High-impact content creators considering new ad formats to monetize their content and earn more revenue might want to consider using a video advertising platform. Using video ad networks can help businesses reach a wider audience and create a connection with creative storytelling. Studies show that 49% of people watch over five videos per day. So, why not cash in on this trend by putting ads on your content for your audience to see?
Video ad networks are the best way for you to monetize your content. But here comes the tricky part: which ad network should you use? Well, I happen to have a list of some of the best platforms to help you make a beneficial decision.
Best Video Advertising Networks Shortlist
Here’s the shortlist of the best tools that I’ll cover in this article.
- diDNA
- AdMaven
- Google AdSense
- Adsterra
- Facebook Audience Network
- Admedia
- OpenX
- SelectMedia
- Chocolate Platform
- PropellerAds
How I Selected the Best Video Advertising Networks
Perhaps you're wondering how I selected the best video advertising networks for this list? To build this top 10 list, I evaluated and compared a wide range of video advertising networks with positive user experiences.
After determining my longlist of top choices, I further honed my picks by using the selection criteria below to see how each network stacked up against the next one. I also drew on my years of media leadership experience to pinpoint the features that add a lot of value.
If you have general questions about video advertising networks or how to pick the best video advertising platform for your organization, take a look at our frequently asked questions section below. Or, you can skip directly to my detailed software summaries, if that's what you need the most.
Selection Criteria
Here’s a short summary of the main selection and evaluation criteria I used to develop my list of the best video advertising networks for this article:
Advertiser Vetting:
Video ad platforms with access to enormous amounts of advertisers can be highly beneficial to your media business. But how do you know the advertisements the network places on your content are legitimate businesses? Partnering with a video advertising platform with high-quality advertisers in their network is crucial. Placing low-quality ads on your content won’t pay as much, and they can damage the trust you built with your audience.
Audience Targeting:
Showing the most relevant ads is the most beneficial way to maximize your content’s revenue. To do this, I look for ad networks that allow users to be as specific as possible when targeting an audience. This includes having options such as contextual targeting and geo-targeting. I also look for video ad platforms allowing content creators to show ads based on their audience’s behavior patterns.
Customer Service:
When working with a video ad network, excellent customer service is essential. So, I look for ad networks that offer significant customer support if you experience technical issues. These networks should also have the expertise to help you fight against fraudsters.
Software Integrations:
To ensure you can start monetizing your content right away, the video ad network you decide to work with should have a way to integrate with your video player. Ad network integration enables the platform to place ads on your videos and website dynamically. This integration should also provide valuable traffic and monetization analytics when you log into the platform’s dashboard.
Pricing:
Some video advertising platforms require a set-up fee to start showing ads on their content. These fees are relatively low, considering the amount of revenue you can earn. They also take a cut of the amount the advertiser pays after completing the bidding process - typically around 30%. But, when it comes to pricing, I also consider the models these networks use to pay publishers like you. The money you earn will depend on several factors, such as the traffic volume you generate and how much the ad platform pays for impressions.
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Overviews of the 10 Best Video Advertising Networks
Here’s a brief description of each video advertising network to showcase each one's best use case, some noteworthy features, screenshots, and pricing information.
1. diDNA - Best for optimizing ad inventory for publishers
diDNA is a cloud-based ad management platform that uses machine learning and AI to optimize ad inventory by simplifying bidding processes.
Why I picked diDNA: The platform can help you automate bidding processes with its machine learning and artificial intelligence technology. Optimizing these processes can help you improve ad load times and alleviate bid pressure, reducing ad load times on your content and increasing revenue. diDNA’s technology can also help you block malicious ads from reaching your site and rectify ad errors during deployment.
diDNA helps media businesses of any size improve CPMs to generate more revenue for the content they produce. You can use the platform’s self-service portal to manage and optimize bids. The reports you can generate will show you your CPMs, daily ad revenue, and performance for each advertiser you work with.
diDNA Standout Features
Features include banner management, conversion tracking, ad optimization, customizable reports, campaign analytics, audience targeting, performance metrics, and engagement tracking.
Price: diDNA offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Dedicated implementation teams.
- Excellent, knowledgeable customer service.
- Helps publishers access high-level exchanges.
Cons
- Challenging learning curve.
- Reports need an update.
2. AdMaven - Best for multiple ad formats
AdMaven enables publishers to monetize their content by providing multiple ad formats to help them create a distinct revenue combination.
Why I picked AdMaven: The platform is regarded as one of the best video advertising networks for publishers because of its ability to support multiple ad formats. These formats include lightbox ads, mainstream display ad banners, and slider ads. When using AdMaven, you can immediately start implementing ads to your content.
AdMaven helps any publishing business looking for ways to monetize its content thanks to its extended video ad inventory. Many of these advertising inventories come with a high CPM, so you can start boosting your revenue after signing up. AdMaven doesn’t require publishers to have a minimum traffic amount - which must be great to hear if you’re just starting out.
AdMaven Standout Features
Features include high CPM, easy integrations, dedicated account managers, flexible payment methods, malware and inappropriate creative protection, and native push notifications.
Price: AdMaven offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Easy to use interface.
- 24/7 live support.
- Multiple monetization options.
Cons
- No reporting features.
- No fixed payment timing.
3. Google AdSense - Best for YouTube monetization
Google AdSense enables media creators to monetize their YouTube channel.
Why I picked Google AdSense: It’s the first-ever advertising network in the world, which still provides one of the most effective monetization systems for creators who use YouTube. Two considerable requirements are that your videos must be advertiser-friendly, and you must have the commercial rights to the content. Before monetizing your channel, the AdSense platform must approve your videos to ensure they meet their requirements.
Google AdSense is an excellent option if you have an established media business with significant traffic. If you’re hosting your video content on your website, you can add an AdSense code, and the platform will provide your site with contextual ads. You can also allow Google to experiment to identify the most optimal placements on your site without doing anything.
Google AdSense Standout Features
Features include real-time data, native ad serving, and real-time monitoring.
Price: Google AdSense is free to use.
Pros
- High fill rates.
- Excellent audience targeting.
- Easy to set up.
Cons
- No customer service contact.
- Only pays after earning $100.
4. Adsterra - Best for anti-fraud protection
Adsterra is an advertising network that uses three-level anti-fraud protection to keep you and your audience safe.
Why I picked Adsterra: They strive to provide publishers and their audience with in-house security and reliable fraud detection systems. They combine these technologies with services to identify and block malware, fraud, scams, and unsolicited downloads. Adsterra’s Anti-Adblock solution helps publishers increase revenues they would miss because of blocked ad calls.
Adsterra is an excellent option for any sized publisher who passes the platform’s approval requirements. They have over 12,000 advertisers in their marketplace, which helps you get a 100% fill rate. You can monetize any traffic with Adsterra, such as desktop, mobile, or social media.
Adsterra Standout Features
Features include multiple ad formats, self-serve platform, three-level security, custom payment options, 24/7 support, activity dashboard, and campaign analytics.
Price: Adsterra offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Load ads immediately.
- Excellent customer service.
- High monetization rate.
Cons
- CPM varies per country.
- Minimum payout is high.
5. Facebook Audience Network - Best for targeting social media audiences
Facebook Audience Network provides ads for publishers to add to in-stream and original content on social media.
Why I picked Facebook Audience Network: Since most Facebook users are scrolling through social media content on their mobile devices, this ad network platform is well-suited for creators who publish mobile videos. You can add mid-roll or pre-roll ads to your content using the Facebook Audience Network, but it doesn’t support post-roll ads. This is important to understand because the CPMs you can earn depend on various factors - one of them being your video ad format.
Facebook Audience Network is perfect for creators just starting their media business and using Facebook to promote content. Because billions of people use Facebook daily, thousands of advertisers use social networks for advertising their products and services. This means you can capitalize by allowing the platform to place ads on your content.
Facebook Audience Network Standout Features
Features include real-time reporting, CPA advertising, extended reach, and regular updates and optimization tips.
Price: Facebook Audience Network is free to use.
Pros
- Facebook ensures ad quality.
- Simple user interface design.
- Thousands of advertisers.
Cons
- Confusing terminology.
- Difficult to implement.
6. Admedia - Best for contextual targeting
Admedia uses advanced contextual targeting to ensure your audiences only see ads relevant to your niche.
Why I picked Admedia: They provide a significant number of advertisers to choose from and add to their content. Admedia also serves relevant ads using advanced contextual targeting to ensure your audience only sees advertisements that fit your specific topic. They don’t sell inventory on an open exchange and use their brand-safe advertising ecosystem, which comes with an internal ad exchange.
Admedia works for various-sized publishers looking to monetize their content. The platform only allows qualified publishers on their network, which ensures advertisers aren’t wasting their money, which also means you have a regular number of campaigns to choose to promote. They can also monetize third-party videos - meaning you can add other creators’ videos relevant to your niche and earn from the ads on them.
Admedia Standout Features
Features include ad fraud protection, brand safety, customizable video player, reporting, and ad placement optimization.
Price: Admedia offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Efficiently manages video ads.
- Consistent, firm results.
- Only shows relevant ads.
Cons
- Must have a traffic minimum.
- Customer service can improve.
7. OpenX - Best for creating audiences
OpenX is a powerful advertising platform that provides custom audience tools to connect publishers with advertisers.
Why I picked OpenX: The platform works with some of the largest advertisers in the world and helps them create special package deals that focus on their audiences and create revenue for publishers. OpenX’s OpenAudience tool allows you to target custom audiences and optimize creatives to ensure only the most specific traffic views the advertisers’ ads. As a result, you can analyze your audience’s behavior and enhance revenue.
OpenX works best for enterprise-sized publishers with a significant amount of traffic. You can monetize your content with some of the popular ad formats. Your sales team will benefit from OpenX’s ability to provide programmatic direct deals, which allows you to work directly with the advertiser to create hyper-specific agreements when displaying their ads on your content.
OpenX Standout Features
Features include audience targeting, audience segmentation, ID resolution, data monetization, and video ads.
Price: OpenX offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Accurately track campaigns.
- Excellent campaign management tools.
- Easy to deploy.
Cons
- Support is difficult to reach.
- Publishers must have significant traffic.
8. SelectMedia - Best for cross-screen monetization
SelectMedia is a platform that provides cross-screen monetization options for publishers to add to desktop, mobile, and in-app environments.
Why I picked SelectMedia: The platform is an excellent cross-screen solution for publishers that enables them to place various ad formats, such as in-article and overlay ads, in different environments. SelectMedia promises publishers efficient ad revenue optimization to help them increase profits. They use proprietary delivery technology and big data to provide optimal yield.
SelectMedia is a trusted and reliable distribution platform better suited for larger publishers with a significant amount of traffic. The platform requires publishers to already have a minimum of 250,000 page views each day in order for SelectMedia to accept them.
SelectMedia Standout Features
Features include real-time reporting, ad filtering, multiple revenue models, multiple ad formats, and programmatic bidding.
Price: SelectMedia offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Worldwide coverage.
- Multiple payment methods.
- Ad fraud protection.
Cons
- High traffic minimum.
- Low CPM.
9. Chocolate Platform - Best for monetizing mobile traffic
Chocolate Platform is a fast-growing video advertisement network for mobile publishers.
Why I picked Chocolate Platform: Publishers can use the network when creating content that will focus on mobile audiences and enable them to grow mobile user traffic. Most of Chocolate Platform’s capabilities will focus on mobile app traffic, but they do provide solutions that allow publishers to place ads on mobile web pages. They specifically design ads for mobile audiences to help publishers get maximum engagements and achieve higher revenue.
Chocolate Platform is another choice for established publishers because of its requirements to join it. Publishers must have a minimum of 250,000 page views for mobile websites and 5,000 unique visitors for mobile apps each month. Chocolate Platform’s ads are unobstructive, meaning you don’t have to worry about the advertisements interrupting your audience’s experience.
Chocolate Platform Standout Features
Features include engaging ad units, easy integration, server-side auctions, and advanced mobile targeting options.
Price: Chocolate Platform offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Secure and practical platform.
- Simple interface.
- Works with premium advertisers.
Cons
- Complex learning curve.
- Customer support needs improvement.
10. PropellerAds - Best high-paying network
PropellerAds is a highly efficient video advertising platform that offers higher payments than other top-class ad networks.
Why I picked PropellerAds: Publishers can choose through the multiple ad formats to identify which best suits their content and audience. They also help you target your audience to show ads that closely match your niche. When combining this with the high payments from PropellerAds, you can earn higher profits from your content.
PropellerAds doesn’t require a minimum number of visitors to your pages in order to start placing ads on your website. If PropellerAds doesn’t fill your available ad space for any reason, they will automatically place a new advertisement.
PropellerAds Standout Features
Features include high-quality ad delivery, advanced anti-fraud system, manual webpage reviews, multiple ad formats, creatives optimization, and ad optimization.
Price: PropllerAds offers custom pricing upon request.
Pros
- Multiple payment methods.
- Higher CPMs.
- Small payment threshold.
Cons
- Doesn’t work for some niches.
- Pop-up ads affect audience’s experience.
Other Options
Here are a few more options that didn’t make the best video advertising networks list:
- Push.House - Best for pushing video advertisements globally.
- Partners.House - Best for earning profits with push subscriptions.
- Viewdeos - Best for in-article video advertisements.
- Taboola - Best for advertising to consumers at scale.
- Primis - Best for helping audiences discover content to watch.
- Teads - Best for enhancing audience experiences.
- Fyber - Best for accelerating mobile growth.
- Undertone - Best for high-impact, intelligent advertisements.
- RhythmOne - Best for data-driven video advertisements.
- SpringServe - Best for inventory routing.
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Which is the Best Video Advertising Network for You?
When monetizing your video content, your goal should be to optimize every video and page on your site to help you earn as much as possible. Video advertising networks are an effective way for you to connect with advertisers. With so many options available, it’s possible to work with multiple ad platforms to test video ads on your site.
Experimenting with multiple ad networks to find the platform that works best for your audience and preferences can help you maximize your profits without negatively affecting your viewers. You can start with this list to help you choose the right network. If you need other tools to help you monetize your content or manage other aspects of your business, sign up for our newsletter. Here you’ll get helpful tips sent to your inbox from independent media leaders that you can implement in your industry.