One of the questions I get most often from publishers who approach us is some version of: “What do you need from us to get started?” It is a reasonable question, and the honest answer is that it depends - but there are things we look at consistently, and most publishers benefit from knowing what those things are before we have the initial conversation.

This is not a set of hoops designed to exclude people. It is a practical list of the things that determine whether we can find suitable advertising for a given site, and at what CPM. Some publishers are ready to go immediately. Others need to make some adjustments first. Knowing which category you fall into before we speak saves time on both sides.

Traffic and geography

We work primarily with publishers whose audiences are concentrated in the US, UK, and EU. These are the markets where the advertisers we work with have budget, and they are the markets where CPMs are high enough to make the economics work for everyone.

Total traffic volume matters less than geographic concentration. A publisher with 150,000 monthly visitors who are 75% US-based is significantly more useful to us than a publisher with 600,000 monthly visitors spread across markets where our advertiser demand is limited. We look at your analytics - specifically at the geographic breakdown, traffic sources, and engagement metrics - before we discuss anything else.

The minimum traffic level we usually work with is around 80,000 to 100,000 monthly sessions from target markets. Below that, the CPM opportunity exists but the economics of managing the relationship do not make sense for either party.

Content category and compliance posture

We work with a wider range of content categories than the major ad networks will accept. That is partly the point of what we do. But we still need to understand your content and ensure there are no material issues that would make it difficult to place advertising responsibly.

The categories that are genuinely off the table for us are adult content and gambling. Not because of squeamishness - because the regulatory and advertiser landscape around those categories requires specialist expertise that we do not have and do not claim to have.

Most other content categories are workable, including ones that the major networks will not touch: legal information, political commentary, satire, certain health and lifestyle subjects, copyright-adjacent content. Each of these has some complexity, and we will talk through that complexity as part of the onboarding process. The key question is whether the content is produced responsibly and whether there is a plausible audience for relevant advertising.

Consent management

This is where a significant number of publishers run into problems. If you have a UK or EU audience, you need a properly configured consent management platform that meets current ICO and GDPR requirements. Not a cookie banner that defaults to acceptance. Not a “we use cookies, by continuing you consent” notice. A genuine, functioning CMP with properly communicated opt-in for any advertising that requires it.

The good news is that we can help you get there if you are not there already. The bad news is that if you do not have basic consent infrastructure in place, we cannot place advertising that requires consent until you do, and that limits what we can offer in the interim.

We check your existing consent setup as part of the onboarding process and flag any issues that need resolving. Most publishers are surprised by how much is wrong. This is not a criticism - it reflects how confusing the consent landscape has been, and continues to be.

Ad experience

Advertising performance is partly about what you are showing and partly about where and how you are showing it. We look at your existing ad placement setup, page load performance, and whether your current layout creates conditions for reasonable click-through rates.

Pages that load in over four seconds on mobile, or that have ad placements positioned in ways that generate accidental clicks rather than intentional engagement, tend to perform poorly and create problems with advertiser reporting. These are fixable issues, and we will tell you exactly what needs to change.

We are also interested in whether you have video ad capability. Video CPMs are significantly higher than display in most categories, and publishers who can offer pre-roll or outstream video positions are typically able to earn materially more per session than those who cannot.

The conversation

If you have read through the above and feel broadly confident that your site is in reasonable shape, the next step is a direct conversation. We go through your analytics together, I ask questions about your content and your audience, and we work out relatively quickly whether there is a fit and what the opportunity looks like.

If there are things that need addressing first, we will tell you specifically what they are. We are not trying to generate a list of requirements to put you off - we would rather spend the time helping you get ready than turn you away.