Mediavine
Mediavine no longer has a traffic minimum. Since January 2026 entry is based on annual ad revenue from the previous calendar year, starting at $5,000 for the Official program. The widely-quoted 50,000 monthly sessions is the legacy requirement and no longer describes how to get in.
Requirements last verified against the network’s own documentation.
At a glance
| Entry requirement | $5,000 annual ad revenue |
|---|---|
| Typical RPM | $15.00 – $50.00 |
| Revenue share | 75% to the publisher |
| Payout threshold | $25.00 |
| Payment terms | Net 65 days |
| Tier-1 traffic expected | None stated |
| Setup fee | None |
| Review time | 7–30 days |
| Exclusive | Yes — no other networks alongside |
The detail behind those numbers
From January 2026 Mediavine's programs are tiered by annual ad revenue from the previous calendar year: Official from $5,000, Select from $100,000, Signature from $250,000, Premiere from $500,000 and Premiere Plus from $1,000,000. The old 50,000-monthly-session threshold now describes the legacy Ad Management program, not the current door. Sites below $5,000 are served by Journey by Mediavine, which starts at 1,000 monthly sessions.
The threshold everyone quotes is the old one
Search for Mediavine's requirements and almost everything says 50,000 monthly
sessions. That number described the legacy Ad Management program. It is not
how a site gets in today.
Since January 2026 the programs are tiered by annual ad revenue from the
previous calendar year:
| Program | Entry |
|---|---|
| Official | $5,000+ |
| Select | $100,000 – $249,999 |
| Signature | $250,000 – $499,999 |
| Premiere | $500,000+ |
| Premiere Plus | $1,000,000+ |
That is a genuinely different qualification, not a rewording of the old one.
Why the change favours some sites and not others
Revenue-based entry rewards RPM rather than volume. Two consequences follow,
and they point in opposite directions:
A high-value niche gets in earlier. A personal finance or insurance site can
clear $5,000 a year on traffic that would never have reached 50,000 sessions a
month. Under the old rule it was locked out; under the new one it qualifies.
A high-volume, low-RPM site may not. A gaming or study-help site can serve
far more than 50,000 sessions and still earn under $5,000, because its
advertisers pay little and its audience blocks ads. Under the old rule it
qualified on traffic alone.
If you are planning a site around eventually reaching Mediavine, this changes
which niche to pick more than it changes how much to write.
The revenue that counts
Annual ad revenue, not total income. Affiliate commissions, product sales
and sponsorships are a different line and do not count towards the tier, however
much they matter to the business.
This catches diversified publishers who read the threshold as "earn $5,000 from
the site" and apply against a number the program does not use.
Below the threshold
Journey by Mediavine is the on-ramp, at 1,000 monthly sessions with no revenue
requirement — the same company, an order of magnitude below anything else on
this list. The intended path is Journey first, Official when the revenue is
there.
Exclusivity is the real trade
Mediavine manages the inventory and does not run alongside another display
network. That makes the decision all-or-nothing: you cannot test it against your
current setup on half the site and compare.
The revenue share is favourable and the RPMs are among the highest available.
The cost is that switching in and switching back are both full migrations, and
each one is a window where the ads.txt changes hands — which is exactly when
lines go missing.
Frequently asked
- Does Mediavine still require 50,000 sessions?
- No. That figure describes the legacy Ad Management program. From January 2026 the programs are tiered by annual ad revenue, starting at $5,000 for Official. A site earning that from a smaller audience now qualifies where it previously would not have.
- Which revenue counts towards the threshold?
- Annual ad revenue from the previous calendar year. That is what you actually earned from advertising, not total site income — affiliate, product and sponsorship revenue are a different thing and do not count towards the program tier.
- What if I earn less than $5,000 a year from ads?
- Journey by Mediavine is the entry program and starts at 1,000 monthly sessions with no revenue requirement. It is the same company and the natural on-ramp: build revenue on Journey, move to Official when you clear $5,000.
- Is Mediavine exclusive?
- Yes. Mediavine manages your ad inventory and does not run alongside another display network. That is worth weighing against the revenue share, because it means the decision is all-or-nothing rather than incremental.
Whichever network you run, ads.txt is the same risk
Every network on this list authorises its demand through your ads.txt. If a line disappears, that network stops bidding — and nothing in its dashboard will tell you. A network switch is the most common way it happens.
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