I have no answer to number three. Your number one though should be affiliates - my recent experience.

Whatever happened to the idea of direct advertisers? There was a lot of talk about them awhile ago but it seems to have faded. I have pretty good luck with them.

I'm still with the same affiliate programmes I was with even before AdSense was invented, the only difference being AdSense was given the prime real estate. That situation is quickly reversible with SSI if necessary.

WHO IS #3?

Amazon? Facebook for mobile? BSA? I have no idea. I only run Adsense, affiliates and a few direct ads. I'd be curious to know though.

Right now for me, AdSense id #1 performer, Facebook Audience Network is #2 performer and Media.net is #3.

(Note that FAN is mobile only at this point, and Media.net does not have responsive ads as far as I know, but they do have an anchor ad for mobile)

@ember, direct only makes sense at a certain volume. Small pubs have the option to either work with networks and/or participate in public affiliate programs. Advertisers are too spoiled to make direct deals with small/medium-sized pubs.

@Netmeg All Media.net ads are responsive

Not on my iPhone.

All mine are - and I was assured by my Media.net rep that they all are - however I do remember having a problem awhile back when they showed Adsense ads in Media.net slots that they "broke out" of their containers. You can request they just keep their standard ads in certain slots- no optimizing those slots.

Amazon?

FWIW, Amazon affiliate program is not available to people who live in a number of US states.


FarmBoy

To the OP, if you've already tried a few (duds), please share those. Afterall, the point here is for people not to spin their wheels. Seems like an odd omission.

Sorry. Here ya go -

AdSense #1 for 11 years. Then I was taken out behind the barn, and shot.
Yahoo (defunct, was #2 for me for years).
Then, Chikita was #2. Lousy stats, they don't store ads - must RE-create ad EVERY time you want to shuffle.
Media.net is now #2, but seems to be fading. Reading lots of reviews, this seems to be SOP (standard operating procedure) with them. Targeting is wanting, because it seems to be done manually, and not all pages get targeted. With many subjects like I have, I need targeting by page level. You know, like AdSense did for many years.
Also, Adbrite (pron), Amazon (no action), Share-a Sale (NO PAY).
And, I think, Adhearus (can't remember, hokey for some reason).
AdBrite said, "No pron." And the first ad I get is huge pair of female boom-booms. Not what I wanted to display. Instant Bye-Bye.

Thanks to everyone. You have provided me with a great spectrum of your alternatives.
Now I need read a bunch more, sign up again somewhere, and get a little luck.
.

I know another publisher who has done well with BuySellAds, and another who is using 33across with some success. But really I think it's a horses for courses decision. Some ad networks are better for certain niches, markets, geographic regions, CPM over CPC, etc. Individual research and due diligence is probably required.

Adsense, Amazon and media.net are more one-size-fits-all networks. And no "huge female boom-booms", which is not a bad thing.

To the OP, if you've already tried a few (duds), please share those. Afterall, the point here is for people not to spin their wheels. Seems like an odd omission.

I'm not the OP, but I have received some useful info, from people here on WW ...

So, Indeed publisher program continues to perform well for me.


FarmBoy

Criteo is #3 for me.

AdSense is my #1, Amazon is #2 (only makes 1% the earnings of AdSense), I'm looking for a #3 also. Was thinking media.net, it can't hurt to try... I already have Criteo via AdSense third party ad networks.

Will someone provide a (somewhat concise) comparison of AdSense to Media.net?

FarmBoy

P.S. You can tell I go back a long ways because I still use my moniker at the end of my posts. That's old school, how things used to be done way back in the prior decade, before dinosaurs died or Smartphones became common, I forget which happened first.

Summarizing, here is my list of places to look for the Gold -

2. PPC for Pubs.
AdSense, AOL Platforms (was Adsonar), Amobee (was Kontera), Bidvertiser, Chitika, Clicksor, ClickBank, Click-Share

3. CPM
Adtegrity, Casale Media, Conversant (was Fastclick, Valueclick), CPX Interactive, Exponential (was Tribal Fusion), Rhythmone (was Burst Media),

4. PPA
Amazon, Commission Junction, MaxBounty, Performics, Rakuten (was Linkshare), ShareASale

5. Flat Rate
-

I know that some of these have changed category by now (Kanoodle, etc.). But I'll keep looking. ( ;<)

farmboy, please check your sticky mail.

before dinosaurs died or Smartphones

No, no, it was before the dinosaur's smartphone died. After that all "meaningful communication" otherwise known as advertising, became a lot harder and less profitable for the small guy.

.

No. 1 for us is an affiliate program.

No. 2 is AdSense.

No. 3 is another affiliate program.

(In some years, no. 2 and no. 3 are reversed.)

As for Media.net, it may be fine for publishers who receive most of their traffic from a handful of English-speaking countries (primarily the U.S.), but for sites with global audiences, AdSense is a much better fit.

farmboy, please check your sticky mail.

I did, thanks.


FarmBoy

No, no, it was before the dinosaur's smartphone died.

Dead Dinosaur Smartphone. I wonder if any of the variations of that are still available as a Domain?


FarmBoy

So, about a week into my peak time of the year, here's my weather report:

• AdSense - still top performer, but not by much. Pathetically low CTR. Hasn't been this bad in years. True I have some ad types turned off til they fix how they render, but even so.
  
  
• Media.net - best performance I've ever had out of them. Not far from AdSense. Wish they'd get their missing stats fixed tho.
  
  
• Facebook Audience Network - turning out to be a nice surprise. Native ads are the way to go here; banners didn't do squat. Wouldn't be surprised if eventually they outperform AdSense. Don't know yet if each site has to meet the minimum payout since I'm new here.
  
  
• Disqus Native Ads - Better than I expected, and they look better than they used to as well. Lots of stats delays though, not a fan of that. Also, if you have multiple sites, they won't consolidate your earnings across all your sites for payout - you have to meet the minimum for each site before they pay out for that site, even if one or two sites earn way better. Nuisance.
  

I'll update again as I gather more data.

Many thanks, Netmeg.
Good, good stuff to know (and investigate).
Just the kind of thing that I was seeking, and from a rather well-respected authoritative source around here.
.

I am currently

#1 Adsense
#2 Media.net
#3 YuhuAds (based in Spain and beating #1 and #2 on Spanish language sites only interstitials at the moment though)

I need to look at Facebook Audience Network

I need to look at Facebook Audience Network

Probably a good idea. Right now they're just mobile and only show to people logged in to Facebook, but in the past couple weeks I've seen some articles and posts speculating that they will be rolling out to desktop users AND users not specifically logged into Facebook soon. At that point it becomes a real competitor to AdSense.

Their reporting is kind of sucky (specially if you have multiple sites) and I'm hoping that eventually improves.

I've noticed the lack of quality reporting pretty much everywhere I've tried as an Adsense alternative. The only place that has had good reporting has been affiliate window - pity affiliate isn't good in my areas.

AdSense has ALWAYS been my #1. Every time to try another network I end up losing potential earnings and getting frustrated.

Amazon is my #2.

I don't bother to find a #3.

My #2 is Amazon CPM -- it beats Media.net easily.