Google AdSense is by far, the largest contextual advertising network in the world. Knowing that there are tons of money to be made, many others tried to compete.
And apparently, also that many that competed deliberately failed. And Media.net is among them. Media.net had redesigned its interface, changed the look-and-feel of its Ad units, introduced an updated Dashboard, and even started providing a full-stack solution.
But things didn't turn out well.
As AdSense continues to rule the digital sphere, and remain the monetization platform by most people on the web and beyond, Media.net finally takes a few steps back, and indirectly announced its defeat.
Things began in mid-2021, when Media.net started sending emails to publishers regarding their partnership.
At that time, Media.net began announcing that it will no longer continue the partnership, and said that it was trying to see whether "we could find a path towards working together again."
"We have been working hard to deliver more yield for our partners by improving our demand partnerships as well as our tech," wrote Media.net.
In a later email, the company clarified that it can no longer monetize its partners' website.
But Media.net is not going to pull everything away. Instead, it is doing it slowly.
And that is first, stopping its partnership with publishers that have websites will less than 50 ad impression per day over the last 3 months, earn a revenue less than $100 a month, and have low traffic quality, as well as infrequent publishers activity on their Media.net account, and those who are unresponsive to Account Manager's emails.
Publishers who are included in these criteria, "qualifies as one that we will not be able to support going forward."
"However, If you feel that some of these criteria could be addressed, kindly reach out to us and we are happy to discuss," the company added.
And for those who really wish to remain as Media.net's partners, "we are making a one-time exception to lower the minimum payout threshold to $30."
"If you are unable to meet this lowered threshold of $30 by December 31, 2021 we are also offering to extend the deadline to February 28, 2022 for the final payout, giving publisher partners with less than $30 in accrued revenue time to hit the $30 mark."
Even with that, publishers who thinks they can reach to the $100 per month threshold using whatever means necessary, are given the chance to show their worth.
"If you have any other sites or additional placements that can result in your account getting to the $100/month threshold, we would be happy to discuss it and keep your account active. You also have the option to reapply to Media.net's publisher program in the future," said Media.net
Big publishers however, are unaffected by this change.
While Media.net is ditching some of its smaller publishers, bigger publishers whose websites earn more than $100 per month shall continue to be monetized.
Founded by Divyank Turakhia, Media.net was considered among the largest contextual advertising network.
While it works just like AdSense, it competes with the Google product by offering unique perks its competitor couldn't. This include customize support, as well as allowing publishers to directly reach the company's support team.
This is unlike Google, which tends to keep publishers away from having direct communication with its employees.
Media.net was acquired by Chinese consortium acquired Media.net for $900 million in 2016, in a deal that was said to be the third largest ad tech acquisition ever at the time.
It was so promising that once, Media.net was considered among the top alternatives for AdSense.
But because Google's influence in the industry is so massive, AdSense's reach that has gone way beyond websites and blogs to also encompass YouTube, is a player without an opponent.
With more publishers relying on AdSense, competing platforms like Media.net is seeing less and less advertisers willing to advertise using its platform.
And Media.net's decision to trim out some of its publishers, is its way to indirectly say that it yielded.