If you’re trying to figure out “how much does Adsterra pay?”, here’s the simple truth: payouts depend on your traffic, your niche, and the competition for your audience among advertisers. Some publishers earn a few thousand a month, some start with only $50. The spread is vast, and there’s no magic button. But there are clear patterns that show how publishers and advertisers become the greatest achievers. That’s what this guide explains.
Is Adsterra profitable? The industry proves so
Advertisers and publishers have named Adsterra the best advertising network, the best mobile ad network, and the best traffic source of 2025. This means you get higher‑quality traffic, faster scaling, better ROI, and higher earnings with safety and transparency. We’re happy to make your year profitable, and thankful for your votes.
Awards proving Adsterra is a profitable platform
- Two wins at uCompares Affiliate Awards 2025: Best Traffic Source and Best Ad Network of the Year.
- Shortlisted for People’s Choice and Best Ads Network.
- Nominated for Best Account Support at AdExchanger Awards 2025.
- Silver at Peak Awards by affLIFT, 2025.
- Win as the Best Mobile Advertising Network and Best Popunder/Clickunder Ad Network at the Affbank Awards 2025
Who and how earns with Adsterra: Main figures
45K+ publishers (+10K growth!) and 16K advertisers (+1K growth) have been making money with the advertising and monetization platform in 2025. Both our partner groups have succeeded in promoting 230K+ new campaigns.
| 45K publishers | 16K advertisers |
Top-earning publishers in 2025
- Social traffic
- Entertainment (incl. Anime, Sports, Lifestyle)
- Movies
- Downloads
- Streaming
- News
- Web Tools (incl. URL Shorteners, File Converters)
Most successful advertising campaigns
- iGaming & Sports
- VPN
- Utility
- Antivirus
- Mobile Subscriptions
- Browser Extensions / Addons
- Social/Dating
- E-commerce
- Sweepstakes
Record CTRs with traffic-to-offer matching
As more publishers opt for Social Bar ads, we see click-through rates soar across many verticals. Intelligent algorithms match offers with traffic, making user acquisition cost-efficient and eCPMs lucrative for both publishers and advertisers.
Average CTRs of Social Bar advertising:
- Utility — 33%
- Sweepstakes — 24%
- Mobile Subscriptions — 23%
- E-commerce — 22%
- Finance — 26%
Real examples: What publishers actually earn
These are real cases from a publisher’s community exposing how much Adsterra pays its partners.
Two creators from Pakistan built a movie trailer site. Low-competition niches, local keywords, and a long-term SEO traffic strategy allowed to hit $2,700 in monthly ad revenue. Such a nice start for money-makers!
$20,000 in passive income is an achievement Patel, an online entrepreneur, achieved this year. His approach to SEO and GEO generated stable revenue, while his site remained competitive in the AI search era. The Banner + Social Bar ads combo future-proved his success.
Social traffic has taken the lead this year, and Jeremiah, a blogger from Nigeria, used this opportunity to gain $9,000 with Adsterra Smartlink. How exactly? In his case study, he shares how to nurture 15 Facebook groups and drive traffic to Smartlinks, offering evergreen yet practical tips.
What shapes your profits with Adsterra
Traffic is the core of “how much does Adsterra pay,” but not just any traffic and any ad campaign.
Geo matters
Tier-1 countries usually pay (and cost) more. Tier-2 and Tier-3 can still earn well, but only if the traffic is clean and active. This year has revealed new country leaders in CPM rates: South Africa, Ghana, Mozambique, India, and China, among others, have witnessed several CPM peaks.
Most profitable countries for publishers:
- US – the United States
- ID – Indonesia
- IN – India
- BD – Bangladesh
- DE – Germany
- GB – the United Kingdom
- FR – France
- CA – Canada
- BR – Brazil
- TH – Thailand
- JP – Japan
- NG – Nigeria
- ZA – South Africa
- MX – Mexico
- PH – the Philippines
Vertical matters
Both advertisers and publishers witness higher profits when operating within these verticals: Utilities and VPNs, Sports, iGaming, Entertainment, Movies, and Mobile Content.
Ad placement matters
Popunders, Social Bar, Smartlinks, and native placements usually bring higher returns. But only if your approach is strategic. Publishers need to balance ad placement, viewability, and user experience, and advertisers should automatically unlink unprofitable sources to amp ROI (jump to CPA Goal section).
User behavior matters
If visitors bounce in two seconds, advertisers won’t bid much. If users stay, click, and buy — CPM and CPC go up. Here’s when Social Bar and Interstitial ads are the best cure. They’re resistant to ad fatigue, and when combined with classic Popunders, can double viewability and conversions.
As a publisher, you don’t need huge traffic to start earning. But to hit the five-figure level, you need both volume and quality.
Product updates: The influence on ROI and revenues (2025)
Over the past year, Adsterra rolled out an extensive series of updates. Some help publishers earn more while getting more relevant ads. Others made cost optimization easy for advertisers and affiliates.
Geo targeting at a deeper level
Advertisers can now target regions and cities, avoiding restricted areas (iGaming) and boosting ROAS in the preferred regions. Why does that matter to publishers? More precise campaigns = better bids on your traffic and fewer ads that your audience doesn’t engage with.
What else? Region and City Stats for advertisers! Detailed performance breakdowns help advertisers stick to locations that work. When advertisers waste less money, more budget goes to traffic that converts.
Bid recommendations for Smart CPM
Smart CPM, or the second-price auction tool, now shows recommended bids. Advertisers can see what payout brings the best results, so they’re more confident to bid higher. Higher bids → better CPM for publishers.
Upgraded cost optimization
Advertisers have been armed with a sharp automation tool for spend cuts, the updated CPA Goal algorithm. It can now apply two cost-optimization rules to CPM/CPC campaigns. This update helps advertisers remove low-converting, high-cost ad placements with greater precision.
Blacklisting and whitelisting made flawless
Advertisers can now turn placements on or off in seconds. This helps campaigns avoid weak spots, which keeps budgets flowing to sites that perform well. Group statistics by placement, and use the toggle in the State Column to switch off/on the placement. Or, check multiple placements and use the Bulk Actions option to remove/return them in one click.
What if several placements make the majority of your ROI? You can start a dedicated whitelist campaign with increased bids to make the most of these sources. On the Statistics page, group the data by Placement and select the needed placements. Click BULK ACTIONS and select the Duplicate Campaign with Whitelist option.
Expanded API: user acquisition transparency
Advertising API updates save hours of manual work. Advertisers create and manage Popunder campaigns with full spend transparency. Strategic campaign fixes are also made faster: adjust bids, targeting settings, spending limits, and even CPA Goal rules in seconds. Better reporting → smarter automation → more predictable media buying.
Quickly editable budgets
Advertisers can change daily spend right on the Statistics page. Group ad stats by Campaign and find the Daily budget column. Enter daily limits, and you’ll curb irrational expenses, especially during seasonal traffic spikes.
Bid adjustments in seconds – a new competitive edge
Advertisers now react more quickly and increase payouts when performance is strong. The good news for publishers, as well. If a placement keeps sending superb traffic (high CTR, conversions, ROI), bid higher without editing the whole campaign. Just put a filter by Campaign on the Statistics page, select the placement, and change the bid. The Bulk Actions option helps decrease and increase bids for multiple placements.
Contributions to the adtech community
To make the story complete, here are the biggest moments from the company — the human side behind the platform you work with.
Thought leadership
- Mikhail Zhukov hosted workshops at AW Europe and joined a SiGMA Europe panel on ad formats.
- Gala Grigoreva and Sofia Popovidou spoke at I-Con’s Women in Tech panel.
- Gala Grigoreva defined key trends for AI in digital marketing at the 03 episode of the Island Conference Podcast.
- Our PR guru Olie teamed up with Faruk Aydin, the Chief Revenue Officer at Revpanda and Managing Director at Ace Alliance, to discuss non-buzzword trends in iGaming in the 3rd episode of the iGaming podcast.
- Gala Grigoreva took the stage as one of the panelists at SiGMA Africa, discussing core changes in offline and online marketing across African countries.
Corporate social responsibility
- Cleanup events in Limassol: we take care of our homeland the way we care about our partners’ growth and success.
- Direct donation to the Cyprus wildfire victims and tree-planting to restore the burnt areas and see them flourish again.
- Continued sponsorship of AEL women’s basketball.
- Sponsorship of the Youth Tech Fest Cyprus 2026.
Meaningful branding
Adsterra released its first merchandise collection for 2025 (big news: we’ve released the 2026 collection). We’re so happy our partners found the style resonating with their vibe. The swag shop’s popularity proves Adsterra is not just a platform behind a login screen, but thousands of achievers who grow businesses in these turbulent times. Grow big, grow fancy, but stay close to your essence!
Adtech industry recognition
Adsterra’s CMO, Gala Grigoreva, has been honored with the 2025 Women’s Tabloid Award as CMO of the Year in Strategic Marketing Excellence – Ad Tech.
Gala’s leadership is being recognized for the significant impact she has had, not only within Adsterra but throughout the global adtech industry. She’s one of the brightest advocates for digital inclusivity, growth strategy, and purpose-driven leadership.
In her interview with Women’s Tabloid, Gala shares the secret sauce of the Adsterra Partner Care approach: we build an ecosystem, not a sales funnel. Adsterra has evolved from an ad network to a performance marketing and monetization platform where profit is predictable for both advertisers and publishers.
User acquisition tools on Adsterra will continue transforming for smart optimization, better tracking, faster campaign results, and higher transparency:
- Improvements in the core engine (the system that matches offers with traffic): updated CPA logic and advanced ML prediction algorithms.
- Tracking precision with multi-level user signals: we help advertisers pay for what they need exactly.
- Automation and faster start on the platform: everything from activation clues and onboarding assets to new payment flows for our partners.
So… How much does Adsterra pay?
There’s no single number or limit. Some earn $30K a month, some make $50. But if your traffic is clean, comes from GEOs with demand, and matches the right niche, you can make serious money. And with the new platform updates, advertisers are spending more confidently than before, which helps publishers get better rates.