How much movement do you see in RPM/eCPM for networks outside of adsen

[romerome]

So in a perfect world I would like to set up the various ad networks on my site and more or less leave them alone.

But I see pretty wild fluctuations in RPM/eCPM. For google I rarely see weekly numbers that are more than 25% above or below the average RPM.

For other adnetworks I see fairly wild fluctuations. 50%+ movement in RPM/eCPM. We have decent traffic so I don't think its statistical noise.

My question is how often do people switch out ads based on declining performance. Do you juggle things monthly or biyearly.

Does anyone have a good formula they use? I don't want to cut out a decent network because of a bad month. But at some point obviously it makes sense to cut someone that performed well in the past?

Maybe - after a month tell your ad rep, after two months find a replacement.

[trebuchet]

It's hardly surprising that there's more fluctuation in smaller ad networks. Adsense is still the largest in terms of coverage and inventory, so RPM is bound to be more stable. Smaller networks with smaller inventory will be more affected by seasonal factors, intensive campaigns, advertiser drop-ins/drop-outs, etc.

This is one of the reasons I have stuck with Adsense, despite its declining returns. It's stable enough that I can rely on it.

[Broadway]

My results over time (1.5 years) had been fairly consitent with Media.net.

However, they recently they dumped a boat load of auto-starting Flash ads on my site which really taxed my computer when reviewing and working with it, too the point where doing so was impossible (I can only imagine how site visitors felt).

There doesn't seem to be any fine tuning with Media.net. You either show video ads or not. If you just show text ads (like I do now so to get rid of the resource-hog video ads) the income is fairly dismal.

[Broadway]

There's other threads in this forum about ad blocking and such. Being a publisher is how I make my living but it's hard not to sympathize with people, especially those on metered mobile connections, who use ad blocking software. Dumping trash on publishers and site visitors my be the way ad networks increase the bottom line, but it only serves (served actually) to kill the golden goose.