How Was Your CPM on 1st Jan?

1. 94

   eugbugposted 2 years ago

   Mine has hit rock bottom. Hopefully a one off.

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   1. 66

      OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      So glad I was sitting down when I checked it. 
      
      What is going on?  CPMs in 2021 were half what they were in 2020 and 2019. 
      
      Yes, I keep records.  I love spreadsheets.

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   2. 92

      Kenna McHughposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Not good.

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   3. 80

      Bushra Iqbalposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      This website - Hubpages - has gone from 'pretty good' to 'dreadful'.

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   4. 83

      bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      CPM was about $3 than January 1st 2021, but still low. My GA shows increased traffic on the 2nd. Anyone else?

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      1. 94

         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, higher than it's been for a couple of weeks, but still 30% down on last year. Hourly traffic today seems to be up to November levels, but might be just a temporary surge. Traffic always seems to start to rise in January for me. Maybe something to do with New Year resolution optimism.

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      2. 83

         bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Oops. I meant $3 more than 1/1/21.

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   5. 92

      SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Big earnings/CPM drop for January 1st and January 2nd. Traffic dropped by about 3,000 views for January 1st and then jumped back up the next day.

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   6. 84

      NateB11posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That's when mine fell off the cliff. I came back after staying away for a long time and saw horrible earnings and then saw this post and checked my CPMs and saw exactly when my earnings sunk.

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   7. 61

      EricFarmer8xposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Pretty low right now. But I just had my best month earnings wise in December. I was over $40 and I did not expect to see that until I wrote much more. Did not quite make it to $50 a month, though.

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   8. 92

      SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      December was pretty low for me too. The lowest December in years. January hurts but in a different way... because January isn't normally a strong month. The first quarter is usually the hardest for me.
      
      Something happened in September last year, and I haven't really seen a sign of improvement since. I'm trying to hustle for HP and also build in other spots. Medium is starting to patch the hole in HP earnings. I'm trying out Vocal.Media, but its viewership isn't very high. It's comparable to some of Hubpages highest niche sites. Medium gets significantly more traffic.

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      1. 86

         Jonathan Wylieposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         How difficult is it to make money on Medium? I heard it was kind of a slog.

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         1. 92

            SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            For me, about $15 the first month, $100 the second, and $200 the third. For initial growth, that’s not too bad.

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            1. 92

               SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Also, I want to mention I had 38 views one day and made $16. I think there is a lot of potential on Medium if you're willing to consistently post.

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   9. 92

      SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Not sure if this is helpful, but I looked at my CPMS, and there are only a handful of months where mine dipped to around $1 to $1.99.
      
      Jan 2016, Feb 2016, Feb 2017, April 2020, Jan 2021, and Jan 2022.
      
      This trend usually doesn't last long, at most a couple of weeks.

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      1. 94

         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Last year, mine started to improve around mid January.

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      2. 76

         psycheskinnerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         There are year-on-year trends as well as annual trends

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   10. 89

       Amara Hassanposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I dnt know but my CPM has been dropped drastically since last month. Views have increased but cpm dropped, so do earnings. Not happy with this drop.

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2. 97

   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   I hate to sound like the Prophet of Doom, but as you know, I've been dreading January for some time.
   
   My earnings were abysmal yesterday. I expect an improvement when people go back to work, but maybe not by much.
   
   Now might be a good time to halve the baked bean rations?

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3. 96

   CYong74posted 2 years ago

   I had to drink whisky after seeing it.

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4. 97

   Eric Cauncaposted 2 years ago

   1$.

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5. 94

   eugbugposted 2 years ago

   It's actually hard to compare to previous periods because the way impressions are listed keep halving and then doubling again every so many days, whatever's going on with the stats.

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6. 94

   eugbugposted 2 years ago

   The worrying thing is that if traffic keeps falling, maybe companies will pull advertising or lower priced advertising will be have to offered to potential advertisers. I don't know how it works, but isn't that the way commercial TV works? TV stations want engagement to keep advertisers happy. I wonder what the figures are for total traffic to each site?
   This was the traffic for last month compared to last year for my highest traffic article. According to GA, that page had a significantly longer load time for December compared to November. Those warnings are quite frequent, maybe something to do with ads?
   
   

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   1. 97

      PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I think the bottom line for me is earnings. I have multiple HP accounts and as far as I'm concerned CPMs are much more flaky and open to interpretation than they may appear.
      
      The trends for views/impressions and CPMs are important, though, of course, and it's definitely not good.
      
      Advertisers want to target sites that are popular and getting more popular.  If a site seems to be in decline, there's a danger of it falling into a negative loop.
      
      Things aren't perhaps as hairy as they used to be, though, in the sense that the site is part of something bigger nowadays (Maven/Arena). I just wish we got more official communications, like the old days.

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      1. 94

         eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         The question is whether Maven is subsidising Hubpages, or they're out on their own. I wish Hubpages and the niches sites were marketed and advertised more as a brand to at least make the punters aware of the names. For instance when I search for DIY articles and get a list of search results,  I know FamilyHandyman is one of the sites that has lots of articles, although not necessarily very in-depth on a subject.
         
         Here's a couple of references I've come across for Owlcation:
         
         https://www.librarything.com/topic/296327
         
         https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-think-of-Owlcation

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         1. 97

            PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Maven/Arena (and HP) are backed up by venture capital.
            
            HP and Medium are not profit-making as far as I'm aware. But that doesn't matter if they've got investors/money available.

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            1. 85

               JerryFisherposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Yeah the long term (short term?) worry is that they put HP out to pasture. There appears to be no longer any management for it although we  occasionally hear from Matt. But also no encouragement to write, like there was in the old days of HP, but then they had a team and they don't appear to any longer. The worry also is that admin must be writing out thousands of $50 cheques each month for people that haven't been on here for years. The whole thing is a real shame as I've personally seen my earnings tumble for about two years now and although at first I guess like all, I relentlessly edited and applied fresh content, it made little difference but maybe stabilise the views until there'd be another plummet. I truly don't want to put any more energy into that any longer. Just a shame there's nowhere else to go. I guess there's a new audience on the net now that either can't read or can't be bothered reading and they learn everything through video. Makes you despair a little.

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               1. 94

                  eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                  My earnings for 2021 were actually the highest ever in 10 years. Traffic only started to decline at the start of October.

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                  1. 97

                     PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                     Yes, the first half of last year was a golden period for me, too. I thought they'd cracked the code.
                     
                     We'll have to see what the Arena changes bring. The general trend since I've been here, starting in 2011, is that the "community" and "social" aspects have gradually been squeezed out of existence and it's become more like a traditional professional publisher with editors and increased editorial policies etc.
                     
                     To a large extent, the direction of the company is dictated by Google, due to the business model which relies on search engine traffic. HP are forced to keep going "leaner and fitter" because any material interpreted by Google to be "low quality" drags the entire site down.

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7. 84

   FatFreddysCatposted 2 years ago

   I was kicking ass all December long, so I had a feeling that as soon as the calendar turned, January would suck. Therefore I wasn't surprised.

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8. 89

   poppyrposted 2 years ago

   About 2/3 the value of December's daily average.

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9. 84

   Robie Benveposted 2 years ago

   My CPM is lower after Dec 31st but my views are slightly up for some reason.
   My guess is that after the shop-frenzy of the holidays, companies are paying less for ads now.
   It happens every January, but in previous years the average CPM was higher, so now this seasonal decline looks particularly sad.

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10. 99

    Gregory DeVictorposted 2 years ago

    Terrible.

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11. 98

    Shesabutterflyposted 2 years ago

    Loweset CPM to date. With the halving of my traffic it's not looking too good. This should be the end of my peak time, but unfortunately I saw a rapid decline much earlier for December. My random article that is still surprisingly seeing a rise in traffic is not close to making up for the loss of my main articles.
    
    I hope things start turning around on all fronts.

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12. 82

    Solarasposted 2 years ago

    Earnings are half what they were previous weekends.  I expected a drop, but this is terrible.

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13. 97

    PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

    Currently, I am still at least getting the "Amazon afterglow" that follows Christmas. When that's gone, things will be truly dire.
    
    My only hope is that earnings follow the same pattern as last year, when (at least for me) things started slow but got very good for the next five months. It's a blind hope, though.
    
    I still like this site and want to write more for HP, but it's hard not to get cold feet when things aren't going well.

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    1. 66

       OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       The problem is that there is nowhere else to go.  I plan on staying on HP because of that and the fact that I don't want to start another website.  It's too much work and too expensive.  I maintain a website for my business but if I decide to retire, I would delete that website for those reasons.
       
       I like that HP does all of the work for me in return for a percentage of my earnings.  It's an easy trade-off for me.

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       1. 97

          PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

          I'm staying at HP. It gives me a reasonable income and I can work intensively, or do very little, according to how I feel and what's going on in my life.
          
          Psychological, though, it's hard to write a lot when the site is doing badly. I wrote about 40 hubs between Jan and May last year, and then only about 5 after things started going awry.
          
          You're right that writing options are limited.
          
          I do okay at Medium, but I feel that I'm running on a hamster wheel there and I will take a hit whenever I step off. I prefer the HP model.
          
          I could do some freelance stuff, but I dread dealing with clients and deadlines and all that stuff.
          
          I will have to look outside the writing world, I guess. I always have multiple stuff happening, but writing is my favorite. I will need to focus more on something else, or start something new, if this dire situation continues.

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          1. 61

             EricFarmer8xposted 2 years agoin reply to this

             I use Medium to write about whatever random nonsense I want. I don't have much expectations for my writing there. But I am getting tiny amounts of views.
             
             I have been focusing on writing for Medium recently as I am enjoying it. I tend to write smaller stories that answer a single question or go over a single thought I have.
             
             I need to remember to write new hubs. But I have been so busy trying to write content for other platforms I have neglected my HubPages account last year.
             
             Last year I started to write on Medium and I am testing this new website out called Vocal. It reminds me of HubPages in many ways. I also have my own website.
             
             
             I am in this awkward spot where I make enough money on HubPages to care. But not enough that it does too much for me.

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14. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    Just read this from the "Related Discussions" below. Last year though, for me, there wasn't a huge difference between December and January.
    
    https://hubpages.com/community/forum/10 … -last-week

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    1. 97

       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       There's usually a big drop off from December to January, that's normal in my experience?
       
       I think you're an exception, if that doesn't happen for you. It may relate to  subject matter, of course, DIY tends to be more stable, for instance.
       
       I have more than one account and they do all vary, but there's typically a noticeable drop.
       
       That said, there was a positive algo change in December 2020, if I remember rightly, so that likely helped to ameliorate the earnings drop last year?
       
       I think the significant thing this year for me was that things went from bad to worse, proving that no matter how dire things are, they can always deteriorate further!

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       1. 97

          PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

          I think that this time we had the opposite happen, we got a bad algo change in December, so the new year earnings drop was exaggerated rather than flattened.

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15. 88

    revmjmposted 2 years ago

    Paul, I feel the same way you do. I have written for several sites over 12 years, and I always default to HubPages. I like it much better than any of the other sites I have been a part of.  https://toughnickel.com/self-employment … About-Them

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16. 76

    psycheskinnerposted 2 years ago

    I can't remember which screen shows CPMs

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    1. 83

       bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Go to Earnings Program Settings and click on Ad Program Reports. That's where you'll find Impressions, CPM, and Earnings.

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       1. 76

          psycheskinnerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Thanks, mine was $1.53 -- which is pretty dismal compared to what I got a few years ago even over the same period, but it does seem to be trending up again right now.  My CPMs for Jan 1 over the years being 5.09 / 5.75 / 7.01 / 3.61 / 3.47 / 4.04 / 5.79 / 3.69 / 6.48 / 1.53

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          1. 92

             SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

             Thank you for sharing this. I think this paints the picture really well.

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             1. 76

                psycheskinnerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                We aren't really meant to share this kind of info but I doubt they monitor the forums much any more

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17. 97

    PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

    That "product reviews" update by Google seemed to wipe off over 15% of my views in December.
    
    It's early days, I can't tell if it's just the workers, schools and students going back after the New Year, but there might be a slow recovery going on. I guess time will tell.

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18. 88

    theraggededgeposted 2 years ago

    Medium earnings are double HP right now. Combining the two with Adsense, I should be looking at a decent month ahead.
    
    HP on its own though

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    1. 92

       SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I wish I had gotten on Medium sooner. I started getting into it in November. I’m pleased with the growth I’ve had so far, and it is a nice buffer while HP goes sideways.

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    2. 97

       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       My Medium earnings were on a promising trajectory back when they were paying out hundreds in bonuses and the Medium algorithm was more generous. Now my earnings there are pretty stagnant.
       
       My Medium earnings are about twenty percent of HP.

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       1. 94

          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          My earnings on Medium are only enough to cover the subscription. I'm still hoping people will dip into the DIY/Gardening publication over time if I can get enough followers.

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          1. 88

             theraggededgeposted 2 years agoin reply to this

             Mine were over $400 last month, up from $94 the previous month. I've never received a bonus; came into it too late. I just keep plodding along. Some articles are successful, others not. I can never tell which ones will attract the readers.

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       2. 66

          OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          I agree.  It's gotten a lot tougher on Medium, but my earnings from that site are still 10x what I earn on HP.

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       3. 97

          PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

          The big contrast is if I calculate earnings as an hourly rate. I do really well at HP and terrible at Medium, when all the time I put in is considered.
          
          Okay, it can be argued that it's an unfair comparison: I don't have to put that much time at HP because I've built up a body of work over ten years.
          
          However, the passive earning element is super-important, as far as I'm concerned, it's a deal breaker for me.

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19. 82

    Solarasposted 2 years ago

    Meanwhile at HP the CPM rate is 50% of last month on PetHelpful.  Horrible.  And, oddly, this thread does not appear in my notifications.  Maybe that feature is out of order right now.

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20. 84

    honghanhvt1182posted 2 years ago

    I had the worst payment, the lowest amounts that I have seen in years from the second half of December until now . I literally earned a few cents a day. I hope things will improve soon and this is just something seasonal, not a major concern to watch out

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    1. 97

       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       There was a major Google algorithm change in December that affected views/impressions negatively.
       
       I think that conspired with the general drop in earnings after Xmas and the quarterly drop in CPMs at the start of January to deliver a crushing blow.
       
       Who knows when things will improve...

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       1. 94

          eugbugposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          At least traffic is beginning to rise again, but still 30% down on last year. A major drop occurred at the start of October.
          
          
          

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          1. 97

             PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

             It's maybe too early to say if it's a significant trend, but let's hope that things have bottomed out and are on the rise again.
             
             I hate to sound conspiratorial, but it sometimes feels like there's a history of the site getting hit in late summer/autumn and losing out on the most lucrative period of the year; only to see a recovery in January when earning rates are lower. That's not really scientific, but how it feels.
             
             We can only hope that 2022 follows the trend that you and I saw last year and things get better and better.

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21. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    The impression calculation method seems to have changed again. Impressions are reduced by nearly 50% (although views were higher), but CPM although it appears higher hasn't increased proportionately. In fact it dropped again. Unless of course there's a delay in calculating impressions.

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    1. 98

       Shesabutterflyposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       My earnings for today are showing half impressions, but double CPM so earnings are comparable to yesterday when impressions were higher, but CPM was much lower. I do not have an asterisk so I'm assuming these are final. A bit disappointing that impressions have gone down again, but if CPM's climb back up it will be about the same earnings for me I think.

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       1. 97

          PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Yeah, who knows what's happening with the reporting?!?!? Seems like a mess today!
          
          My weekly newsletter reports that were emailed suggested that I've gained back the traffic that was lost in December. I guess the hope is that the traffic continues to improve.
          
          CPMs should increase by mid-Feb, if normally seasonal trends happen, but by how much is anyone's guess.

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22. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    Tuesday impressions and CPM changed again from yesterday's figures, almost doubling, even though the asterisk had disappeared late yesterday. Maybe stats weren't fully complete. Wednesdays impressions are almost half of what they should be again, similar to Tuesday's values.

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    1. 97

       PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Yes, I think there's been some delayed reporting going on.
       
       At least the rise in traffic gives me a few straws to clutch at. Virtually all the news since last May has been pretty miserable.

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    2. 98

       Shesabutterflyposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I just noticed this as well. Ultimately it doesn't really affect my earnings, so I haven't been paying much attention to it lately. This new system seems to take much longer to finalize figures for some reason. I have never seen almost daily changes like this in all the years that I have been here.
       
       My cpm/impressions have been changing often since the introduction of this new calculation for impressions started. I don't understand how it causes such drastic cpm changes, but my earnings are very similar whether I have lower impressions with higher cpm or higher impressions with lower cpm.

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       1. 92

          SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          The changes are volatile for me. December was poor compared to other Decembers. I'm making about half that for January. My only solution is to diversify where I write.

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23. 87

    Sherry Hewinsposted 2 years ago

    For me, all metrics are up for the past three days. More views, higher CPM, more money.

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    1. 83

       bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Monday, the 10th was the highest for me so far this month. However, GA shows a huge drop on the 11th and a better 20% gain on the 12th. However, stats are lower than on the 8th, but gaining traction after the drop on the 11th. I have noticed, via my GA account, that articles that weren't previously gaining traffic are now. To me that's a plus, considering I'd only written one new article in 2021. The articles that receive organic traffic were written prior, some years ago. As long as I receive my intermittent HP payments (typically every other month), I'm a happy girl. Thank goodness for my well-paying day job!

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24. 96

    Dean Traylorposted 2 years ago

    Bad. Need I say more?

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25. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    What! 50 cent CPM yesterday? That's the lowest in 11 years. Hopefully this is an error or because stats aren't complete and it's not because companies have ended advertising contracts on Hubpages. I know we're not supposed to discuss CPM, but this is serious.

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    1. 81

       Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Yesterday, my CPM was 0.10 cents, and I earned $0.01. Lol! I'm very proud of this 0.01 Dollars.
       
       Please don't try to fool your heart, I'm pretty sure it wasn't an error. Lol!!

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       1. 92

          SerenityHaloposted 2 years agoin reply to this

          Mine says pending…

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    2. 100

       chef-de-jourposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       Let's hope there's an error, a glitch, a huge mistake. Please, someone from HP, put us out of our misery sooner rather than later.

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26. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    Mine has an asterisk, so hopefully all the revenue hasn't been added to the total.

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    1. 94

       AliciaCposted 2 years agoin reply to this

       I certainly hope that’s the case!

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       1. 81

          Misbah786posted 2 years agoin reply to this

          +1

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27. 94

    eugbugposted 2 years ago

    Phew! Values seem to have updated.

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28. 95

    JR Cuevasposted 2 years ago

    Mine went drop from December to early January. But now, I think it is slowly recovering. Hopefully, it sustains.

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29. 72

    Organised Kaosposted 2 years ago

    I stopped writing for Hubpages over 2 odd years ago for editing and then re-editing their edits multiple times. The content is not mine anymore, they basically have put in incorrect information. So I am just here to collect the $$$ now and write elsewhere.
    
    Was a great platform, and then they stuffed it right up.
    
    FROM near $1k payouts to now $100 - pathetic

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