Ezoic vs Mediavine – Which Ad Network is Better?

Online content can be monetized easily these days, thanks to all the amazing networks. For example, Google AdSense is so popular that it sounds like any other regular household name.

But as a content publisher, it’s not that easy to choose an ad network even without knowing its benefits and downs. With Google AdSense, hundreds of other ad networks are coming along to help creators monetize their content.

Ezoic and Mediavine are 2 of such ad networks. These are more ad facilitators than ad networks. 

In another article, we’ve compared Ezoic and AdSense. Please see that too and get a better picture of the whole thing. Now let’s talk about Ezoic vs Mediavine regarding every possible aspect and figure out which would work best for you.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Eligibility

There are some requirements to be eligible for monetization no matter which ad network you choose. Ezoic suggests to acknowledge Google’s Ad Policy too. Your website content needs to be original to be eligible for Ezoic monetization program and also should have a track record of identifiable traffic. Mediavine also follows Google’s standards too.

When it comes to eligibility, Ezoic seems to be more flexible than Mediavine. Ezoic lets the advertisers hop in with page views/sessions as low as 10,000 or more per month. Both Ezoic & Mediavine suggest your content better be unique, or you may get rejected.

Compared to Ezoic, Mediavine is more focused on well established sites as it requires 50,000 sessions per month to be eligible for Mediavine’s monetization program. Long-form, engaging content is clearly appreciated by Mediavine on their requirement terms. If page views are a concern to your website, then Ezoic can be a no-brainer choice for you.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Setup & Configuration

Configuring any monetization service can be tricky. Although the difficulty level totally depends on personal experience.

Both Ezoic & Mediavine have a different approach to setting up advertising. The process may look overwhelming to a beginner, but both the ad networks managed to keep it simple in their instructions manual. This way, both Ezoic & Mediavine make the setup and configuration process achievable for everyone.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Automation

Ezoic depends on automation at a large scale on their mission of ad serving. Ezoic uses AI and machine learning for layout testing, ad placement etc. On the other hand, Mediavine is catching up fast. Mediavine expanded its contextual ad targeting with Magnite and PubMatic using GumGum’s Verity artificial intelligence product. Mediavine also uses AI to replace cookies with context.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Impact on Website UX

Ezoic offers website speed-up service, which costs a few extra bucks. Ezoic claims that they improve website UX by placing ads based on the user’s behavior and so on. That is the basic implementation of Ezoic’s powerful AI.

Mediavine, on the other hand, suggests flooding your mobile viewers with ads as mobile visitors are a big part of any website’s audience. This can be a tricky part as the mobile audience’s internet speed should be considered as an issue. The volume of ads you implement is dependent on you anyway.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Cost and Trade Offs

Ezoic doesn’t cost a penny to start. However, Ezoic offers a paid version as well. If you use the free plan, Ezoic will show an extra ad on the bottom of your pages. Revenue only from that ad will be kept by Ezoic. The rest is yours. In the paid version, you need to share 10% of your total revenue. That bottom ad won’t be displayed on paid version.

Talking about full transparency, Mediavine made it clear about the revenue you share with them. Revenue share of Mediavine begins at a base of 75% to the publisher and 25% to Mediavine, on ads where the expense of the ad server is paid by Mediavine. 

With a few ad partners like GumGum and ZergNet, ad serving costs are absorbed by the partner, and in such cases, publishers receive 80% to Mediavine’s 20%. However, Mediavine claims to provide you the chance of making revenue as high as 90%, with a loyalty bonus of 1% per year up to five years.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Customer Support

Ezoic offers human-controlled dedicated key-account-managers assigned to each publisher. There is ticket support and email feedback available with Ezoic.

Mediavine offers a knowledge base to help out publishers. Mediavine has email support on active office hours. Precisely, customer support with Ezoic seems better.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Integration

Integration is what matters the most for publishers. Ezoic offers multiple integration media. You have to connect your site to Ezoic’s platform first to use any of Ezoic’s features. There is cloud integration such as connecting your Cloudflare account or updating your name servers. Ezoic’s cloud integration is fast, secure and privacy focused. There is also a dedicated WordPress plugin to get the job done.

As said before, Mediavine offers a detailed knowledge base to help you get started with. However, if WordPress is what rocks your platform, then integration is an easy step for you as Mediavine offers a dedicated WordPress plugin. The plugin makes the integration process easy.

Both Ezoic & Mediavine offer extended AMP support so that you can draw revenue even from those quick look on your pages from mobile devices.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Revenue Potential

We’ve already talked about the revenue share you are going to have using both Ezoic & Mediavine. Trade-offs are there no matter which one you choose. Ezoic (free) drives their own revenue from a bottom ad showing on your site. There is a paid version too. On the other hand, Mediavine made it clear about revenue share percentage. It is going to be another personal preference while choosing any of these over another.

Learn: How to Integrate Ezoic with WordPress (Step by Step Tutorial)

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Payment Methods

Ezoic supports multiple payment methods including PayPal, US bank transfer via Payoneer, international bank transfer via Payoneer and prepaid card via Payoneer. Payment through checks is supported for the US and Canada only.

Mediavine also offers multiple payment methods. You can pay using PayPal, domestic ACH, international ACH, US wire transfer, international wire transfer. Mediavine cleared out every possible confusion on their payment support page.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Payout Schedule 

Ezoic operates on a net 30 day schedule and pays in arrears, usually within 30 days. Users typically get January’s revenue at the end of February. Ezoic’s payments go out any time between the 27th and 31st of the month as mentioned in their website. The minimum threshold of Ezoic’s payment model is $20.

Mediavine pays on a NET 65 basis, which means 65 days from the end of the month that money was earned will be paid. For example, all money earned in January will be paid on April 5th. Payments are made on the 5th of the month. If the 5th of the month falls on a weekend, payments will be made on the closest business day.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Compliance Rules

There are certain rules for the publishers to know and follow to save their accounts from being banned on any of these ad networks. These are actually rules you have to follow regardless of the ad network you will use.

Ezoic follows the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) strictly. So should you, if you want to make your future with them. Mediavine also encourages every of their publishers to follow GDPR strictly as they do the same. That comes to a verdict that, no matter what the site of your choice is, you have to follow some certain rules and regulations anyway.

Ezoic vs Mediavine – Verdict

We talked about all the possibilities, features and outcomes with both Ezoic & Mediavine. Monetizing any site might seem a complex process as there are a huge number of sites claiming to get you the most revenue you can get from your site.

The market is flooded with a lot of ad networks, but you don’t need to be lost in these. If you’re deciding to monetize your online content anyway, choose some criteria for which ad networks seem perfect to you. Then choose the one which matches your expectations the most.

In this marathon of Ezoic vs Mediavine, which one sounds like a winner for you? Let us know your views in the comments.