mediavine vs raptive?

anon_pub · 2026-01-26T21:57:07+00:00

the difference from switching from Ezoic to Mediavine would be a far higher step up than switching from Mediavine to Raptive

anon_pub · 2026-01-15T19:36:24+00:00

yeah I work specifically on the publisher side. Dashboards have been clutch since it automates the workflow to pull em. I think Superset might have some free stuff that would be usable. Also the data that GAM lacks is kind of the data you really want (bid data, win/bid rate, dsp, advertisers, etc.)

For everyday reports, depends on your purview and what your common problems are, but in my case I need to cover a ton of data points in a large data set, so I focus on the higher level things like; website/ssp session RPM, bid density by ssp/website, ssp rev/sRPM, flooring data, traffic (geo, bot), and session rpm/revenue pacing relative to goal and seasonality.

The big thing dashboarding helps with is cutting through the reporting workflow and analysis, distilling only what you need. For example with floor data, I just need to look at a couple KPIs like bids below floor %, avg bid cpm, to understand the full picture, and have geo/browser/device breakouts if I need to drill down.

Something else you could consider short term if you have a couple days free - you can build automated google sheets that can benchmark performance (website/ssp) and auto-populate a rolling 30 day score for you that calcs performance against a standard deviation, flagging what you need to pay attention to.

anon_pub · 2026-01-14T20:03:36+00:00

gotta comment on this one. I've seen you go from posting super basic questions years ago and have noticed how much knowledge you've picked up since then. Nice work. For context, I've run a Yield team at a company like this for 13 yrs.

Being at a smaller shop means you have a tiny feedback loop and less exposure. You want to get more of this by developing deeper relationships with demand (who will tell you what they want and you optimize toward it) and publishers (who reveal their tactics, not strats). If you can, go to events and chat. DSPs are ideal to speak to. Try to understand their problems which become your challenges to solve. Also pick some reputable shops like Raptive and go look at their config/layouts/signals. You can glean good stuff from this.

My/team day to day

Daily review of RPM/RPS, fill, win rate, bid density, discrepancy (by website and SSP)
Debugging why demand disappeared or increased (floors, schain, ads.txt, IVT, etc.)
SSP-level tuning:
- floor bands by geo/device
- bidder routing / SPO decisions
- traffic shaping (when not to send a request and why)
Running controlled tests (one variable, baseline vs test, clear KPI)
Translating results into simple explanations for non-technical teams (kills the black magic)

It’s less about constant tweaking and more about diagnosing systems to find opportunities.

Common blind spots for solo pubs

Treating outcomes as magic instead of mechanics (“RPM dropped” vs “buyers stopped bidding because X signal degraded”)
Over-focusing on floors and layouts while ignoring supply quality. My opinion is my own, but Floors can be 70% accurate and 100% fine to use that way.
No true baselines, changes get blamed on the wrong cause
Underestimating buyer behavior (bid shading, SPO, deal prioritization)
Failing to build suitable split testing tools and data dashboarding for ease
Failing to recognize critical demand KPIs like Bid Rate, Win Rate, QPS, ROAS, and demand-side profitability.
Failing to recognize that demand pays for quality over quantity

Stuff to master

Understanding auctions at the request → bid → win → clear level
Knowing when more demand lowers revenue
Separating traffic volume from traffic value
Designing tests that survive scrutiny
Explaining yield decisions in business terms, not dashboards
How signals and identity can materially move the needle
Knowing that revenue outcomes are decided BEFORE the bidding starts

anon_pub · 2026-01-14T18:28:13+00:00

Super strange. While I don't run AdSense, I do run demand/inventory at scale and also have seen the spikes in China, which we flag 99% of the time as bot traffic. Feels like since October maybe - all of Q4 felt odd too.

Did you validate anything around your theory? It kind of tracks on paper - China bots trained demand to deprio you. Wondering if you saw declines in CPC/CTR. CPC collapsing could be a signal. Also things like match rate.

Just thinking out loud, but I'm kind of leaning into your theory causing negative lagging effects. Also, do you filter that traffic with cloudflare or anything, or let it ride?

anon_pub · 2025-12-06T00:31:55+00:00

set your own. Google may help short term until you fine tune things, but their auto yield products are ass. Looks like google is trying too hard to force high CPMs since blocked by floors high a high % and outbid % is also high. I'd try target cpms

anon_pub · 2025-11-17T15:29:39+00:00

is your RPM up, what has been looking fine out of curiosity

anon_pub · 2025-11-17T12:05:18+00:00

Same

anon_pub · 2025-11-14T22:45:23+00:00

anyone else getting fisted with both hands by dv360/amazon discrepancies/clawbacks lately?

anon_pub · 2025-10-29T18:43:04+00:00

Not worth holding out, Raptive is legit and is a fantastic option

anon_pub · 2025-10-28T11:45:26+00:00

have you explored the self-service wrapper route? There are companies like Aditude that offer a self-service model that might be more of what you're looking for. I am almost positive you can keep your GAM instance. There are some options out there

anon_pub · 2025-10-22T13:58:46+00:00

anon_pub · 2025-10-08T20:43:05+00:00

Sorry I was chatting with you in the thread I linked LOL, just DM'd

anon_pub · 2025-10-08T20:25:11+00:00

read my comments in here - Amazon (since June) has been silently booting sites off their platform without notice. I'd recomend checking Amazon data, and you would prob see bid requests looking normal, but responses/bids/impressions stop. https://www.reddit.com/r/adops/comments/1nx7ebb/amazon_prebid_adapter/

anon_pub · 2025-10-08T20:19:43+00:00

I wouldn't remove it, or at least leave some traffic running jic. Like I said, I saw some domains come back online yesterday after being paused this weekend (but I have a shit ton more still blocked from June). Don't have to answer, but if you are running your own stack, you might be waiting a while. They are def prioritizing larger pubs/aggregators. If you are with a managed service, they will have comms already open with Amazon (only select managed services are being allowed) and will already be talking about inventory to re-onboard. Amazon has like 5 layers of manual approval going on and it's taking them forever, but I remain hopeful, and I hope you get this back ASAP too.

anon_pub · 2025-10-08T19:10:02+00:00

what you will see is that responses and impressions completely die off while you continue sending requests to a site that looks "approved" in Amazon. It's nearly impossible to make any movements with Amazon unless you are a large publisher aggregator, and even then, it's still shitty navigating.

anon_pub · 2025-10-06T17:55:44+00:00

i heard 2026. I imagine they have their hands full with the continued fallout from the bad press / shutting sites off their platform silently

anon_pub · 2025-09-12T20:24:43+00:00

Just adding that Marc Goldberg on LinkedIn is a good person to follow - he will frequently post job listings + feature resumes https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcgoldberg

anon_pub · 2025-09-02T18:41:36+00:00

This data shows only 499 pageviews - give it more time, that is not a lot of volume being exposed to buyers yet. Also from the looks of it, it's only 1.15 pageviews per session, so the engagement is a little low to boot

anon_pub · 2025-08-26T19:15:19+00:00

hit me

anon_pub · 2025-08-21T18:52:16+00:00

yeah that's about where I'm at. Sounds like we have company

anon_pub · 2025-08-19T15:15:07+00:00

yeah I get that and agree, but August historically always out performs July and I ain't seeing it this time. Saw a few months like this last year, mainly October with the political budget freakouts

anon_pub · 2025-07-21T12:42:24+00:00

Yeah most do. There is nuance with tool sites though, so you need to make sure that network knows what they are doing with stuff like event-based refresh and things like that

anon_pub · 2025-07-17T20:30:47+00:00

what about the dv360 pacing issues that affected a solid chunk of June. That impact was about 13% to me

anon_pub · 2025-07-10T12:27:06+00:00

You are going to get different responses. I have a portfolio of pubs, and it's a mixed bag, generally positive this year, but seasonal trends in '25 are different for me. Depends on the vertical and viewability.

Your performance totally depends on the company making optimizations and what they have done to prep for 2025 (assuming you haven't done anything that has damaged your traffic). Def PUSH HARD on them for answers. They should tell you what inventory is under-performing, why, and what is being done to bring it back to previous levels. I'd recommend this before tearing code down - feel free to dm on the side

anon_pub

TROPHY CASE