Explore why January experiences low RPM and find out 7 effective strategies to boost it in 2024. Increase your revenue with actionable tips and stay ahead in the game. Optimize your RPM for a successful year!
A new year means the start of a new chapter, but unfortunately, when it comes to online advertising, it’s often about dealing with low RPMs. January is the month with the lowest RPM and CPM, and most publishers still have no clue how they can maximize these two metrics.
If you’re among them, this write-up will familiarize you with the top reasons behind low RPM in January and the best possible ways to maximize it.
Why RMP is Low in January?
According to Statista, the total budget of digital advertising spending worldwide is expected to reach 836 billion dollars by 2026. And, there’s no doubt that a huge proportion of it is targeted during the holiday season between mid-November and December end.
For a better understanding, take a look at this pictorial representation below:
That said, the common reasons why RPM is low in January are:
3 Most Common Reasons Behind Low RPM in January
1. Decrease in Ad Spends after the Holidays
People spend a lot during the holiday season and are left with empty pockets in January. This holds the same for advertisers, who devote a huge section of their yearly budget to connect with such shoppers.
This results in an extremely low advertising budget when the new year starts.
While closely monitoring our data, we observed a relatively consistent trend in RPM during Q4. The RPM for October 2023 was 0.75, which increased in November 2023 to 0.95. Although there was a slight decrease in December 2023 to 0.85, the trend shifted notably in January 2024, with a significant drop to 0.46.
Powered by LiveChatAINow let’s dive into our January stats over the past three years – a snapshot of how we’ve been doing. In 2022, our RPM (Revenue Per Mille) stood strong at $1.19, accompanied by an overall eCPM (effective cost per mille) of $0.20.
Moving to January 2023, we noticed a bit of a dip – RPM dropped down to $0.61, and eCPM settled at $0.16. Now, in January 2024, the downward trend continued, with RPM at $0.46 and eCPM at $0.18.
Given this, it seems evident that other industries can surely experience a drop in RPM in January.
2. Assessment of Ad Inventory Performance
At the start of the new year, many publishers prefer to review their conversion rates and return on investment (ROI) achieved from previous publishing efforts. This often includes analyzing the strategies used earlier, making informed decisions about future ad investments, and estimating new performance metrics.
Hence, it puts Ad revenue in the backseat and results in lower RPM.
3. Time for Experiment
With the flip of the calendar comes the conclusion for all tried and tested methods for publishers. Most publishers experiment with their publishing efforts and work on new strategies. Hence, the primary focus is on the results instead of revenue, resulting in low RPM.
However, on the positive side, this shift in focus helps publishers to ensure a well-organized approach and well-tested strategies for the next year.
How to Maximize RPM in January?
Most publishers attempt to make a lot of adjustments and experiments in advertising management to maximize the RPM.
Here are a few of the most effective ways to help you increase RPM.
1. Try Something New
As mentioned earlier, the new year paves new ways to experiment, and you can consider introducing new things to your audience. For example, introducing affiliate marketing programs to your audience and trying some new content strategies can do wonders for your growth.
Next, you can also create a sense of urgency by introducing limited-time offers or exclusive deals. This can stimulate immediate customer action, mitigating the impact of the January slump and driving short-term boosts in sales or engagement.
Even if these changes don’t live up to your expectations, you’ll still be in the least risk zone.
2. Work on Ad Viewability
As the name suggests itself, ad viewability refers to the views your ad receives. An advertisement is deemed “viewed” when at least 50% of the banner or creative remains on the screen for more than one second – as per IAB.
Analyze your ad layout and look out for ways to enhance its viewability. You can add more units, switch to a traditional/modern view, fix page loading speed, or even add video ads for an improved yield in RPMs.
3. Create Audience-Oriented Content
Make improvements to how you serve your audience. Even if your content is ranking well, the competitors can still think about ways to outrank you. So, write and publish content that resonates with your audience and try to make your keyword research better and make it well-aligned to your target audience.
Though it may sound somewhat cliché as a strategy to follow during the low RPM period of the January Slump, it’s essential to leave no aspect overlooked. And focusing on audience-oriented content is definitely one aspect that can’t be overlooked.
4. Improve Your Existing Content
Gather all your previous content that performed well and start making the necessary improvements. You can update any outdated information given, get rid of any broken links, and add high-quality images to receive more traffic.
Furthermore, you can also make some on-page adjustments like improving the internal linking, and external linking, optimizing the heading tags better, rewriting meta titles, and descriptions, and the list goes on.
5. Perform a Site Health Check-up
A site audit or health checkup will help you find out any required changes you need to make. Run the website on a device on which you’ve never visited it, and be alert for any errors you can find. For example, you may find some pop-ups or banners covering up the ads, resulting in the decline of RPM.
6. Update About Page & Social Profiles
As you’re making all the necessary changes, devote some time to updating the About Page and Social Profiles of your website. Add all the achievements that made you feel proud the previous year, and look for sponsored content partnerships to attract your viewers.
Moreover, if you’ve turned off any adhesion ads, turn them back on. The reason? They are always visible and increase the overall viewability score of your website. This results in better ad revenue and surely deserves a try!
7. Seek Professional Help (If Needed)
You can seek professional help if you don’t feel satisfied with your analysis and research. There might be some errors, changes, and additions to be made that only a professional can do.
For example, an ad tech company can provide valuable insights into optimizing ad placements, enhancing ad viewability, refining targeting strategies, and optimizing your website for faster ad serving, and it will eventually impact the overall RPM positively.
Final Words
A decent RPM drop in January is normal, most publishers have to deal with this problem. So, instead of ignoring this decline, you must seek a strategic approach to make the required changes. You can experiment by adding something new, improving the SEO, or even refining the previously published content, and everything mentioned above in the blog
You can seek professional help. At Adpushup, we help content creators across the globe generate more revenue by connecting them to 50+ premium advertising exchanges, deploying cutting-edge ad-serving technology, and providing hands-on ad operations expertise.
Frequently Asked Questions
RPM tends to dip in January due to the aftermath of Q4 holiday spending. Advertisers shift focus to strategic planning and budgeting at the start of the year, which leads to a temporary decrease in ad spending and, consequently, lower RPM.
Publishers often find the CPM low in January because most advertisers utilize their budget during the holiday season. Also, many campaigns are paused to keep spending in Jan to a minimum.
Seasonal trends have their impact on user’s spending and advertisers prefer to invest more in order to achieve higher sales in December.
Gaurav, an accomplished writer across various niches like advertising, tech, and social media, brings a unique touch to his work. Beyond the keyboard, he harmonizes his creativity with the strings of a guitar, infusing his writing with a melodic charm. With a penchant for storytelling and a musical soul, Gaurav’s compositions resonate with readers, creating an immersive experience that transcends the boundaries of conventional content.
