Why Ad Earnings Are Lower In January For Most Publishers
Why Ad Earnings Are Lower In January For Most Publishers
Is everyone earning less ad revenue in January?
When can I expect my ad earnings to rise again?
Am I being affected more than others?
It is common to wonder this. One of the best ways to examine if you’re the victim of unusual earnings losses is to look at traffic and revenue together. Understanding your session revenue, or EPMV, is the best way to do this.
Divide your earnings per thousand visitors for a given date range to get your average EPMV for that period. Compare that with previous months and previous years during the same period.
If you find that your EPMV is lower this year than last year during the same period, there may be something else going on. If this is the case, it may be worth plotting out your monthly EPMV for the past two years to see how seasonality is affecting your website in particular. Compare this with index and see how your site compares to rises and falls within the industry.
It’s very important to keep in mind that session earnings are a complex ecosystem. Everything from [user engagement](https://blog.ezoic.com/data-reveals-value-visitor-engagement-publishers/) to [SEO](https://blog.ezoic.com/seo-audit-website/) can affect this. You may have done something to try to improve user experiences on your website that actually provided less authentic engagement and [less value to advertisers](https://blog.ezoic.com/make-website-ads-valuable-advertisers/) somewhere along the way. Understanding what changes were made when these dips occurred is important; as rates might go up briefly after these kinds of changes, but then fall dramatically.
How can I mitigate the impact of January ad revenue loss?
- [**Layout testing per user**](https://blog.ezoic.com/machine-learning-on-website-traffic-monetization/)
- **[Building content calendars around landing page data](https://blog.ezoic.com/elite-way-to-increase-ad-revenue-per-view/)**
Market your site to visitors during slow periods
SHARE AND SPONSOR POSTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA IN EVERY WAY POSSIBLE
We covered how to [share content and sponsor it on social media effectively here](https://blog.ezoic.com/ethically-sharing-content-ethically-to-earn-ad-revenue/). However, it’s important to mention that down times are a really good time to work on these efforts.
Don’t fall victim to ad seasonality fluctuations
Ultimately, you need to consult tools like the _Ad Revenue Index_ above to see how your site compares to marketplace trends. You can calculate your own monthly EPMV and compare it to your previous months and your year of year data to see if your January drop may be something more systemic than traditional seasonal trends.
Unfortunately, seasonality is something all publishers deal with. January is particularly difficult; as it is often contrasted with a record month in December; however, patience is required. I’ve seen many publishers make rash decisions based on irrational data that harmed them for much longer than the seasonal lows of early Q1.
Hopefully, you can apply these techniques to your site before you find yourself in any kind of a long-term slump. Additional questions or input? Leave it below.