Porn is equal parts business and pleasure. For porn sites, most of the former comes down to their monetization — and successful ones (Pornhub, XVideos, etc.) use the best adult ad networks out there.
But what makes a good ad network, and why would you need one in the first place? To help you learn all that, this guide will cover:
- What is an adult ad network?
- Why do you need an adult ad network?
- Our criteria for ranking the best adult ad networks
- Our top 5 best adult ad networks
- Our honorable mentions
What Is an Adult Ad Network?
Being mostly (or completely) free, porn sites get the majority of their money via ads. And since they receive more traffic than Lana Rhoades’ butthole, modest per-click numbers often pile up into thousands of dollars.
Well, an ad network is an intermediary between porn sites (publishers) and those who buy ad space (advertisers). As such, they automate porn sites’ monetization; generally for a cut of the profits.
While getting one of the best adult ad networks (or any ad network) isn’t necessary, you’ll probably want to do it. Let’s take a look at why.
Why Do You Need an Adult Ad Network?
In an ideal world, you could just hop on Google AdSense and monetize your porn site without any hassle.
However, reality isn’t so kind to adult sites — Google blocks them from most, if not all, advertisers. And other mainstream options, such as Microsoft Advertising, likewise aren’t giving them a great time.
Admittedly, nothing’s stopping you from reaching out to advertisers on your own. In fact, this approach would let you negotiate some great deals, cut out the middleman, and earn more per ad.
However, there’s a reason that most (if not all) major porn sites use networks. Personally arranging each ad can and will get exhausting, especially as your business grows and you take on additional responsibilities.
That is why direct outreach is only really an option when you’ve just started your porn site. Otherwise, you’ll likely find that streamlining your monetization process is better than losing time over a handful of dollars.
As if that wasn’t enough, the best adult ad networks offer the same — or better — customization than their family-friendly counterparts.
For instance, if your site focuses on a specific niche, you can set preferences for advertisers that fit that niche. Similarly, you can display those ads as banners, pop-ups, etc., depending on what the ad network offers.
Our Criteria For Ranking The Best Adult Ad Networks
Finding the right adult ad network is a lot like finding the ideal partner. Of course, not everyone considers the same qualities equally hot, but our top choices will typically give you a better ride than anything you can find out in the wild.
We’ve made the list minding the following criteria:
- Ad format variety — the ad types that the network offers
- Payout options — the payment options (and frequency) that the network supports
- CPM — the amount that the network pays per 1,000 views (although this varies on a number of factors)
- Safety and security — whether the network had data breaches or hacking incidents in the past
- Network size — the network’s popularity with advertisers and publishers, i.e. its ability to sell out your ad spaces consistently
- Support quality — the effectiveness of the network’s support service
- Available metrics, analytics, and reports — the insights that the network gives into its performance
- Ad blocker countermeasures — the network’s ability to deliver ads to visitors with installed ad blockers
- Ease of use — how convenient the network’s interface is in practice
To spare you from having to research all those pesky little details, we’ve put together a list of our top five adult ad networks.
What Are the Best Adult Ad Networks Right Now?
These days, adult-friendly ad networks are as common as D cups on a porn site. Picking the right one can get hard (pun intended), given that they tend to look pretty decent at first glance.
However, it’s the minor details that make the difference between a few moans and a toe-curling orgasm. And if you want your work to be a steady series of climaxes, you’ll pay attention to them.
ClickAdilla
Founded in 2017, ClickAdilla has become one of the biggest adult advertising networks around. They offer various ad options, including the sexy native ad format, which makes ads blend in by disguising them as regular website content.
They offer web push ads, banners, pop-unders, in-app ads, full-page interstitials, in-page push ads, native ads, gallery ads, direct links, notification widgets, and in-stream ads. With all these bad boys, you’ll be guaranteed to find exactly what you need.
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JuicyAds
JuicyAds call themselves the sexy ad network. If you find making money hot, you’ll probably agree.
With us since 2006, the network originally only covered the founder’s personal needs before opening its services to everyone. They take a 25% cut from all ad earnings, but anyone can join for free.
The platform supports banners, pop-unders, native ads, and navigation tab ads. All in all, this is a decent selection, especially compared to some competitors.
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CrakRevenue
Since its founding in 2011, CrakRevenue has grown by 2,000%, ran 2,200+ campaigns, and received 20+ industry awards. If all that doesn’t give you a half-chub or get you wet, nothing will.
In addition, CrakRevenue provides generous payouts; their rates go up to 30% CPM and 5% referral commissions for lifetime partners.
When it comes to ad types, they support smartlinks, banner ads, pop-unders, back offers, direct links, embedded games, video pre-roll ads, HTML ads, their own live cam widget, and more.
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ExoClick
ExoClick has come a long way from its founding back in 2006. Today, it is one of the biggest and best adult ad networks in the biz with over 65,000 publishers — talk about a grower!
While they’re undoubtedly a great option, they can get a bit shaky in the transparency department. Namely, the network’s rates vary based on where you’re from and the traffic you generate.
ExoClick lets you use banners, pop-unders, push, native, video, email, direct, interstitial, and IM ads. Most of these include sub-options; for example, banners come in two versions: fixed position and sticky banners.
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Adsterra
Started back in 2013, Adsterra is a great choice even if you’re not operating in the adult industry.
To put things in perspective, some clients who can use Google AdSense prefer Adsterra due to its many perks. These include top-tier support, a (mostly) low payout threshold, varied payout options, looser terms of service, and more.
Their ad selection is decent, if nothing to write home about: they support banners, pop-unders, interstitial, native, and video ads.
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Honorable Mentions
While the aforementioned 5 are the best adult ad networks right now, that doesn’t make them the only worthwhile options. After all, variety is the spice of life, and here are 3 alternatives that will spice up yours.
They may not be as stacked as our top 5 picks, but they’re still miles ahead of the competition.
PropellerAds
Established in 2011, PropellerAds has nothing to do with the helicopter sex move. Instead, they’re all about a unique gimmick where an AI pairs up advertisers and publishers on the basis of relevance.
And if the idea of AI tech makes you go soft, perhaps their low ($5) payment threshold will fix that.
As far as ad types are concerned, PropellerAds offers pop-unders, push-ups, banners, native, direct, and interstitial ads. All in all, their selection isn’t massive, but it’s certainly respectable.
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PopAds
As another member of the founded in 2011 club, PopAds stands out with its focus on pop-ups and pop-unders. While this means that they’re not for everyone, what they do have is definitely first-class.
Despite their specialization, they also offer tab-ups and tab-unders. If this limited selection works for you, you’ll get a lot of mileage from PopAds.
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TrafficJunky
TrafficJunky favors advertisers, but that doesn’t mean that you should dismiss them as a publisher. Think about it this way: the more advertisers they attract, the higher and more variable their earning potential gets!
Surprisingly, they don’t provide much in terms of ad variety. Namely, they only offer banners, greatly limiting your freedom with implementing them.
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Conclusion
When it comes to porn site monetization, ad networks are the equivalent of lube. Namely, they make everything smoother, easier, and more enjoyable — for a price.
Yes, they’re not entirely free, but they’ll leave you with more time to focus on other matters. You could use it to make content, negotiate with porn stars, or simply promote your website to get more thirsty eyes on it.
Finally, we’ll leave you with some parting advice: use your ads in a non-intrusive way. The better you integrate them with your site, the more likely users will be to click on them.
People won’t appreciate being buried in promotion, even if you’re working with one of the best adult ad networks ever. With great traffic comes great responsibility, and clever ad placement can make the difference between one and one thousand clicks!
