How many ads per page earn the most?
Problem
- Every extra ad earns a little more per page, but it also makes readers leave sooner - so all your ads are seen on fewer pages.
- Most site owners add ads until the site feels cluttered, without knowing where the earnings actually stop rising.
Solution
- Read your visits and pages per visit off your WebCounter report, and count the ads on a typical page.
- Put them into the free calculator below and it shows what more ads earn, what they cost in page views and the number that earns the most.
Key points
- From 3 to 5 ads a page earns about R150 a month more on 10,000 visits - R1,286 becomes R1,435.
- The same change costs 19% of your page views - 16,000 a month becomes 12,960.
- Past 5 ads earnings fall again at a 10% page view loss per ad - you lose money and readers.
- If each ad drives away 20% of page views, 3 ads is already the peak - every ad more costs money.
- The page view loss per ad is the number to measure - it decides everything, and only your counter knows it.
In what bounce rate costs we priced the readers who leave after one page. Ads are one of the things that make them leave. This post weighs what one more ad earns against the readers it chases away - and finds where the two cancel out.
Why more ads stop paying
Two things work against each extra ad. It earns less than the one above it, and it makes every page a little worse to read.
- Lower slots earn less. An ad further down the page is seen by fewer readers; the calculator's default has each slot earning 80% of the one above - an estimate.
- Every ad costs readers. Clutter and slower pages make people read fewer pages; the default is 10% fewer page views per extra ad - also an estimate.
- The page views lost carry all your other ads with them, which is why the total eventually falls.
- The defaults are set to a realistic page RPM. 3 ads at $2, $1.60 and $1.28 make about $5 per 1,000 page views - the midpoint for travel, food and home (Aditude, 23 July 2025).
Find the number of ads that earns the most
Type your visits a month, pages per visit, ads per page now, what the first ad earns, how much each further ad earns and how many page views each extra ad costs. The calculator shows the earnings and page views at the number you are thinking of, and charts every count from 1 to 10.
Prefer a full page? Open the ad density vs bounce calculator on CalcSA. For what readers who leave cost on their own, the bounce rate calculator prices them.
Worked example: the calculator's defaults
A site with 10,000 visits a month at 1.6 pages a visit, running 3 ads a page today. The first ad earns $2 per 1,000 page views, each further ad 80% of the one above, and every ad added costs 10% of page views. Dollar earnings are converted at the European Central Bank reference rate the calculator stores (14 October 2026: $1 = R16.47).
- Today, 3 ads earn about R1,286 a month ($78.08) on 16,000 page views.
- At 5 ads they earn about R1,435 ($87.13) - R149 more a month.
- Page views fall to 12,960 - 19% fewer pages read.
- 5 ads is the peak: 6 ads earn R1,417 and 8 earn R1,295, less than today.
The page view loss per ad changes the answer completely, same defaults otherwise:
- 5% lost per ad: the peak moves to 8 ads, about R1,697 a month - your readers tolerate ads.
- 20% lost per ad: the peak is the 3 ads you already have - 5 ads would earn R1,134, R152 less.
Estimates. The 10,000 visits, 1.6 pages a visit, $2 first slot, 80% slot share and 10% page view loss are assumptions, as in the calculator. The live calculator uses the latest ECB rate, so its rand numbers may differ slightly from these.
Earnings by ads per page, by how many readers leave
Same site, monthly ad earnings at each number of ads, for a 5%, 10% and 20% page view loss per extra ad:
- 5% lost per ad
- 10% lost per ad
- 20% lost per ad
Show the numbers as a table
| Ads per page | 5% lost | 10% lost | 20% lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R584 | R651 | R823 |
| 3 | R1,286 | R1,286 | R1,286 |
| 5 | R1,599 | R1,435 | R1,134 |
| 7 | R1,696 | R1,366 | R853 |
| 10 | R1,643 | R1,125 | R493 |
- All three lines meet at 3 ads - that is today, measured; everything else is a forecast.
- Every line rises, peaks and falls - the only question is where your peak sits.
- The chart hides a second cost: readers who leave also come back less, so the real peak sits a little left of the one shown.
Reading your counter for this
Your WebCounter counter measures the one number this whole sum depends on. No counter yet? Get your free WebCounter counter - it takes a minute and costs nothing.
- Pages per visit is page views divided by unique visitors on your WebCounter report.
- Add one ad and wait 30 days, then compare pages per visit with the 30 days before - the drop is your loss per ad.
- Test on your busiest pages first - the pages report shows which carry the readers, and they give an answer fastest.
- Watch returning visitors too: if they fall after the change, the ad costs more than this calculator shows.
Sources
- Aditude, "RPM for Publishers" (23 July 2025) - $5 page RPM midpoint for travel, food and home. Not re-checked at the original on 18 October 2026; as cited in the CalcSA calculator.
- European Central Bank euro reference rates, 14 October 2026 (stored copy in the calculator) - $1 = R16.47.
- The 80% slot share and the 10% page view loss per ad are our estimates - no published benchmark was found that holds across sites.
- Calculator: CalcSA, Ad density vs bounce.
Estimates only. How readers react to ads depends on the ad formats, where they sit and how fast the page stays; your own counter is the test.
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