January has arrived and once again we face what is historically the slowest month of the year for publisher ad revenue. But before you seep into those new-years-blues, let us explain. We understand, and will feel the same pain to our bottom line throughout these next few weeks. However, January and the rest of Q1 don’t have to be entirely daunting. With the right strategies in place, there are effective ways to mitigate these losses and even turn this traditionally slower period into a time of growth and opportunity for your business!
Why Does This Happen?
To best understand this trend, keep in mind what has just ended – Q4! More ad dollars go to publishers in October through December than any other time of the year, making January’s CPM drop seem even more drastic.
Post-holiday Slowdown
The post-holiday slump in advertiser spending is a predictable trend each year. Aside from a few unique product verticals such as fitness equipment, and wellness products, brands anticipate people will buy less in January as they recover from any financial debt brought on by the holiday season. For the average consumer, January is also a time to regain control of the household finances and monthly budgeting. The goal is to spend less, not more, resulting in less time online searching for the latest luxury products.
Seasonal Advertising Trends
You know that holiday-hangover, when you awake from a sugar-induced coma only to find an empty wallet and a piercing headache from WAY too much wine and family interaction? Advertisers can also feel that way, as they enter the new year having just spent much of their budget on holiday campaigns spanning across multiple devices and consumer touch points! January often serves as a much-needed breather for publishers—a time to pause, reflect, and strategize for the year ahead to pump the brakes on spend, reassess the budget and analyze the performance of Q4 campaigns.
After January’s brief pause to spend, advertisers will reemerge with dedicated spend for tentpoles that fall later in Q1, such as the Superbowl, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day sales, tax season promotions, and spring break.
Less Competition = Lower CPMs
The result of less advertiser spend and reduced media consumption by users is lower CPMs. For publishers, this shift means lower RPMs and less total monthly revenue. Not only does less competition among advertisers for ad placements mean lower CPMs, but with fewer active campaigns, there is more ad inventory available, driving down prices further. It’s the perfect storm.
How To Capitalize on the Slower Season
Proactive steps can be taken in January to maximize revenue in the short-term, while also laying the groundwork for stronger performance in later months of the year.
Plan Ahead
Every January, publishers express concerns over the drop, but this decline is both predictable and manageable. As you build out annual revenue projections, budgeting for this drop ensures you are prepared and that will mitigate any panic that this revenue decrease brings.
Optimize For Seasonal Content
If applicable to your brand, publish content that aligns with popular January topics like fitness, health, budgeting, organization, and goal-setting. These topics attract advertisers focused on New Year’s resolutions. If more so reliant on trending content, use January to create or update evergreen content that can generate consistent traffic throughout the year.
Invest in the Long-term
With the stress of Q4 behind us, January can be used for those much needed A/B tests. Test article headlines, content formats, or layouts to improve user engagement and conversion rates. If you aren’t yet capitalizing on the growing amount of digital video spend, test the video player in Q1. Early adoption gives you plenty of time to optimize the experience and maximize revenue potential well ahead of Q4 2025. According to Google, “Video ads are on average earning 8.9x higher CPMs compared to standard banner ad CPMs on Ad Exchange.”
Diversify Revenue Streams
As in most cases, diversification is key. Our core competency may be ad monetization but we regularly consult publishers on revenue opportunities outside of that.
- Data monetization
- Subscription models
- Content licensing
- Affiliate marketing
- E-commerce
- Sponsored partnerships
Improve the UX
Some of the most common issues preventing publishers from brand growth are outdated website designs, unintuitive site navigation and confusing taxonomies. Newer companies with more modern design and friendlier UX are beating legacy sites who didn’t make the necessary changes. With lower traffic and slower pace, offers an ideal low-risk window to make these changes. Enhancing the website’s design and functionality now not only improves user experience but also positions your brand to compete more effectively down the year.
Direct Sales Strategy
Start building direct relationships with relevant advertisers in your space. You don’t need to hire an expensive sales team, but you can reach out to these advertisers to evangelize your website and inventory.
Update your media kit, create customized ad packages that align with annual tentpole events, assign pricing to ad units, and find ways to offer interesting things to advertisers. At Freestar, we follow the same pattern. We leverage our SSP and DSP relationships to ensure that our publishers are well represented in the private marketplace, PG and other premium environments. Annual revenue to our publishers from deal-based IDs and curated audiences is up over 50%. We also work directly with brands and agencies, evangelizing segments of high-quality inventory for relevant direct sales campaigns.
Focus On Audience Engagement
As we move into 2025 and beyond, audience success metrics are shifting to prioritize engagement, loyalty, and authentication. Metrics like total pageviews and sessions, once the gold standard, no longer tell the full story. Instead, deeper signals – such as engaged users, repeat visitors, and authenticated traffic – paint a more accurate picture of brand value and monetization potential.
Offer unique and customized ways for your audience to connect with you and with each other.
- Leverage short-form video: Create engaging short-form videos that are shareable and captivating.
- Optimize your Newsletter: Strengthen your newsletter strategy by offering customized content options, ensuring readers receive the information that is targeted and more relevant to them.
- Build community spaces: Foster community through social media or forums to encourage audience interaction and connections.
Shake Up the Ad Strategy
Just like everything else in your business, the ad strategy should be looked at again each year to avoid growing stagnant. At Freestar, we pride ourselves on white-glove service and the strategic partnership we provide. We bring new ideas for ad layout, ad products and optimizations to our publishers throughout the year.
The amount of ad units per page doesn’t have to be the same year round. If you typically run a conservative layout, you can afford increasing in January. You can also be strategic about where you increase the amount of units. Instead of across the whole site, you can temporarily add units to a segmented group of top content performers.
Hang In There!
We understand the frustrations of low CPMs! The January drop occurs every year, across every ad network and provider. If you plan in advance, and use this month to complete some outstanding dev tasks or UX improvements, the labors of January can result in even more revenue in later months of the year.
