"Crank the ad density slider, earn more — simple"

"Crank the ad density slider, earn more — simple"

Granted: more ad slots usually does lift short-term page RPM. The dashboard number genuinely goes up.

The asterisk is which number. Density tuning trades session RPM for page RPM, and most people only watch page RPM because it's the bigger font.

🚩 Hidden variable: pages-per-session. Heavier ad load slows the page, tanks pogo-stick behavior, and shaves the second and third pageview off the visit. Page RPM +12%, sessions/visitor -9%, and the dashboard never shows the multiplication.

The honest comparison isn't density-high vs density-low on one pageview. It's total revenue per visitor across the whole session.

Not saying high density is bad — saying you can't compare the two settings while only looking at half the equation.