Raptive RPM Calculator

The estimate starts from a page RPM, meaning earnings per 1,000 pageviews, and then adjusts for your niche, audience and layout. The table below shows the base figures, which assume four ad units per page at 60% viewability.

• Raptive is modelled at roughly $18 page RPM for Tier 1 readers, $7.40 for Tier 2 and $2.10 for Tier 3, slightly above the Mediavine figures.
• Niche multipliers run from 0.65x for news and entertainment to 1.9x for finance and business. Travel sits at 0.95x and Education at 0.9x.
• Ad density follows a square-root curve, so going from four to six units adds about 22%, and nine units add about 50%.
• Viewability scales against the 60% baseline, so a layout at 45% viewable earns a quarter less, and one at 75% earns a quarter more.
• Display, in-article and sticky are on by default. Video adds roughly 40% to the modelled RPM and an interstitial adds about 15%.
• The low and high figures are 0.7x and 1.35x of the central estimate, to cover seasonality and differences in how the network treats your traffic.

Pageviews are the entry metric here, but sessions still drive the session RPM shown in the results. Both come from the same inputs. The methodology page explains how the ranges were built and why they are deliberately conservative.

The three sites below sit on either side of Raptive's bar of 25,000 monthly pageviews. Look at pages per session as well as sessions, because it decides which side of the bar a site falls on.

The small blog has 14,000 sessions, which sounds respectable until you turn sessions into pageviews and compare them with the bar: 22,400 is just short of 25,000. The other two sites clear it, though meeting the number is only the first step in approval, since Raptive also looks for mostly US, UK, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand readers, long-form original content and a correctly set up Google Analytics.

Raptive pays monthly, and the schedule is slow. At the time of writing the payment lands roughly 45 days after the end of the month in which you earned it, so a payment for March arrives in mid-May. The minimum payout is low.

Payment is by direct deposit or PayPal. If your bank is outside the US, the fees and exchange rate can take a noticeable bite from a monthly payment, so choose the receiving account on purpose. The guide to receiving ad payouts abroad compares the usual choices.

Check the current terms on the Raptive site before relying on any date, since payment timing and requirements change.

A bar set on pageviews rewards sites where readers click through to more pages. A bar set on sessions, like the one for Journey by Mediavine (see also the Mediavine site), rewards sites that attract more separate visits. Two sites with the same pageview total can sit on opposite sides of the other programme's bar.

A site with 10,000 sessions and 2.8 pages per visit reaches 28,000 pageviews, so it clears Raptive's bar. A site with 20,000 sessions at 1.2 pages per visit has twice the visits but only 24,000 pageviews, so it falls just short. Use the eligibility panel to see where you stand on pageviews, and remember that Mediavine's main programme is measured in annual ad revenue instead.

Splitting one article into six slides raises pageviews, but readers dislike it, and a managed network may not value it either. Better routes are related-post links placed where the reader stops, a clear next step at the end of each guide, and an internal search that works.

Readers who stay longer also give ads more chances to be seen. Website ad formats compared shows which units suit a longer read, and seven ways to earn more from the audience you have covers placement and frequency in more detail.