In the past, ad networks worked kind of like a pyramid. All these individual publishers fell under one big ad network, and then they would add “waterfall” networks behind that first one. 

When you do that, each ad network - the big one and all the little ones in your waterfall — get the authority to list your site on the ad exchanges. Each at their own price. 

Let’s put it this way — if you went to the grocery store, and the exact same apple was 1.99, .99, and .39 based on which checkout lane you went through, wouldn’t you still go through the .39 lane, even if it had the longest line and took you longer to get in front of that checker? That’s exactly how your ads have been working. 

A lot of advertisers will choose to go for the lowest rate offered on a particular site’s inventory, even if it means they’re sitting in backfill. They’re still getting the audience they want, and at the cheapest price possible. 

Especially since they know there’s no way the higher-tiered networks are operating at 100% fill. (You can learn all about why 100% fill rate sucks here.)

If you are running multiple kinds of programmatic advertising on your website, you are giving advertisers a way to reach your readers in the .39 lane every time. 

By giving Mediavine exclusive access, we’re going to list your website one time on all the ad exchanges, at one price. We are not an ad network, and we do not operate in the same way. 

If advertisers want your premium demographic of traffic, they’ll have to pay that one price. And believe us, they will. Lifestyle blogs boast the kinds of audiences that advertisers clamor for. 

This means that each of your ad spaces is more valuable. Advertisers don't just need to meet our floor price to reach your readers. They also have to compete in an auction and pay a premium price. 

That means you can effectively run fewer ads (just 5 standard placements!) and make more money. 

We’ve been doing this on our own sites since 2015, and with more than 10,000 sites using Mediavine since then, it’s working spectacularly. 

So well, in fact, that we are not only partners with Google, but we are a Google Certified Publishing Partner.

There’s another, more technical reason for the exclusivity too. 

The deals we obtain via direct sales and other partnerships with super big advertisers are entirely prefaced on having exclusivity on any of the sites we bring to the party. 

We simply can’t include you, contractually, in those super high paying deals, without an agreement of exclusivity in place.