Case: 30s ad refresh, active-tab only, on a forum

Case: 30s ad refresh, active-tab only, on a forum

What it did: refreshed the sticky sidebar + one in-thread unit every 30s, but ONLY when tab was visible and mouse moved in last 30s.

— Setup effort: 3/5 (visibility + activity gating, refresh cap of 4)
— RPM lift seen: session RPM up from $6.10 to $8.45 (+38.5%) on threads with 4min+ dwell
— Net ad requests +2.1x, but viewable rate held at 71% because of activity gating

Pros: forum dwell time was being wasted; refresh monetized it cleanly.
Cons: blind 30s refresh (no activity check) in an earlier test tanked viewability to 44% and AdX throttled us. The gating is non-negotiable.

Lift: ★★★★☆ — Risk: ★★★☆☆
Verdict: ship it with activity gating + a 4-refresh cap. Best for: forums, dashboards, long reads. Skip if avg dwell is under 90s.