate new deals. You can reduce your CPM floors, for instance, to encourage more advertisers to maintain or increase their activity. Or you can do exactly the opposite too, which would be analyzing your top geos and inflating your average CPMs 50%-100% higher to compensate for the reduced volume of activity.
2. Review blocking rules
If any blocking rule is having a huge impact on demand, now is the right time to review that and maybe loosen a tiny bit as long as it does not create any potential issues.
3. Test new formats
Time for innovation! Offer something new. Attract advertisers with new possibilities and add more sizes. Here is a tip: When adding more sizes, go for the high paying ones, depending on the space you have available. And if you are thinking about new possibilities, don’t forget to prioritize native and video formats and sponsored articles. However, there are many options that you could try such as sticky ads, skins, expandable in-content, pushdowns, scrollers…
4. Optimize ad placements
Are you sure you are making the most of your available space? Optimize your ad placements based on viewability and performance. You should start by placing your ads on those spots where your users focus or click the most and then see how those creatives perform.
5. Create seasonal content
By creating seasonal content, you will be able to lead more traffic to your website and leverage the special dates of every quarter. Whether we are talking about Christmas or the 4th of July, the volume of searches for specific keywords always grows. Do your own research, prepare in advance, make sure your website is ready to deal with traffic peaks and go for it!
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What can publishers do to leverage seasonality?
Publishers can take advantage of seasonal holidays to promote new deals, try new formats and create new appropriate content.
How should publishers optimize the ad placements?
Having an updated and optimized ad space is crucial to make the most of seasonal holidays. This optimization should be done based on viewability and performance in order to get the best results during this period.