I’ve Been a Raptive Partner Site for Over 12 Months: Here’s My Full Review (With Income Stats)

Even though I started my blog as more of a hobby and a creative outlet, I deep down knew that I wanted to monetize it at some point. More specifically, I also knew that I wanted to eventually turn it into something I could work on full-time. So, from the very start, I was already thinking about potential routes for generating income in the future. 

As my site grew, I started to think about whether I wanted to run ads on my site at some point. Raptive is one of the main premium ad publishers that bloggers use, so it was naturally one of my options. 

I had heard lots of positive things about the company, which used to be known as AdThrive, before joining. However, I was still unsure about whether this was hype or legit. After over a year of running Raptive ads on my website, I wanted to write this full review about my experiences. 

Before Raptive, I Was Actually Quite New to Display Ads on My Site…

Right, so I think that a timeline will make things more useful here. I entertained the idea of running ads on my website in the autumn of 2024, when my site was growing steadily. At that point, I had just reached 5,000 monthly visits. Given that I had only started my blog in April 2023, I was really happy with this progress. 

I started off by experimenting with Google AdSense. I wanted to know what to expect with ad placements, along with seeing how much money I could earn. To be honest, I earned next to nothing with AdSense—but I did at least get an idea of how ad placements would work. I decided to switch off ads completely until I could qualify for Mediavine Journey, which at the time required 10,000 monthly sessions. 

Four months later, I hit that milestone and was accepted into Mediavine Journey. My earnings were much higher than with AdSense, and since I was freelancing at the time, it was a nice side income. My affiliate revenue had also just started to pick up at this point.

Originally, my idea was to stay with Mediavine Journey until I could apply for the full version. At the time, this required 50,000 sessions. I expected slow growth and to reach this number within perhaps 2-3 more years of consistent posting. My growth was much faster than that, though, to the point that I was taken aback. 

I reached 50,000 monthly sessions in April 2025. It was funny because I visited the Faroe Islands at the time, which back then had a population of just over 50,000 people. Before the trip, I joked that it would be interesting if I came back and my blog traffic was bigger than the archipelago’s population. Turns out that it was. 

It was pretty clear at this point that my website had some serious momentum. I therefore had a dilemma. I could apply for Mediavine straight away, or wait until I reached 100,000 pageviews to apply for Raptive. I had read comparisons between the two and felt like while I thought Journey was great, Raptive could potentially be a better fit. So, I chose to hold out. 

Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long. In June 2025, I reached 100,000 monthly pageviews. I applied for Raptive and was accepted within a few days. In the middle of next month, I stopped freelancing altogether to focus on my blog full-time. 

The Pageview Requirements Are Much Lower Now Than They Were When I Joined, Too

The thing with pageviews is that they can be relevant, but also not. Quality of traffic matters much more than how many people visit your site, from what I have noticed. 

Although I needed 100,000 monthly pageviews to join Raptive when I applied, those requirements have now changed. If your site has 25,000 monthly pageviews or above, you can apply for Raptive. However, at least 50% of your traffic needs to come from either one of, or a combination of, the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. 

The 100,000 monthly pageviews threshold is also still there, which is how I applied. My traffic needed to be at least 40% from the above-mentioned countries. Given the nature of my blog and the destinations I cover, I naturally have a higher level of traffic from places outside of the Anglosphere. Denmark and Sweden are both quite high up on my monthly sessions, for example. Nonetheless, I did meet the threshold with a mixture of countries. 

As a useful side note: US traffic tends to have higher ad RPMs (revenue per mille, i.e. your earnings per 1,000 sessions/views). It’s definitely helpful if a bigger chunk of your traffic comes from there, but I don’t think you should obsess over the geography of your visitors. Creating high-quality content always comes first; once you do that, it’s easier to attract money regardless. 

How Has My Performance Been With Raptive Since I Joined?

The reason why I went full-time on my blog when I did was because I said that as soon as I’m accepted by Raptive, it’s time to stop making excuses. However, I won’t lie… it was a scary decision to do so at the time. 

Due to my notice period with my previous ad partner, I had to wait until July to run Raptive ads. In the 12 months from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, I generated $40,281 from Raptive ads on my site. Meanwhile, my overall median RPM was $30.64.

You can see from the screenshot above that I had a huge spike at the beginning. This was because one of my articles randomly went viral on Google Discover. Since then, it has fluctuated throughout the seasons but followed a consistent pattern.

I have to say that I’m pretty happy with this, given it was my first 12 months with Raptive and I was learning a lot about blog monetization in general.  

Some Important Nuance: My RPMs Fluctuate Depending on the Season

In my opinion, $30.64 is a very strong RPM for my blog. As I mentioned before, US traffic tends to have the highest RPMs. Only 26.28% of my site traffic came from the US during this time period, with the UK (13.85%) being the second-highest. Denmark, Sweden, and Germany rounded out my top five traffic sources by geography. 

Given that my US traffic isn’t particularly high, and I don’t really care where my audience comes from, it’s nice to know that advertisers clearly see my blog as a premium product. I do sometimes wonder whether I’m doing a good job, but things like this are nice reminders not to be so self-critical all the time. 😅

During this period, my highest-earning month with Raptive was $5,401 in June 2026. The lowest-earning month in that timeframe was $2,481 in January. 

I Should Also Say This: Raptive Is Not My Only Income Stream

Okay, so $40,000/yr in ad revenue is pretty nice, I think. It could afford a decent lifestyle in many countries around the world. However, I chose to live in Copenhagen—a notoriously expensive city. Therefore, I knew that I would have to build a robust business if I wanted to continue living here. In any sense, I think that having multiple income streams as a creator is a very good idea. 

In addition to ad revenue, I also generate a decent amount of money from affiliate marketing. I manage most of these through Travelpayouts, and I also work closely with Stay22 on my website. On top of those, I have some other affiliate partnerships. 

Now that I’ve found my feet and have learned a lot of useful skills, I’m also delving more into digital products. I already sell a few of these, and I’m working on more in due course. Raptive is a nice part of my ecosystem, but it’s not the only way that I make money. 

The Biggest Pros, in My Opinion, Are…

Since I’ve been through the basics of how I applied for Raptive and what my earnings have been like since joining, I’m now going to walk you through my top pros and cons. Firstly, I’ll talk about the biggest advantages I’ve had since becoming a Raptive partner site. 

1. Raptive’s Support Team Is Amazing

For me to partner with anyone long-term, I need them to provide support when needed. This was one of my biggest deal-breakers, and Raptive has passed this test with flying colors. 

Raptive’s support team is excellent, and they’re always helpful with explanations and giving me pointers. They also reply to my questions quickly, and when needed, they’ll point me to useful resources that I might want to read. 

Besides being helpful, I never feel like a burden when I ask questions. The team is super friendly and approachable. 

2. Setting Up Ads Is Very Easy

I already had experience setting up ads on my site, but I wanted a simple process. Even though I wanted to run them, I didn’t want to spend hours or days figuring out how to do everything. Luckily, this wasn’t necessary.

After being accepted into Raptive and finishing my notice period with the previous advertiser, it took me next to no time to get started. I had ads up and running the same day and started earning from them pretty much immediately. 

3. I Can Hand Over Total Control to Raptive for My Ads

While I do keep a close eye to ensure that everything looks good, I also did not want to manage my own ads entirely. I started my blog to create, so I’d rather hand off ad management to people who have a better idea of what they’re doing. 😄

4. … but at the Same Time, Raptive Listens to Me

There are, however, some areas where I do keep more control. Like I said, ads are nice if you balance them with your bigger business needs. I accept some suggestions, but I’ll turn down others that I don’t want to appear. 

I have also asked Raptive to block some advertisers from appearing on my site because I felt like the ads weren’t up to my standards. In these instances, the team has listened to and implemented my requests swiftly. 

I also feel comfortable keeping an open dialogue with the team, where we can both be honest with each other while staying respectful. Another advantage is that I can completely turn off ads for certain pages on my site if I want.

5. I Can Choose Which Categories I Allow on My Website

This one ties in with the above two points. Raptive lets you choose additional categories to turn on or off, besides the standard advertisements you see. Some of these categories are particularly sensitive, and I can choose what I do and don’t feel comfortable having on my site. 

I have turned off a lot of sensitive categories, which perhaps hurts my RPMs somewhat. But again, as I said, it’s about balance. Distasteful or excessive ads will harm my long-term earnings across the board, so I’d rather be a bit stricter than others. 

6. I’m Happy With My Earnings and RPMs

I mean… this is why I joined Raptive in the first place. 🤷🏾‍♂️

I had heard that Raptive’s RPMs are pretty good, and I have definitely found this to be true. I am overall happy with my RPMs and earnings, given my traffic numbers. I am also optimistic that these will continue to do well in the future. 

7. I Also Like How All of My Earnings and Traffic Analytics Are Within Raptive’s Interface

I really dislike having multiple dashboards to monitor, and I try to minimize these as much as possible. With Raptive, I can do precisely this without issues. 

Raptive shows me all of my traffic statistics, which it pulls from Google Analytics. I can easily see top-performing articles, bounce rates, and more. The only thing I really need to go to Google Analytics for is if I want to see average times on page. 

At the same time, I can also see my earnings on a day-by-day basis. If I want to see how traffic and revenue correlate, it’s very easy to do this with the analytics available to me, too. 

8. I Like Raptive’s New Design

Funnily enough, I probably would have put design in the drawbacks section if I wrote this article when I first joined Raptive. I’m a very stereotypical Enneagram 3, and I care a lot about aesthetics. I want my website to look good *and* be a useful resource. 

When I first joined Raptive, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the cookie banner. However, this has since been given a massive facelift. I also think the ads on my site look better now, and in my opinion, they complement my blog posts well without being too intrusive. 

I’m personally excited to see how this continues to develop in the future. I also like the challenge of making ads look good and not just be revenue-makers. 

9. I Can Add My Own Videos to Display on Raptive

I dabble a bit with video content, and I would like to do more of it in the future. At the moment, I mainly create short compilations. While I can upload these to YouTube, it’s also possible to monetize via Raptive. 

In my backend, I can upload my own short movies to appear on my site. If there aren’t video ads playing, it’s possible for these to run instead. Once I start creating longer-form YouTube content, I’ll likely still use Raptive’s videos for shorter clips. 

If you’re a food blogger, you will find this feature particularly helpful. It’s a great way to show off your work in a different way, and it also helps to make your website look more personalized. 

10. Raptive Has Lots of Exclusive Resources for Partners

I absolutely love travel blogging and content creation. This is the very definition of my dream job, and I’m always looking to learn more about how I can improve on what I do. I’m a big reader, and I like how Raptive has a comprehensive resource library for partner sites. 

With Raptive’s resources, I can learn about several different aspects. For example, I can figure out how to monetize better and get some pointers for creating more engaging articles. These weren’t the main reason I joined, but they are a nice bonus. 

11. I’ve Always Been Paid on Time

As much as I love creating content, being paid to do what you love is one of the best feelings in the world. Raptive has a net-45 payment structure, which is quite reasonable. Personally, I like this because it means I can plan my cash flow more effectively. 

I have always been paid on time, and in many cases, early. The only time I had to wait a few extra days was for a public holiday in Denmark, which was on my bank’s side rather than Raptive’s. 

Now that I say it, I guess that the main overarching reason I enjoy working with Raptive is that I don’t need to wait needlessly long for things. 😆

I Have Noticed Some Drawbacks, Though

Although I really enjoy being a Raptive partner site, there are always drawbacks to everything. Below are some of the not-so-great things I’ve noticed during my time running ads. 

1. Sometimes, Advertisers That I Block Will Appear on My Pages Again

This has been a minor annoyance that I’ve occasionally noticed, but there have been cases when advertisers I requested to be blocked would reappear. It usually happens in the first few days after the request is made. 

To be honest, though, the issue is almost always rectified before too long. It’s an issue that I now accept can happen, but I also know that the team will do what they can to stop the advertiser from running ads on my site in due course. 

2. An Earnings Forecast for Future Months Would be Nice to Include, IMO

In my dashboard, I can see projected search volume for some keywords. This can be quite helpful for setting my expectations right about my traffic and not always expecting summer numbers. 

One feature request that would be incredibly helpful, in my opinion, would be an earnings forecast. I personally would find this handy for getting an idea of how much revenue I can expect to generate in the month, based on previous data. 

3. The Brand Safety Articles Can Sometimes Have Nothing Wrong With Them When I Check

You’ll find a brand safety section in the dashboard on Raptive, and I generally try to keep my content family-friendly in all cases anyway. However, I will once or twice per year notice some articles appearing in this part of my dashboard with a risk level.

When I go into those guides, they usually don’t have anything wrong. The issue is generally fixed quickly, but it can sometimes still be irritating. 

4. If Your Content Isn’t in English, You May Find It Difficult to Join Raptive

Since 40-50% of your content needs to come from English-speaking countries (apart from Canada’s French-speaking regions, I guess), these thresholds will be difficult to reach if your content isn’t in English. For example, if you write in Finnish, you can probably expect most of your audience to come from Finland—along with Finns living abroad. 

Depending on the geography of your readers, Mediavine may be a better option if you mostly write in a language other than English. So, if you’re far off the requirements, I’d recommend checking them out instead. 

I wouldn’t write in English just to try and qualify for an ad network, though. You should only do it if you actually want to (I do it because my native language is English). Running a blog in your native language has other advantages, too, such as (often) less competition. 

How Far in Advance Do I Recommend Applying for Raptive?

Since my application was accepted within a few days, I recommend applying for Raptive when you’re on the verge of meeting the traffic thresholds. You can also afford to wait until you actually have done so. 

Am I Happy That I Partnered With Raptive?

As you probably guessed from this article, the answer is a resounding yes. I’m happy with my overall ad earnings from Raptive, and I also really enjoy cooperating with their team. They do a great job at operating everything in the backend, and they’re always willing to help when I need it. 

Raptive also offers me a number of extra resources that are particularly helpful, along with providing in-depth analytics that let me measure my content’s success. I can also use these statistics to come up with new ideas and see where I could potentially improve things. 

Despite some minor drawbacks, my experiences with Raptive have been overall very positive. If you’re thinking about signing up, and you meet the traffic requirements, I strongly recommend doing so. 

If you’re ready to apply for Raptive and start running ads on your blog, you can apply here.