Low RPMs are the New Normal (Sorry)

Lately I’ve seen a lot of content creators, but especially bloggers, talk about the low rates (RPMs) they’re earning from advertising networks. I’m writing this in November 2025, a time when bloggers typically see an RPM boost coinciding with the holiday season. But thus far, it’s shaping up to be the worst 4th quarter many bloggers have ever seen.

I know everyone would like to believe low RPMs are temporary. And it’s not that RPMs will never increase (the economy will improve someday). But low RPMs, those substantially lower than bloggers have historically earned, are the new normal. Sorry, but someone needed to tell it to you straight.

Low RPMs are the new norm because the digital advertising sector, which has historically funded blogging and the broader digital content industry, is undergoing significant changes right now. These changes will result in a radically different advertising landscape over the next 5-10 years. Let’s look at three of the biggest changes now.

Disclaimer: information on this website is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as professional business, financial or legal advice.

Reason #1: Declining Web Traffic

This one’s no surprise. Anyone paying attention the last few years knows that Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU) in September 2023 decimated traffic to many blogs and websites.

If you read my Truth About Blogging post (and you should), you know that the HCU marked Google’s exit from the web traffic monetization business.

The HCU was Google’s signal that, going forward, sites relying on ad-based revenue will need to generate their own traffic. And most sites, especially smaller, independent sites, aren’t able to do that. As a result, they’ve never recovered traffic (or money) lost to the HCU.

Steep declines in traffic means these sites are less valuable to advertisers. That’s because advertisers don’t really pay for ads, they pay for eyeballs. If a site can’t guarantee that lots of people will see an ad, there’s no incentive for advertisers to place an ad.

And the sites best positioned to guarantee a large number of ad viewers are sites that already have an established audience and can, therefore, generate their own traffic. Big sites like Reddit and AllRecipes and Forbes and TripAdvisor.

So, post-HCU, advertisers have a higher and more predictable return on their investment (ROI) placing ads on big, subscriber-based sites. They’re spending less to place ads on smaller sites that may not generate enough traffic to justify the ad spend.

“Post-HCU, advertisers have a higher and more predictable return on their investment placing ads on big, subscriber-based sites. They’re spending less to place ads on smaller sites that may not generate enough traffic to justify the ad spend.”

The result is that smaller sites, like most independent blogs, get lower RPMs for the ads they do show. And since they’ll never regain their lost traffic, their RPMs will stay lower.

Reason #2: Increased Interactive Ads

While the HCU no doubt wreaked havoc in the digital ad industry, there has been one bright spot: the growth of interactive ads.

You’ve probably seen these. They ask you to answer a quiz or to interact with ad content in some way. Or they give you choices about which ads you see.

For example, a few days ago I was watching a video and when the ad break started I was given an option: I could watch a 30 second interactive ad from one of the sponsors or watch 2 minutes of commercials from other advertisers.

Interactive ads like these are the next big thing in digital advertising. Spending on interactive ads is expected to more than double in the next 10 years, from $202 billion in 2024 to over $450 billion by 2033.

The growing move away from static advertising (that is, traditional display ads) toward dynamic, interactive advertising is another reason bloggers are experiencing low RPMs.

The reality is that traditional text-based sites like blogs aren’t well-suited for interactive advertising. Advertisers like these ads because consumers must interact with the ads in order to access content. A typical placement for interactive ads is in the middle of a video. If consumers want to continue watching the video, they must first interact with the ad content.

“The reality is that traditional text-based sites like blogs aren’t well-suited for interactive advertising.”

But on a text-based page like a blog post, consumers can just scroll past ads. And that’s if they stay long enough to see ads in the first place.

According to one study, 80% of blog readers never make it past the post headline. And those who do only stay on the page for an average of a minute and a half. So, many visitors aren’t reading long enough to see most of the ads on a blog post anyway.

To make interactive ads work on text-based sites you’d have to place an ad near the beginning and then make unlocking the rest of the content dependent upon interacting with the ad. The problem with this approach is that visitors are likely to leave the page if asked to interact with an ad when they’ve barely seen the page’s content.

The trend toward interactive advertising is making it harder for ad networks to sell advertisers on the value of traditional display ads. This, combined with generally weak traffic to text-based sites, means continuing low RPMs for bloggers.

“The trend toward interactive advertising is making it harder for ad networks to sell advertisers on the value of traditional display ads.”

Reason #3: Increased Ad-Free Options

There’s another change underway that’s even more concerning to advertisers than declining web traffic: sites offering paid no-ad options. Turns out plenty of people are willing to pay to avoid seeing ads entirely.

In early 2024, Amazon announced that it would begin showing ads in videos streamed via Amazon Prime. However, users can opt-out of ads by paying an extra $2.99 a month (source).

The streaming service Hulu also has a paid no-ads option. Regular Hulu, with ads, is $7.99 a month. For $11 more, you can get an ad-free experience (source).

Netflix has two ad-free options at $17.99 and $24.99 a month, both hefty increases over the $7.99 plan with ads (source).

Even YouTube offers an ad-free option for $13.99 a month (source). And there’s some suspicion that AppleTV will offer a paid ad-free plan, too (source), though Apple denies this (source).

Right now, paid ad-free options are primarily a feature of streaming platforms (Spotify also has one), but the concern is that more and more sites, and especially big subscriber-based sites, will begin offering ad-free versions, too. And since big subscriber-based sites are among the few sites where advertisers see a guaranteed ROI these days, the prospect of losing access to them is a real threat to the digital ad industry.

But there’s a bigger picture here that many people are overlooking: the digital content industry is increasingly creating a two-tiered internet. A “free,” ads-funded internet and a paid, ads-free one.

“But there’s a bigger picture here than many people are overlooking: the digital content industry is increasingly creating a two-tiered internet. A free, ads-funded internet and a paid, ads-free one.”

And this will diminish the value of advertising as a whole. Because the people who can afford to buy ads-free experiences are exactly the people advertisers most want to reach.

As wealthier consumers increasingly shield themselves from ads through paid ad-free subscriptions, marketers are left advertising to less affluent audiences who can’t afford or won’t pay for ad-free options. Which will drag down the entire industry. Because companies won’t invest as much to advertise to lower-income, buying-averse consumers.

The Future of Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is not dying, but it’s definitely undergoing rapid change. Some of that is attributable to changing Search models and their impact on web traffic. But some trends, like interactive advertising and paid ad-free subscriptions, are entirely unrelated to traffic trends.

What these changes mean for bloggers are permanently reduced RPMs. The reality is that most small, independent blogs no longer draw the kind of traffic advertisers want to see. And even bigger, more successful blogs aren’t necessarily good platforms for interactive advertising, which is the real growth area in digital advertising going forward.

What these changes mean for the digital advertising industry is contraction and consolidation. Smaller companies with fewer resources will go out of business or get bought out by competitors. Larger companies with more resources and leverage will partner or merge.

“What these changes mean for the digital advertising industry is contraction and consolidation. Smaller companies with fewer resources will go out of business or get bought out by competitors. Larger companies with more resources and leverage will partner or merge.”

And we’ve started to see this among the digital ad networks that work primarily or exclusively with bloggers.

In March 2024, six month’s after Google’s HCU killed web traffic as we knew it, MediaVine introduced Journey. Journey is a self-managed advertising option for smaller sites, those with around 10,000 sessions a month.

Many bloggers rejoiced because they finally had an alternative to Ezoic, another self-managed advertising option for smaller sites with (at the time) similar pageview requirements.

That same month (March 2024), Raptive introduced RaptiveRise, which was open to blogs with at least 50,000 pageviews a month. Which, shocker, is the about the same pageview count required for MediaVine.

This was obviously no coincidence. Raptive introduced Rise to attract MediaVine’s most successful bloggers to Raptive. MediaVine introduced Journey to attract Ezoic’s customer based to MediaVine.

In 2024, competition among ad networks to put each other out of business got real.

Then, in April 2025, Ezoic dropped all pageview requirements.

And more recently, Raptive did away with Rise and opened Raptive to all sites with at least 25,000 monthly views. This is obviously Raptive’s attempt to undercut the strategic position other companies, especially MediaVine, have carved out over the years.

What all this will ultimately mean for bloggers is fewer choices regarding ad networks and, therefore, less leverage with the ad networks that do remain. Switching networks due to low RPMs, or other sources of dissatisfaction, won’t be much of an option anymore.

And as ad networks compete for survival, they’ll seek to extract as much value as possible. Which means reducing revenue sharing and cutting services and support to their “partners” (that would be you, bloggers).

So, when faced with permanently depressed RPMs in a contracting and rapidly changing digital advertising industry, what can bloggers do?

The Alternative to Traditional Blogging

If you’ve read my Truth About Blogging post (did I mention that you should?), then you know my answer to that question is that bloggers need to pivot to business ownership. But it’s not quite that simple.

Technically, if you create a few digital products and put a “shop” tab in your navigation menu you’re a business owner. But that approach isn’t likely to work. Being a business owner is a lot more than just having a product to sell.

The people who successfully transition away from traditional blogging will be those who embrace being a creative. And to be clear, being creative here doesn’t mean being artistic. Or being completely original. Creative is way of thinking. Creatives take what they have, their skills, talents, experiences and knowledge, and use it to produce new things.

For example, I have a membership site, Creator Business Club, that provides support and resources for bloggers transitioning to business ownership.

Now, there’s certainly nothing unique about a membership. Anyone can create a membership and honestly, it feels like everyone has one these days.

But I have knowledge and experience that most people offering memberships to bloggers/creators don’t have. I’m a nationally credentialed tax professional. I was an auditor for the IRS. I’m qualified to offer both business and financial advice. And most people with blogger-focused memberships don’t have the experience or credentials to offer that.

(Though that often doesn’t stop them. Be careful who you follow, especially for financial advice.)

If you want to break free from traditional blogging, the first step is to think creatively about what you can offer. You may think you don’t have anything to offer, but I disagree.

“If you want to break free from traditional blogging, the first step is to think creatively about what you can offer. You may think you don’t have anything to offer, but I disagree.”

Everyone has a unique blend of education, work and life experiences. Everyone has a unique blend of skills, insight and perspective. The key is figuring out how to put all that together to create something different that what’s already out there.

That’s what Creator Business Club (CBC) will help you do. The first module of the program is basically business boot camp. The lessons in the module will help you identify a target market, evaluate business ideas and decide your minimum viable product, the first product you’ll take to market.

You can learn more about CBC here. Just be aware that CBC isn’t a typical membership site.

• CBC isn’t open to everyone, it’s by application only.
• CBC is only open during certain times the year and each new cohort is limited to about 30 people.
• Everyone is required to sign a set of community guidelines before they start CBC program.
• And everyone undergoes a four week onboarding process once accepted into the program.

All of this is to ensure we have a respectful, supportive and collaborative group dynamic. If working with like-minded bloggers in that kind of environment appeals to you, be sure to check out the FAQ page.