Educational only. Benchmarks aggregate publisher-reported AdSense metrics for 2025–2026. Google does not publish official niche benchmarks; treat these as planning ranges and replace them with your own dashboard data as soon as you have it.
AdSense is where most sites start, and where many sites leave money. Typical 2026 ranges: CTR 0.5–2%, CPC $0.20–$3 by niche, and page RPM of $5–20 for US-weighted content sites. Test your own setup in the AdSense Revenue Calculator.
The benchmark table
- Click-through rate: 0.5% is the floor for content pages; 1–2% is healthy with well-placed in-content units. Above 3% sustained usually means accidental clicks — and policy risk.
- CPC: $0.20–0.50 for entertainment, $0.50–1.50 for lifestyle/tech, $1.50–3+ for finance, insurance, and legal content.
- Page RPM: $5–8 general content, $10–15 mid-intent niches, $20+ finance/B2B — assuming 2–4 viewable units and mostly-US traffic.
- Viewability: Google counts an impression only when 50% of the ad is visible for 1+ second. Below 60% viewability, you're being paid for a fraction of your pageviews.
Why AdSense pays less than the premium networks
AdSense is one demand source. Mediavine and Raptive run header bidding with dozens of exchanges plus direct-sold campaigns, and typically pay 30–60% more for identical traffic. The catch is the door: Mediavine requires roughly 50K monthly sessions, Raptive about 100K pageviews, and both want majority tier-1 traffic and clean ad-policy history. Ezoic sits in between with no hard minimum.
What actually moves your AdSense RPM
Placement beats quantity: one in-content unit after the second paragraph and a sticky sidebar or anchor unit usually outperform five cramped banners. Content mix matters more — ten high-intent comparison posts can outearn a hundred news briefs. And geography is destiny: AdSense pays what advertisers bid, and advertisers bid on US creditworthiness.
The graduation plan
AdSense → Ezoic at any traffic → Mediavine at ~50K sessions → Raptive at ~100K pageviews. Each step is a raise you didn't have to write a word for. Keep AdSense policy compliance spotless the whole way — premium networks reject sites with invalid-traffic history.