Low CPM

1. 82

   Justine Guiaoposted 20 months ago

   I think, I read it somewhere in the forum before but I forgot about it or might not be the main topic of that forum. Anyway, can anyone explain the reason for low CPM values?
   
   Thank you!

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2. 67

   PaulGoodman67posted 20 months ago

   In general, CPMs are about how much HP can get advertisers to pay for ads.
   
   CPMs are also seasonal to some extent, so they tend to go up at Xmas and down in the Summer.
   
   The CPM varies according to the subject matter with some keywords being more lucrative for  advertisers than others.
   
   The daily CPM for your individual account is an average figure for all your articles, which can be a cause of fluctuations.
   
   The main general reason that CPMs are generally historically low right now, I would speculate, is due to a lack of interest from advertisers.

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3. 67

   PaulGoodman67posted 20 months ago

   I should add that it's difficult/impossible to know how much interference, if any, there is from HP regarding CPMs.
   
   When things go bad for these sites, there's a temptation to cut earning rates to save money. That's what's happening over at Medium right now, in my opinion. The risk of that approach is that it can cause a "death spiral" where the good writers leave or stop writing and things then get even worse.
   
   HP is in a stronger position than most sites in that it's part of a larger grouping. That means it's better placed to weather a bad period.
   
   It's impossible to know what's happening behind the scenes.

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   1. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Paul, good points. But I think it is possible to know what's happening behind the scenes IF ONLY HP IS WILLING TO BE TRANSPARENT.

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   2. 69

      eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      As far as I can ascertain from graphing stats using an Excel spreadsheet as source data, we're still getting impressions that are 60% of page views. So we earn per page impression. The question of course is what HP is earning per article when there's lots of ads. I counted 37 on one article which seemed to be the limit, before no more were served as I scrolled down near the bottom. They could be raking it in on that article. If I turned off ads, they'd make nothing. Currently we can have ads or no ads on articles. I think it's worth trialing a third option we could choose: No ads but suggest a donation. I think this would work well on help and "how to"/troubleshooting guides where a reader would reward the author if they had their problem solved. If I had earned a dollar from even 1% of the readers of my troubleshooting guides, I would have made a tidy sum by now.

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      1. 83

         Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

         Eugene, I hear you. Dono sites work well for some based on the subject. But my main concern is that HP tells us nothing. So writers spend time trying to figure out what is happening. Even if HP said, we are not telling you anything. That would be something. Speculating doesn't solve the problem.
         
         We need facts. Something like: We have a million writers, and 35% of those hit three digits each payout. Or we have 25 new writers every month 10% of those remain.

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         1. 69

            eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

            Maybe TAG have them gagged or HP has even been absorbed into TAG by now and is no longer a distinct entity, just a legacy brand. That woudl explain why we don't hear anything since remaining staff just handle the administration of content and technical maintenance. TAG just ignore people on socials.

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            1. 83

               Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

               Truthfully, we don't know.

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               1. 69

                  eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                  It's probably not unusual though. Companies frequently keep employees in the dark (although I know we're not employeesl)

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                     Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                     Yes. We are not employees. But still, it seemed in the past; HP was more forthcoming.

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         2. 69

            eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

            A million writers? And only a few of us are vocal.

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               Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

               I don't know how many writers. My mother always said I had quite an imagination.

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               1. 69

                  eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                  Maybe a 100,000 or 10,000? The figure is published somewhere on the site.

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                  1. 83

                     Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                     Yes. It probably is published somewhere. Here is a thread from nine years ago that offers a good estimate: https://hubpages.com/community/forum/30 … n-hubpages

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                  2. 67

                     PaulGoodman67posted 20 months agoin reply to this

                     "only a few of us are vocal"
                     
                     I suspect that many have drifted away or don't publish much.
                     
                     It's notable that when you go to the HP signout page where they highlight various articles and writers, only one writer is still active on the site according to their activity record (Linda Crampton/AliciaC).
                     
                     It's really not a good look when the writers that HP highlights on that page no longer appear interested in participating. I'm pretty sure that some/many of them haven't written here for years.

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                  3. 69

                     eugbugposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                     

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                     1. 83

                        Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

                        If you do the math, roughly 18 articles per published user. That is not impressive.

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   3. 82

      Justine Guiaoposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Thank you for this explanation, Paul!

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      1. 67

         PaulGoodman67posted 20 months agoin reply to this

         You're welcome! I've tried to boil it down to the essentials.
         
         Some people wrongly see the CPM for their account as more absolute than it is. I have multiple accounts and the variance between them can be huge.
         
         That said, the overall trend has definitely been downwards in recent times.

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4. 34

   Palmershadyposted 20 months ago

   I appreciate the comments so far. Bringing my opinion on the subject matter seems to me like saying a cup of water is half-filled when others say it's half-empty.

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   1. 83

      Kenna McHughposted 20 months agoin reply to this

      Palmer, I don't see any half fills in this thread.

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      1. 34

         Palmershadyposted 20 months agoin reply to this

         Kenna, one cup that is half filled  here is the CPM rate not explained. On the hand, the same cup is half emptied ( reason for low CPM not also explained).

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