How Much Publishers Earned This Summer: From Steady Growth to Strong Comebacks

How much a publisher earns is the one number nobody publishes.  From the outside, we might hear about a successful month or an impressive payout, but rarely see what happened before it: the slow start, the quiet weeks, the sudden jump, or the long stretch when almost nothing changed.

They do not follow one neat success storyline. One grew steadily, month after month. Several nearly disappeared during the spring and returned in June with far more traffic. One recorded an exceptional one-month peak. Another kept earning between $44,000 and $62,000 month after month, without any dramatic rise or fall.

For each account, we looked at the monthly payout, the formats behind it, the countries the traffic came from, and how long the publisher had been active. 

The names are hidden, but the figures are not: every payout shown here comes directly from the account’s reporting data.

Let’s dive in and see the top 10 hottest success stories of this summer!

Please note that we show only the key ad formats that contributed the most to each publisher’s payout.

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3 accounts that climbed month after month

Case A – The steadiest curve in the set

Let’s start with the Asian drama and series fan site that has used Monetag since early 2024.

Its payout increased in six of the seven month-to-month periods, with only a small dip in April. It grew from $659 in January to $22,660 in the first 26 days of August – a partial month, so not directly comparable with the full months above, and already roughly 34 times the January payout.

This account has the strongest focus on Tier-1 markets in the group. The United States generated $15,795 in July and August, followed by Australia, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and Malaysia.

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Case B – From nothing to the second-largest payout 

Remember we talked about how great and profitable anime websites can be?

Here’s a case from this summer.

This anime fan site recorded its first impression in late 2025, making it nine months old by August.

After earning $650 in March and just $54 in May, its payout jumped to $43,159 in June and $68,407 in July. In total, the account earned $150,427 across June, July, and August.

Publisher’s audience was strongly concentrated in Tier-1 markets. In July and August, the United States generated $37,655 and the United Kingdom $20,848. Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia made up most of the remaining payout.

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Case C – The youngest account

This sports fan site recorded its first impression in the first quarter of 2026 (Talking about finding the right monetization partner just before the World Cup…).

By August, the account was six months old, although most of its activity was concentrated in the last three months. It earned $9,226 in June and $21,491 in July.

Indonesia accounted for 82% of the payout. Italy, Thailand, and Japan were the next largest markets, but none generated more than $700.

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3 Websites that went quiet and came back with a bang

Three publishers followed the same pattern: a steady start in January and February, a sharp drop from March to May, and a strong recovery in June or July. 

What a roller coaster!

All three came back stronger: by June or July, their payouts were higher than at the start of the year. The reason appears simple – traffic returned. Impressions increased at the same time, so the publishers earned more because they had more visitors, not because each impression became more valuable.

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Case D – The largest single-format Direct Link account

This mobile app download portal has been using Monetag since 2021, making it one of the three oldest accounts in our digest.

It earned $21,075 in February, dropped to just $316 in May, and recovered to $29,836 in June. Since then, its monthly payout has remained between $23,000 and $30,000.

The audience is spread across several Tier-3 markets. In July and August, Indonesia generated $9,525 and the Philippines $4,895. Brazil, Pakistan, and Thailand each contributed between $1,500 and $1,700, followed by a long list of smaller markets.

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Case E – The oldest account here, with a quiet spring

This publisher runs several sports and movie fan sites. The account recorded its first impression in late 2020 and has been on the platform for almost 6 years.

After earning $94 in January, the sites had a quieter period in March and April. The payout then rose to $5,885 in May and reached $37,406 in June.

The revenue came from a balanced mix of Tier-1 and Tier-3 markets. The United Kingdom led with $8,310, followed by Indonesia, Egypt, Brazil, and Canada.

Although the publisher runs several sites, most of the revenue comes from one of them. One domain accounts for the large majority of the July – August payout, while the remaining sites contribute a small share – still a nice addition, right?

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Case F – A Spanish-language football site makes a strong comeback

Now, it’s time for this Spanish-speaking football fan site, which has used Monetag since 2021.

It earned between $5,000 and $6,000 per month in January and February, followed by a quieter period in spring. The payout reached $112 in May before rising to $18,013 in June and $22,042 in July.

This is the only case in our Top 10 with a mainly Spanish-speaking audience. 

Mexico generated $6,020 in July and August, followed by the United States, Spain, Peru, Ecuador, and Chile. Latin America leads the country mix, with Spain and the United States also among the top markets.

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2 accounts built on one big month

Case G – A tenfold jump with the broadest country mix

Yet another sports site!

This sports fan site has been using Monetag since 2022.

Its payout grew from $3,972 in June to $40,004 in July – a tenfold jump in just one month.

The site also had the most balanced geographic mix in our roundup. Saudi Arabia led with $6,090 in July and August – more than Germany at $3,835, the United Kingdom at $2,803, the United States at $2,436, or Canada at $2,376. France, Egypt, and Spain followed close behind.

The data does not prove that Saudi Arabia caused the July jump. It does show why publishers should consider CPM, traffic volume, and total revenue together rather than judging a GEO by its tier alone.

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Case H – The only account running all five formats

This publisher has two separate revenue sources: an African entertainment site and a Direct Link placement that is not connected to a website.

Their July-August payouts were almost equal. The website and the standalone Direct Link each contributed close to half of the combined total. Monthly earnings were already in five figures at the start of the year, dropped to almost nothing in late spring, and reached their high point in July.

This is the only case in the group using all five formats at the same time:

• Direct Link – 47.4% of the July payout from 2.6 million clicks
• In-Page Push – 17.7% from 55.6 million impressions
• Popunder – 15.6% from 1.6 million impressions
• Vignette Banners – 11.9% from 1.4 million impressions
• Push Notifications – 7.5% from 4.5 million impressions

While the payout is spread across five formats, its geography is highly concentrated: Nigeria generates 99% of the total. 

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The largest account here, and the simplest setup

Case I – A stable payout from a single format

With $486,262 paid out between January and August, this social content aggregator is the largest earner in our roundup. It recorded its first impression in the second half of 2024.

Unlike the other cases, its monthly results barely changed. From February onward, payouts remained between $44,434 and $62,228. No month differed from the seven-month average by more than 19%, making this the most stable performance in our roundup.

Turkey was the leading market, followed by Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the United States.

While the other cases show sharp rises, drops, and recoveries, this publisher has already reached a steady level, with one format and one main market.

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Case J – One traffic source, one Direct Link

Not every publisher in our roundup runs a website. In this case, we have an affiliate using Direct Link without a site attached. The setup has been active since early 2024.

Its payout grew from $1,993 in February to $12,184 in July.

Between July and the first 26 days of August, Indonesia contributed $15,559 of the $15,737 total. Malaysia added $137, while all other countries combined generated around $41.

No ad placements or page layouts need optimizing here. The setup is simple: a solid traffic source and a Direct Link.

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What these 10 publisher mini case studies show

Here’s the learning point of all these stories: there is no single setup that works for everyone. Thank you, Captain Obvious!

Still, there are a few useful takeaways you can apply to your monetization strategy.

• The same format can deliver very different results. Among the Popunder cases, peak-month earnings ranged from $0.16 to $0.91 per 1,000 impressions – a more than fivefold difference between publishers using the same format. Direct Link showed a similar spread, from $0.70 to $2.00 per 1,000 clicks. These are historical outcomes for these ten accounts only. They are not a rate card, a forecast, or an offer, and they do not indicate the rates available to any other publisher.

Clicks and impressions represent different actions, so you shouldn’t compare Direct Link and Popunder directly. More importantly, the format itself is only one part of your strategy. The site’s content, traffic source, audience GEO, and the way visitors interact with the site can all affect the final rate. That is why you should test a format on your own traffic rather than choose it based on benchmarks or by copying a case study.

• Twice the impressions did not mean twice the payout. In July, the anime fan site earned $68,407 from 186.2 million Popunder impressions. The social content aggregator recorded more than twice as many – 380.6 million impressions, but earned $62,228.

The difference was in the rate: $0.37 per 1,000 impressions for the anime site versus $0.16 for the social content platform. Their audiences were also very different. The first was led by the United States and the United Kingdom, while the second received most of its traffic from Turkey and Indonesia.

What does it mean? Growing traffic matters, but you should also watch how much every 1,000 impressions earns. A smaller audience with stronger engagement can generate more revenue than a much larger audience with lower engagement.

• Additional formats can unlock more value from existing traffic. As we see, each ad format monetizes a different visitor action, so publishers do not necessarily have to choose just one. A well-matched combination can create additional revenue streams from the same audience. The right mix of ad formats will depend, though, on your site, its content, and how visitors engage with it, which is why testing several suitable formats can reveal opportunities that a single-format strategy may miss.

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The bottom line

There is no single blueprint hidden in these ten cases (Sorry :D).

For publishers, the goal is not to copy the highest-earning setup. It is to understand your own traffic: where visitors come from, how they use the site, and which formats fit that experience. Start with what works, test additional formats, and look at performance over time rather than judging everything by one peak month.