"Add the video player, double your RPM"

"Add the video player, double your RPM"

True on paper: video CPMs dwarf display, and dropping in a network's sticky player does lift page RPM noticeably.

The asterisk is what the player costs the rest of the page. Autoplay video is the single heaviest element most networks offer, and it competes with your display units for viewport and load priority.

🚩 Hidden variable: viewability cannibalization. The sticky video steals the screen real estate your top display unit needed to stay in-view. Video RPM up, display viewability down, and the net is often a wash the dashboard splits across two line items.

Compare total page revenue with the player vs without — not the video line item in isolation.

Not saying video units are bad — saying you can't judge them without subtracting what they took from display.