I’ve tested out many different ad platforms, and two of the (current) ones I’m using are Monumetric and Journey. Journey (by Mediavine) was recently launched just a few months ago (as of writing this), and so I thought I’d dive in and share what my current experiences are so far.
This isn’t going to be your typical review where I share what Monumetric or Journey is – if you are here, you probably know what they are already, so why add that to a review?
Below I’ll be detailing how much we made from both platforms, just to give you an idea of how they compare to each other.
Facts, experiences, and nothing more.
Okay, maybe a few other things.
But you get the point.
So let’s get to it!
How I’m Testing Which One Is Better:
Back in October 2023, one of the sites (I.e. The Teal Notes Site) my team and I manage was accepted into Monumetric. The TN Site was on Monumetric from October till May 14th.
Then we took it off of Monumetric, and used Journey, as that site was accepted just 30 days ago into Journey’s ad network, and so I’ll be comparing the platforms and the ad revenue we made between the two.
I’ll be looking at the sessions and sessions RPM for both of them.
The Last 30 Days Of Monumetric
As you can see from the screenshot above, during the last month that we were running Monumetric ads, we made nearly $450, with our sessions at 30,675 and our session RPMs at $13.53.
Now, remember, this is about 5-6 months of running Monumetric on our site. So in theory, all of our ads should be optimized, and our sessions RPMs should be roughly as good as they’re going to get.
(Yes, we could also factor in the different months and seasonality if we really wanted to, but this site is fairly evergreen).
The First 30 Days Of Journey
As you can see in the screenshot above, during our first 30 days (minus our actual first day where we joined mid-way through the day), we made $511 and some cents, had a total of 24,934 sessions, and our average sessions RPMs at $20.52.
Now, remember, this is just the first 30 days of using Journey, without anything quite being optimized yet, and Journey still learning what works and doesn’t work on our site.
I think clearly, there is a winner.
Why I Would Choose Journey Every Time Over Monumetric
Journey is from the same company that owns Mediavine a top-tier ad platform that most niche sites try to join.
The main difference between the two is that you need a minimum of 50K sessions to join Mediavine, while with Journey you only need 10K sessions.
From what I understand, they both use the same ad placements, technology, etc., to run their ad operations.
Oh, and Journey is free join. Monumetric isn’t (see my comments below on that).
Monumetric on the other hand, while being an ‘okay’ ad management platform, just doesn’t compare in any regards to Journey.
I never liked their ad placements, and their customer service lacked in, well, service, multiple times.
Monumetric also tries to get you to pay $100 to join their network, which is kind of strange, if you think about it.
Pro Tip: I told them that I didn't want to pay the $100 and they told me that if I agree to stay for 3 months, they would waive the fee. Might be something to look into if you don't want to pay, and need to go with them for some reason.I guess the only upside to Monumetric is that they’ll almost accept any site (especially if you haven’t hit the 10K session threshold yet), so if you are looking for something to use while you wait to get to the 10K sessions threshold, then Monumetric is the way to go.
The Process To Join Journey
Some people have asked about the process to join Journey, so here is how I did it (it may have changed since now, and I’m going from memory, so I apologize for any errors in timelines).
I applied for Journey for the TN Site the day Journey arrived (April 16th?)
One of the things you need to do when you apply is add Grow (by Mediavine) to your site so that they can track and verify that you have enough sessions per month.
It’s annoying, since you can’t just use Google Analytics to prove it immediately (i.e. you have to wait 30 days for Grow to gather all that data/analytics), but it’s they’re rules, so I did it anyway.
I was on Monumetric when I applied, so I made sure to tell them that in the next 30 days, I was leaving for another ad platform (I didn’t specific which one). I did this about one week after I applied for Journey.
The entire process time from applying to being accepted by Journey was about 2 months – one month for Grow to gather the data, and another month for the application to be approved.
You’ll obviously want to make sure to end your contract with Monumetric by the time you join, or, if you clever enough, you might be able to get out of the Monumetric contract right when you join Journey.
(After the 30 days are up, Monumetric emailed me asking if I was indeed leaving, which I responded I needed a little more time, which they granted.
Then a week or so later, they emailed again asking if I needed more time, which I ignored for a few days before Journey finally accepted me.
NOTE: Someone did show me in their terms that if you don’t quit Monumetric’s contract within 72 hours of when you said you would like it to end, then you have to wait another 30 days. So just take what I said with a grain of salt. Or sugar if you’re having tea…)
Journey Is Definitely Worth It!
It’s only been a month in, but I’m already glad I joined Journey as soon as I could. I’m already earning more with them than Monumetric, and am pretty excited to see where we’ll be in the next few months.
So, if you are on the fence, and are wanting to join, then just go ahead and do it. You won’t regret it. It’s definitely worth it.