When eCPMs start to slide, the instinct for many publishers is to act fast: jam in more ads, lower price floors, or chase the latest shiny ad format. But these quick fixes can often backfire, leading to irritated users, higher churn, and long-term damage to your brand.
Here’s the truth: declining eCPMs are not a dead end, they’re a signal. A signal to innovate, optimize, and adapt. Market leaders don’t scramble. They don’t panic at every dip in rates. Instead, they focus on sustainable levers that drive long-term value, no matter where the market goes.
This is your practical playbook, a strategy-first guide to stabilizing and growing eCPMs in today’s volatile environment. Before reaching for a “fix,” you need to understand what’s causing the decline. Then, apply smart, proven tactics that align with user experience, privacy standards, and revenue resilience.
Why are eCPMs falling?
Before you can fix the problem, understand what’s breaking it. eCPM drops are rarely caused by a single issue. Here are the usual suspects:
Market dynamics: global ad spend fluctuations, budget cuts, and economic slowdowns hit pricing fast.
- Audience shifts: a growing share of users from Tier 2 or Tier 3 regions means lower average bids.
- Ad fatigue & engagement: repetitive creatives and disengaged users lead to poor performance.
- Suboptimal ad setup: outdated formats, poor placements, or low-value inventory don’t command high bids.
- Seasonality: post-holiday slumps and campaign lulls are real and predictable.
- Signal loss & privacy constraints: without user IDs, advertisers hesitate to bid high.
- Technical underperformance: latency, broken wrappers, or poor viewability silently kill revenue.
eCPM decline isn’t just a monetization issue, it’s a business signal. It’s telling you something needs to change.
High-impact strategies for lifting eCPMs
Now that you know what’s dragging your eCPMs down, here’s how to fight back.
1. Maximize auction pressure with header bidding
The fix: More competition, more money.
- Replace waterfalls with simultaneous auctions via header bidding.
- Regularly audit demand partners (bid rates, win rates, latency).
- Dynamic floor pricing: set minimum CPM thresholds that adjust in real time to prevent undervaluation of premium inventory. (Reach out to your account manager to learn more)
Publishers often see a significant uplift after implementing header bidding.
2. Fight signal loss with transparency
The fix: Get comfortable with signal transparency.
While signals tied to individual users are increasingly in short supply, publishers can make their inventory more appealing by increasing transparency into content-level signals. For example, in the case of connected TV (CTV), show-level data helps potential buyers understand how to best engage with their target audience.
3. Level up your ad format strategy
The fix: Not all formats are created equal.
Some formats simply pay better. Lean into them strategically.
- High-yield options: Rewarded video, interstitial, and playable ad units.
- Format diversity: Don’t put all your inventory in banner baskets.
- Lazy loading: Only load ads when they’re viewable to avoid waste and boost auction confidence.
Video formats can deliver 10x higher eCPMs than static banners.
4. Test everything. Measure what matters.
The fix: Don’t guess, test.
Your best setup is probably not your current one. Treat monetization like a growth loop, not a set-it-and-forget-it stack.
- A/B test price floors, layouts, and refresh rates.
- Track core monetization metrics: eCPM, fill rate, win rate, latency.
- Share learnings across teams to align UX and revenue.
Don’t expect overnight success. Many optimizations take time to show real impact. Give demand time to build and allow enough runway to spot meaningful patterns. Quick conclusions can lead to false confidence.
5. Build seasonal resilience into your revenue model
The fix: Don’t ride the rollercoaster blind.
Seasonal eCPM dips are inevitable. Prepare for them.
- Bank revenue during peaks: Q4, holidays, and back-to-school are famously high-eCPM periods.
- Create premium seasonal packages with curated deals and higher floors.
- Use programmatic channels to keep fill steady when direct deals slow.
Plan for seasonality — don’t react to it.
6. Monetize the unmonetizable with on-device targeting
The fix: No IDs? We’ve got you covered.
In a world with fewer reliable identifiers, on-device cohorts have become a powerful lever for advertisers seeking precision, and they’re willing to pay for it. A leading example is Verve’s ATOM (aka Anonymized Targeting on Mobile), which enables app publishers to tap into that demand by restoring value to ID-less traffic.
On-device cohort targeting technology provides publishers with a privacy-centric framework for monetizing their mobile inventory. For example, by processing on-device and contextual signals with machine learning, ATOM classifies users into privacy-safe cohorts, unlocking improved bid rates and eCPMs that outperform today’s IDFA-less benchmarks.
How does ATOM help publishers?
- Enriches bid requests with smart, privacy-safe signals
- Unlocks monetization without compromising compliance
Publishers can get started by installing the Verve HyBid SDK, to optimize their monetization strategy.
Declining eCPMs aren’t a dead end
They’re a signal to evolve. Your monetization stack is only as strong as your willingness to adapt it. Don’t settle for short-term patches — instead, build a system that grows stronger with every challenge.
