I think you already know about programmatic ad management. Also known as automated ad management, it allows advertisers to target their audience more effectively. Unlike traditional monetization platforms, publishers have multiple advantages.
Recently, I saw that it is becoming the most popular way to manage ad campaigns due to its all-around performance. Yes. With the rise of machine learning and AI trends, programmatic advertising is now widely used. There are plenty of ad revenue optimization platforms (I like that name) with AI-based approaches, and Clickio is one of them.
But ads aren’t very attractive in terms of structure, but they have continued to expand as a revenue source in the past, present, and future.
In my Clickio Review, I’ll describe the following:
- About Clickio
- How they are working
- Requirements and payments
- Dashboard and Analytics
- Better alternatives
- What I like and what I don’t like
Nice, huh? So let’s get started.
About Clickio
Clickio is a UK-based programmatic ad management agency and a certified Google AdX partner. Clickio launched in 2015. Publishers can use Clickio for monetization, analytics, site performance, and consent management.
Using AI, Clickio helps websites increase their ad revenue. With a personal account manager, they provide a fully managed service.
Let’s go to my detailed Clickio Review.
1. Clickio Ads & Processes
First things first.
We can describe programmatic ad networks in names, but the first step is monetization, so here are some facts about Clickio ads and processes.
Clickio provides several kinds of ad sizes and layouts, plus several bid types. They analyze web pages using machine learning and content structure before placing ad units.
Clickio utilizes specific approaches such as split-testing, adaptive ads, CDN, lazy loading, and a lot more.
They have a device connection detection system, which means the ad layout changes depending on the network, like 3G, 4G, fiber, etc.
If your network connection is slow, you will only see a few ads, but if your connection speed is fast, you will see multiple ads on adapted devices. It is one of the pros of automated ad management. Another factor to consider is content length.
This approach is common and even seen in AdSense, which means that short content displays few ads, and extended content displays a lot. I noticed that Clickio ad units sidestepped page images and other essential elements. Suitable for practical UX.
It’s no secret that any ad network or third-party resource causes a website to slow down and provide a poor user experience, and Click-io is no exception. You can avoid this by delaying Scripts with cache plugins such as FlyingPress—Wp Rocket, etc.
2. Clickio Ad Formats
Clickio offers several ad layouts and designs in various sizes. Tellymix, Uktech.news, Navigaweb, and many other websites use Clickio as their monetization platform.
Banners
An old and popular ad format that still offers high viewability. Baner ads are typically rectangular and are often used in many businesses and ad design agencies.
With Clickio, you don’t need to place them everywhere because they automatically display in the content and can be personalized to fit your site’s preferences.
Here are some examples of Clickio in-article banner ads:
Horizontal Sticky
Also known as sticky ads on web pages top and bottom, these ads are compelling in grabbing users’ attention. Also, we need to use them ethically and considerately for the most relevant user experience because they can negatively impact UX and SEO.
Horizontal sticky ad examples:
Vertical Sticky
These sticky ads in the sidebar remain visible while the user scrolls up and down the web page. It can provide a proper CPM rate and viewability but avoid using multiple places.
Clickio provides three types of vertical sticky ads:
- Single: This is primarily displayed in the sidebar
- Mirror: also known as side rail ads because they appear on both sides
- Multi-sticky: Display a few ads in the sticky sidebar
Here are some examples:
Interstitial
Interstitial ads appear when a user navigates from one page to a different one. Usually, they have high viewability because users can’t prevent them. Some clicks occur because users may fail to ignore them. It is a different ad format that does not require any page space. Interstitial ads come in lots of sizes for mobile devices and big screens.
Here is a Clickio interstitial ad example:
Clickio provides it without any extra code. Also, interstitial ads may lead to a poor user experience, and you can limit them to one impression per user.
Other Formats
- Native Ads: they partner with well-known native ad networks such as Outbrain, Dianomi, and Yahoo. They display native ads on your pages on those platforms.
- Header Ads: appear in the page header area and act differently on mobile and desktop. And have them in various sizes.
- Thumbnail Ad: Mobile-specific ad format show when users navigate
- Video Ads: Like others, they show anywhere on the web page. However, video ads aren’t a good option for an average blog because they can cause bad UX and slow sites because they weigh a lot of third-party tags. Worse if you use slow plugins.
- Clickio Feed: This isn’t an ad but allows for more content as viewers move down the page. It uses simple methods to locate fresh or famous posts of the same type.
3. Demand Partners
Clickio is already a Google-certified publishing partner, offering header bidding, open bidding, and server-to-server bidding with 50+ other partners.
However, compared to top competitors such as Mediavine, Raptive, Monumetric, SetupAd, and others, Clickio falls short. Still, you can earn fair and competitive CPM rates if you have significant traffic from top-tier nations (UK, US, CA, AUS, NZ, etc.)
If you only use AdSense or Ad Manager, the only ad server is “Google.” But with the ad demand stack, you can access an extensive list of other partners, including premium.
In addition to Google, here are some other notable demand partners:
- Pubmatic
- Media.net
- Smartadserver
- Admanmedia
- Appnexus
- Gumgum
- OpenX
- Sovrn
- Criteo
- Amazon
- Plenty of others
You can see others in Clickio Ads.txt:
4. Clickio Requirements
Clickio accepts publishers on two terms:
- Previous ad revenue: It doesn’t matter how much traffic you have. However, if your site generates more than $500 in monthly ad revenue through an ad network such as Adsense, Media.net, Ezoic, and others, it remains eligible for the platform.
- Traffic Requirements: The most common method of accepting publishers with visitor counts. They have different traffic requirements for various countries.
- They will accept sites with 100,000+ monthly pageviews from the US, UK, Australia, France, Canada, and other top-tier countries.
- South America — 750,000+ monthly page views
- Rest of the World — 300,000+ monthly page views
Clickio isn’t compatible with publishers in certain countries, including Cuba, Iran, and Russia. They also don’t display native ads on sites with less than 500K page views.
Other Conditions:
It’s more than that:
They are an approved Google partner, so your site needs to comply with Google’s ad policies. Interesting web design and content, plus other content guidelines, are required.
Also, Clickio has some unique conditions that I haven’t seen with other ad networks. If you do not reach the minimum earnings of “$500 per month” after three months, they will turn off ad serving on your website. Haha!
I think there are too many conditions, which is why Clickio is lagging behind other top competitors. Without a doubt, Mediavine, Raptive, and even Ezoic are superior to Clickio.
5. Payment Overview
Highlights:
- Payment terms: Net-60
- Payment options with the threshold:
- Bank Transfer – $100
- Wire Transfer – $200
- PayPal – $100
- Webmoney – $10
- Payoneer – £100
The Net-60 term is quite long, but most revenue optimization platforms use longer payment terms than others. That means your January payment will be paid at the end of March. Also, check out my article about the best crypto ad networks.
Monumetric, SetupAd, Mediavine, and most others use long-term payment terms because they work with multiple demand partners and need to get paid.
I’m fine with Clickio’s payment options; they provide a few, including Payoneer and PayPal. It doesn’t matter about the minimum threshold because you must earn more than $500 to stay with Clickio. Yeah!
6. Clickio Analytics
With Clickio analytics, you can monitor your site’s performance in various ways. It is helpful to optimize for a better UX with optimal revenue.
It is kind of similar to Ezoic’s big data analytic tools but not as comprehensive as Ezoic’s. However, it is useful and offers insight into the data and the ability to track Core Web Vitals. You can track site behavior across devices, platforms, and countries.
It is also possible to integrate with Google Analytics/Ad Manager. You can track your daily impressions, estimated income, clicks, and other metrics with detailed results.
Most programmatic advertising companies provide extensive statistics.
7. AdSense Mediation
You can connect your AdSense account to the Clickio network, which is quite good. AdSense then partners with Clickio companions, ensuring you always have quality ads.
Yes, if you go with other platforms like Medivine, you need to sidestep your AdSense account, but with Clickio, you can link it for them and handle all ads in one zone.
Some platforms, such as Adpushup, Ezoic, etc., allow AdSense mediation with payments. However, with Clickio, your AdSense payments will be cleared by Google as usual.
Still, it is a useful feature. Because you can manage both accounts from the same dashboard, you do not need to abandon AdSense. However, it may be something negative in terms of UX, but it is manageable. Read the Clickio knowledge base for more details.
8. Alternatives
Without a doubt, there are multiple better alternatives to Clickio. Also, check out my article about Adsense alternatives for more platforms. Here are some Clickio alternatives:
- Adsense: Still interesting, with optimized ad designs and publisher controls. Adsense may perform better than Clickio if your site has a high click-through rate. Also, it is for beginners first, and there are no traffic requirements, but I recommend using Adsense with at least 10K page views. However, CPM rates are not as good as others. The main disadvantages are a lack of human support and payment options.
- Mediavine: One of the best and top monetization platforms, I strongly recommend Mediavine over Clickio, and they even offer high CPM rates. The best replacements for any, but require 70K+ page views to join Mediavine. You should take Mediavine first.
- Raptive: Formerly known as CafeMedia and AdThrive, Raptive is their new name. A premium ad management platform works with publishers who receive over 100K monthly page views from top-tier nations. Raptive is more robust than Clickio, and requirements are still reasonable. You should give them the top spot on the list.
- Optad360: They are another GCPP and a better alternative to other competitors. They work with any kind of traffic, and you can try them if you have 50K or more monthly page hits. Learn more about them in my Optad360 Review.
- Freestar: Only suitable for high-end publishers, but it works well.
- Massarius: Europe-based ad management platform for publishers.
- Waytogrow: Another EU ad management firm for sites with 100K+ page views.
- Total Media: a publisher optimization firm and a Google-certified reseller.
- Playwire: A full-stack revenue optimization firm for bloggers and publishers.
However, making money with Adsense is pretty challenging for beginners. They usually pay very little per impression, so you’ll need a lot of traffic to make a decent living.
There are plenty of ad networks and AI-based ad management platforms that we are unaware of. Don’t just rely on one; explore other options until you find a better one.
Clickio Review: Is It The Right Monetization Platform For You?
From my viewpoint, they’re a reliable, verified monetization platform with cutting-edge features. But I don’t like their strict requirements, because there are more competitors and they are more effective than Clickio.
In part of my research, I found that Clickio uses significant European publishers such as Navigaweb, CasaDaPrivato, and Mundokodi. Yes, it needs to be because they are based in the UK and aim to publish in the US and Europe.
According to their case studies:
Clickio increased revenue significantly. Yes, there are good and bad, and as you can see, there are multiple aspects to consider when selecting the right one. Even web hosting.
Definitely, you should test them on your own. There is some difference between these ad management platforms because CPM rates may not always be comparable. You know what to focus on once you understand your visitor base.
And your choice is based on your preferences. I can’t say which option you should pick. Hope you learn something about them.
If there is anything I miss or you have to say, shoot me a comment.
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