My First 3 Months With Mediavine Journey: Earnings, RPMs, and Thoughts

While many of us start blogs and other creative projects for fun, many of us would also like to make some money from our efforts eventually. And while some people have problems with people monetizing their creative pursuits, I’d argue that it’s the morally correct thing to do. Money helps you help the people you care about even more, and it also gives you the freedom to spend more time on the things you actually want to do. 

Ad revenue is one of the most common forms of monetization for a blog, and when done in a way that doesn’t annoy users, it can be a great baseline of income. In late 2024, I decided to apply for Mediavine Journey after my traffic went within touching distance of the threshold. Since then, I’ve been part of Mediavine’s starter ad network for over three months. 

To help you decide if you should also join, I’ve put together this comprehensive guide with my experiences on Journey by Mediavine. I’ll reveal my average RPMs, too, so you can have an idea of what to expect. 

My Experience Using Ad Networks Before Mediavine Journey

After going more than a year without making money from my website, I slowly started to generate a few dollars each month from affiliate links in the summer of 2024. At that point, my traffic had also crossed 1,000 monthly views for the first time. As far as I was concerned, that was proof of concept; if I could make one dollar in this business model, I could certainly generate a lot more. 

As I began thinking about ways to monetize, I looked to ad networks. But since I care about the user experience more than anything else, any network I joined needed to fit my long-term vision. 

First, I experimented with Google AdSense. I didn’t need to hit any traffic requirements, so I figured it was worth experimenting with. While I made next to no money, it was at least motivating to see that I could generate an income from my blog. Rather than seeing AdSense as the end result, I viewed it as a lighter version of what could be. 

In the end, though, I felt like the money wasn’t worthwhile. I made around 30 DKK (c. $4.20 at the time) in my “best” month with AdSense, and the ads significantly slowed my website. After that little experiment, I decided to remove ads and wait until I could qualify for a better network. 

Why I Applied for Mediavine Journey

While my traffic was initially growing, I researched affiliate programs I could join and how to start generating an income from my website. Many bloggers said that I could start monetizing on a small scale at around 10,000 sessions, so I explored my options more closely. I saw myself choosing from three options: 

• Ezoic: I chose not to partner with Ezoic as I had heard lots of bad things about how these ads impacted creators’ website speeds. 
• Monumetric: I had heard good things about Monumetric and was willing to pay the $99 setup fee. 

• Mediavine Journey: I was already planning to join Mediavine once I reached 50,000 sessions (but actually joined Raptive instead as my traffic grew quite quickly), so… 

… You can guess my choice. I felt like Journey was a good introduction to running ads on a website on a smaller scale (but in a better way than AdSense), and as such, I decided to apply. 

Update: As of January 2026, you do not need 10,000 monthly sessions to apply for Mediavine Journey. Instead, you can apply as soon as you have 1,000 monthly sessions. Apply for Mediavine Journey here.

Applying for Journey by Mediavine: My Story

Originally, I planned to wait until I had officially crossed 10,000 monthly sessions before applying for Journey. But while on a trip to Helsinki in December 2024, I became impatient. My traffic was growing by over 60% month-on-month at this point, and I was at 8,000 monthly sessions. 

I had heard that Journey processing times are sometimes lengthy, so I decided to just apply while I was at 8,000 sessions. The worst that could happen is that my application was rejected, and I could then reapply when I reached the threshold. I also had to run Grow on my website for at least 30 days, anyway, so I wasn’t expecting anything before Christmas. 

As I traveled through Finland, Iceland, and the US over Christmas and New Year, my traffic continued growing. By the time I returned to Copenhagen in January, I was officially beyond the minimum requirements for Journey. 

And then, on an evening in January, I received the email I had been waiting for. 

I’m not joking when I say that I celebrated that message like I had just scored the winner in a World Cup Final. The next morning, I set up Journey’s script on my website; the process took less than 10 minutes. 

Preparing My Website for Mediavine Journey 

While I was waiting for my Mediavine Journey application to be processed, I was proactive in getting my website ready. First, I upgraded to a premium theme. I was previously using Ashe Pro, but decided to switch to Kadence Pro. Doing so significantly improved my website speed. 

I also wanted my site to look more professional, so I spent time building category pages. My aim was to make each one a hub where people could find the information they were looking for. 

My website navigation also needed improvement, so I focused on making this better. Once I had covered those areas, I then deactivated the plugins I no longer needed. Moreover, I continued to focus on producing high-quality and informative content for my audience.

Improving the user experience is an ongoing process, and I still take the time to get these areas in order each month. 

How Much Money Did I Make With Journey by Mediavine in My First 90 Days?

Right, let’s discuss what you *really* wanted to know. In my first 90 days with Mediavine Journey, I generated… 

$716.96 🙂

My average RPM, meanwhile, was $12.69. This is the amount that I earn per 1,000 sessions. 

As a starting point, I’m relatively happy with these numbers. While it’s nowhere near enough to cover my living expenses (especially in Copenhagen), I can comfortably afford to maintain the website. The money is useful to pay for my Kadence Pro theme, high-quality website hosting, and my Mangools SEO tool subscription. 

Also important to remember: 

• My earnings were very low for the first few weeks due to the “ramp-up period” that happens when you join a new ad network. During this time, advertisers are learning more about your site—and as a result, RPMs/earnings will be lower. 
• I signed up in Q1, which is typically the lowest quarter for ad spend. 
• I didn’t really care how much I earned in Q1. I had plenty of freelance work, for starters, but I was also more interested in preparing for the peak seasons.

To show you my Journey earnings in more detail, I’ll break them down into each period. I’ve done these via dates rather than months to give you a better picture.  

Month 1

Dates: January 7 – February 7, 2025

Traffic (past 30 days): 13,866 sessions | 16,368 pageviews 

Earnings: $104.07 

Average RPM: $7.50

In my first month with Mediavine Journey, I earned just under $105. My RPMs were very low due to a mixture of Q1 ad spend and just signing up for the network. Even then, though, it was a real eye-opener when I started earning over $3 per day. I never got anywhere near that with AdSense. 

Toward the end of my first 30 days with Journey, my RPMs increased significantly. Compared to $1.61 on my first day, my RPMs rose to $11.57 later. I even had one day where the average went above $12, which gave me hope and motivation for the rest of this year. 

Month 2

Dates: February 9 – March 11, 2025 

Traffic (past 30 days): 15,866 sessions | 19,687 pageviews

Earnings: $185.15 

Average RPM: $11.66

My traffic slightly increased in my second month with Journey, but interestingly, I had some days where I earned more despite having fewer visitors. This was a nice realization because I saw with clear data that providing value is more important than numbers on their own. Plus, better content also leads to more engagement anyway. 

I was happy with my RPM increase and my jump in earnings during my next 30 days. Again, I always like to look into the long term. For me, I could see where this would go as my traffic continued to rise over the next year. Having these earnings also gave me flexibility with which freelance projects I wanted to choose, especially when coupled with my affiliate revenue. 

Month 3

Dates: March 12 – April 8, 2025

Traffic: 26,740 sessions | 36,555 pageviews 

Earnings: $427.73

Average RPM: $15.99

As you can see, my traffic jumped significantly in my third month on Journey. I surpassed 30,000 monthly pageviews for the first time, and my revenue from ads alone more than doubled. My RPM also continued to rise; I had some nice days toward the end of the quarter when my RPM approached $25. These dropped in the first few days of April, which is normal at the beginning of a quarter. 

Coupled with my affiliate income, I generated close to $1,000 in my third month of proper monetization. This gives me significant hope moving forward, and having money that comes not just from client work releases a lot of pressure. While still not enough to cover my cost of living in Copenhagen, it’s an excellent starting point. I can continue traveling around Northern Europe to gather more content, which is nice 🙂. 

One thing worth noting is that Journey pays on a net-65 basis. So, I would receive the money I earned in the month of February on May 5th. You also need to hit the $100 threshold before generating a payout; I didn’t in January, so my earnings rolled over to the next month.

What Controls Do You Have With Mediavine Journey?

In the dashboard, you can control your ad density. You can pick between Low, Medium, Optimal, and High. The slider is set to Optimal by default, and I’ve left this as is. Again, I want a good user experience; Optimal does what the name says. 

Compared to the full version of Mediavine, you don’t have as much control over your ads. However, I haven’t had an issue with most of the ads I’ve been shown. I did have problems displaying videos initially, but these were easy to fix via WPRocket. 

You can also use Grow’s features to increase on-site engagement. I’ve set up recommended posts, for example. I used to have them at the top of my screen as well, but I have switched this off. 

I also used to use Grow’s newsletter pop-ups. This helped me grow my mailing list significantly, but I have since opted for a different approach. 

Would I Recommend Joining Mediavine Journey?

I was pretty happy with my Mediavine Journey experience when I ran their ads on my site. 10,000 monthly sessions was a good starting point to start generating some money from my site, and in my opinion, it’s still the minimum for you to start seeing reasonable money from ad revenue. That said, I’d still recommend applying for Mediavine Journey once you’re at around 1,000 monthly sessions; that way, you can start optimizing your revenue.

One thing to note is that ad income isn’t 100% “passive”… you need to ensure that your site is ready. This means optimizing its speed, picking a good theme, and using the correct font sizes/line spacing. Journey has some useful resources in its helpdesk, allowing you to take the initial steps toward a better experience (and more revenue). 

The RPMs were roughly what I expected; my US traffic was around 27% while with Journey, with most of the rest coming from countries like the UK, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. My RPM would likely have been higher if I had more US traffic, but I don’t really obsess over where my users come from. Plus, I know that my RPM will increase over time anyway—which is what happened with Journey and is now also the case with Raptive.

I’ve also been happy with the support I’ve received when needed. Besides having resources, the customer support team has been quick to respond to my requests and at least point me in the right direction. I also like being able to see my earnings in the dashboard; it’s motivating to view my revenue increase month-on-month. 

While I find the net-65 payments somewhat annoying (Raptive is net-45, though they have bigger traffic requirements), I can tolerate it. 10,000 sessions is an ideal time to start monetizing, in my opinion, and I therefore recommend applying for Journey when you get close to the requirements. 

If your traffic is growing steadily, I suggest Mediavine Journey as a good starting point. There are some aspects that I much prefer with Raptive, though, such as more controls and (in my opinion) better customer support. You now only need 25,000 monthly views to join Raptive, so if you’re growing fast, you may want to hold off until you can apply for Raptive instead.

My Plans Going Forward

When I wrote the first version of this article in April 2025, I was very close to qualifying for the full version of Mediavine. I had just under 40,000 sessions, with Mediavine requiring 50,000 to join at the time. My original plan was to apply for the full version of Mediavine when I reached 50,000 sessions, but since my traffic grew significantly, I waited a few months until I had the 100,000 pageviews that were at the time required to join Raptive. Nowadays, though, you only—as mentioned earlier—need 25,000 monthly views to apply for Raptive.

I’m also focusing on diversifying my income streams. Things have been going quite well with affiliate marketing, and I’m glad that I’ve been making money via these means while staying true to myself. However, I don’t want to solely rely on ads and affiliates—which is why I will delve into digital products, in the long term. Right now, I have a few that complement the blog on my Shopify store.

More than anything else, I’m still focusing on providing value and building the most beautiful and informative resource in my niche. I know that by focusing on helping people plan unforgettable trips, the financial rewards will come as a byproduct.

How to Apply for Mediavine Journey

To apply for Mediavine Journey, you first need to install the Grow plugin and run it for 30 days. You also need to run Google Analytics on your website. 

Moreover, you should have around 1,000 sessions per month. I don’t know if I would’ve been accepted, had my traffic not surpassed that threshold after applying, but I still recommend applying when you’re around 80% of the way there. My application was accepted after a month, so applying in enough time can help you cross that threshold. 

You can learn more about the requirements for joining Journey here. Once you meet the requirements, you can apply here.