Early Estimates and the Earnings Snapshot

Early Estimates, under Analytics, gives you a first look at your revenue and traffic for today and yesterday. Today and yesterday have moved out of the Ad Management date picker and into Early Estimates, and Ad Management now shows finalized numbers only.

Your Home page also has a redesigned Earnings Snapshot card that brings today’s estimate, recent performance, and your latest payment into one view. Both are already in your dashboard; no setup needed.

What is Early Estimates?

Early Estimates shows your revenue for today and yesterday before the numbers are final.

To find it, go to Analytics and select the Early Estimates tab. You can also use the link under the date picker in the Ad Management tab.

When does it update?

Early Estimates updates three times a day, at about 8 AM, 2 PM, and 8 PM ET. Each update can arrive up to an hour late.

Each update adds more of today. The morning and afternoon updates also fill in yesterday. The panel shows how far into the day the estimate reaches (for example, “up to early morning”), so you know how much of the day you’re looking at.

Early Estimates isn’t real-time reporting. It’s an earlier read on your day, so you don’t have to wait for final numbers to see how things are going.

What metrics are included?

Early Estimates shows revenue, mRPM, mSessions, mPageviews, impressions, CPM, fill rate, impressions per mSession, and impressions per mPageview.

Metrics that start with “m” come from Mediavine’s own tracking, so they’re available as soon as the data reaches our systems and can show up in your next Early Estimates update. Standard RPM, sessions, and pageviews come from Google Analytics, which takes longer to report, so they aren’t included in Early Estimates. The “m” versions may differ somewhat from the Google Analytics numbers. Learn more about mRPM and monetized metrics.

Estimates vs. finalized numbers

An early estimate is built before all of the day’s data has arrived. Once everything comes in, that day’s numbers are finalized and moved to the Ad Management tab. Because they reflect complete data, finalized numbers can differ from the estimate.

Ad Management shows finalized data only, so every date range ends on the latest finalized day, which is two days ago. For example, on Wednesday, Ad Management shows finalized data through Monday. Monday’s earnings appear first, and sessions, pageviews, and RPM are added by about 9 AM ET on Wednesday.

Early Estimates never affect your payments. Payments are based on finalized revenue in Ad Management, calculated exactly as they always have been.

The Earnings Snapshot on your Home page

Each site now has an Earnings Snapshot card on the Home page. It shows three things: today’s estimated earnings so far, your recent performance, and your next or latest payment. If you have more than one site, use the arrows to move between them.

By default, Recent Performance shows revenue, RPM, sessions, and pageviews for yesterday, month to date, and last month. Today and yesterday on this card are estimates. Other date ranges use finalized numbers.

To change what Recent Performance shows, select the settings icon in that section. You can choose which metrics appear, pick from eight date ranges, and turn on a percent change comparison with previous periods.

The payment section shows submitted payments only. To see your full history, select View Payment History on the card.

Availability

Early Estimates is available for all Mediavine sites. Journey sites and mobile app sites aren’t included at this time. Journey sites use a separate reporting system that isn’t connected to Early Estimates. Recent Performance customization also isn’t available for Journey sites. If you have both Journey and Mediavine sites, today’s estimate appears in the Earnings Snapshot on your Mediavine sites only.

For Enterprise sites, estimates include Mediavine demand only, not AdX from your own Google Ad Manager (GAM) account, so they may run lower than your finalized numbers.

FAQ

Why did yesterday’s earings go up in the afternoon?
This is expected. Yesterday starts as an estimate based on Mediavine’s own tracking. With the afternoon update (around 2 PM ET), Google’s ad revenue numbers come in, which usually brings the total up. On the Home page, yesterday shows “Updating until early afternoon” until those numbers arrive. Even after that update, yesterday is still an estimate until the day is finalized in Ad Management.

My revenue looks low this morning. Is something wrong?
No. Today’s estimate builds through the day, so a morning check covers only the first part of the day. More is added in the afternoon and evening, and it keeps filling in the next day, once today becomes yesterday.

Why is my finalized number different from my early estimate?
The estimate is a first look, built before all of the day’s data is in. The finalized number reflects complete data, so the two can differ. The finalized number appears in Ad Management and is the number used for payments.

For questions about Early Estimates or your Earnings Snapshot, contact our Client Experience team at publishers@mediavine.com.