Through Shine PSAs, Mediavine gives publishers the opportunity to put otherwise unfilled inventory to work, supporting nonprofit organizations that make a real difference in communities around the world. Rather than leaving ad impressions unfilled, Shine PSAs deliver public service announcements that help trusted organizations raise awareness, connect with new audiences, and amplify causes that matter.

It’s a simple concept with meaningful impact: when an ad can’t or shouldn’t be monetized, it can still do good. This summer, our ongoing partnership with No Kid Hungry helps turn those impressions into action by connecting families with resources to find meals for their children when they need them most.

Why Summer Break Can Mean Food Insecurity

For many children, school is more than a place to learn; it’s where they receive dependable, nutritious meals each day. 

When summer arrives and school cafeterias close, that support can disappear almost overnight. Millions of families suddenly face the challenge of replacing breakfast and lunch while balancing already stretched household budgets.

That’s where No Kid Hungry steps in.

Their Summer Meals initiative helps families locate free meal sites, access summer grocery benefits, and connect with community programs that ensure children continue receiving the nutrition they need throughout the break. Whether through neighborhood meal sites, grab-and-go options, or rural meal distribution, these latest efforts could help as many as 31 million children in the United States. No Kid Hungry’s ongoing programs work to make healthy meals available wherever families need them most. 

Amplifying a Mission That Matters

Awareness is often one of the biggest barriers to accessing available resources.

Families may not know that free summer meal programs exist in their communities or aren’t sure where to find them. By serving No Kid Hungry public service announcements through Shine PSAs, publishers help those messages reach more parents and caregivers at exactly the right time.

Each donated impression becomes another opportunity for someone to discover resources that can make a meaningful difference during the summer months.

No Kid Hungry has felt that impact directly. As Allison Ruta, Senior Manager of National Consumer Media & Champion Engagement for the No Kid Hungry campaign, put it: “Awareness is one of the biggest barriers in our work to end hunger, so we’re so grateful for the support and visibility from Mediavine and your incredible network who are helping us make a difference.”

The Opportunity Behind Unfilled Inventory

Because no advertising platform fills every available impression, Shine PSAs put that space to work for good.

Every ad opportunity is evaluated against advertiser targeting, available campaign budgets, user consent settings, geography, brand suitability, and real-time demand. When there isn’t a qualifying advertiser for a particular impression, that inventory intentionally goes unfilled to maintain the highest quality of monetization.

This is exactly the opportunity Shine PSAs were built to address.

Instead of displaying an empty space, eligible unfilled inventory can be used to serve public service announcements from trusted nonprofit organizations, like No Kid Hungry. Because these impressions wouldn’t have been monetized otherwise, publishers can support important causes without replacing paid advertising opportunities.

It’s an effortless way to make every impression count, even when it isn’t an eligible monetizable ad.

Making an Impact Beyond Advertising

At Mediavine, we’re always focused on helping publishers maximize the value of their inventory. Sometimes that value is measured in revenue. Other times, it’s measured in impact.

Shine PSAs make it possible to use eligible unfilled impressions to support nonprofit organizations tackling some of today’s most important challenges. Over the past few years, publishers have helped amplify campaigns focused on environmental stewardship, disaster relief, inclusion and more. Through our partnership with No Kid Hungry, those same impressions are helping to shine a light on childhood hunger during one of the most challenging seasons of the year.

Ready to join the Mediavine publishers making a difference? Follow these quick steps to start running Shine PSA campaigns:

• Go to Settings in your Mediavine Dashboard
• Open the Shine section
• Enable No Kid Hungry or any additional nonprofit partners you’d like to support

Thank You to Our Publisher Community

Shine PSAs are only possible through the partnership of our participating publishers.

By donating eligible unfilled impressions, you’re helping trusted nonprofit organizations reach new audiences, raise awareness and connect people with life-changing resources. This summer, those impressions are helping No Kid Hungry ensure more families know where to find free meals for their children while school is out.

Thank you for helping make every eligible impression count.

If Q2 felt like a steady climb, Q3 will look a bit different. Rather than building momentum evenly across all three months, the quarter unfolds in two phases: a quieter start followed by a much stronger finish. Looking at July alone won’t tell the full story, Q3’s momentum is expected to build significantly as the quarter progresses.

The forces driving that shift aren’t new. They’re budget planning cycles and end-of-quarter spending behavior, the same ones that have shaped every quarter in this series so far. What’s different in Q3 is a variable the first half of the year didn’t have to deal with: summer.

Here’s what that actually looks like, and how to plan around it.

Early Q3 (July): Budgets Are Fresh, Spending Is Cautious

The first few days of July often carry some residual strength from July 4th spend, then pull back once advertisers return and begin pacing fresh Q3 budgets. That early swing makes July one of the more unpredictable stretches of the quarter, and a poor benchmark for what the rest of Q3 will look like.

The quarterly reset starts after the holiday. By the time advertisers are back from the long weekend, they’ve just come out of Q2’s execution phase, and Q3 budgets are brand new. As always happens at the start of a quarter, spending starts cautiously. Teams are pacing campaigns, testing what’s working, and holding off on aggressive bids until they have more signal.

That means the back half of July is often the softest stretch of the quarter.

Late June and late July are measuring two completely different moments in the advertising cycle. One is end-of-quarter, when budgets are racing to close while the other is the beginning of a new one, when spend is just finding its footing. Comparing the two isn’t an apples-to-apples read on your performance.

Summer Introduces Real Variability

Q1 and Q2 both follow a fairly predictable rhythm. Q3 doesn’t, and that’s by design, not by accident.

Summer demand behaves differently than the rest of the year because travel picks up, outdoor and lifestyle content sees more attention, and retail moments can inject demand into the market with little warning.

That variability cuts in different directions depending on your niche. A travel or outdoor site might see a real lift in July that a different vertical doesn’t. There’s no single rule that applies evenly across every content category this quarter, which is exactly what makes Q3 harder to predict than Q1 or Q2.

You can’t run the same fixed strategy all quarter and expect it to work equally well in July as it does in September because Q3 requires you to adjust as you go.

Mid-Q3 (August): The Bridge Into Stronger Demand

August is where Q3 starts to turn. Back-to-school campaigns typically begin ramping in late July and build through August, and that spend has real momentum behind it. Unlike the cautious, wait-and-see budgets driving early July, back-to-school budgets come with a hard deadline: the school year starts whether a campaign is ready or not.

That urgency shows up in demand. For publishers in family, education, retail, and lifestyle-adjacent niches especially, August tends to outperform July, and it sets the stage for the stronger push still to come in September.

Even outside those niches, August is worth watching. It’s the bridge between July’s quiet start and September’s close, and it’s usually the first clear signal of which direction the rest of the quarter is heading.

Political Ad Spend Is a Second Demand Driver

Back-to-school isn’t the only added force pushing demand higher this quarter. Midterm election spending adds a second, and unlike back-to-school, it doesn’t wrap up when the school year starts.

Political ad spend is absorbing a growing share of linear and CTV inventory. Advertisers who can’t reach their audiences efficiently through those channels are moving budget into display and online video instead. That pressure builds through August and September and peaks in October, meaning it carries this lift past Q3 and into the start of Q4.

For publishers, that’s demand shifting in your favor. More competition for the same display and video inventory usually means better rates, though the timelines are tighter and buying behavior looks less predictable than a typical cycle.

End-of-Quarter Budgets Drive the September Push

Two forces are now stacked on top of each other heading into September. Election-driven demand is still building and the same end-of-quarter budget mechanic that made late June the strongest part of Q2. As Q3 winds down, unused budget becomes a problem advertisers actively want to solve. Spending accelerates in the final weeks of the quarter as teams push to use what they’ve allocated before it’s gone.

That means late September tends to meaningfully outperform late July.

If you’re comparing performance across the quarter, measure against the pattern. A slow start and a strong close are actually the same story, just at different points in the three-month arc.

How Publishers Can Stay Ahead of Q3 Trends

A few practical ways to work with this pattern instead of reacting to it:

• Hold your best summer content strategically. If you have strong travel, outdoor, or seasonal lifestyle content, plan for it to carry weight through the whole quarter, not just the first few weeks.
• Set realistic expectations for late July. A soft stretch after the July 4th bump is normal, not a warning sign.
• Watch for the back-to-school ramp in August. If your content touches family, education, or retail, this is often the first real sign of momentum building toward September.
• Watch for one-off demand spikes. Major retail or platform events can move the market on short notice, on top of the broader seasonal pattern.
• Keep late-September performance in perspective. It’s typically the strongest stretch of the quarter, not an outlier.

Q3 in the Context of the Advertising Year

Every quarter plays a different role in the annual cycle:

• Q1 resets budgets and strategies
• Q2 stabilizes the market and builds momentum
• Q3 introduces more variability around summer demand, building through August before the strongest activity concentrates late in the quarter
• Q4 delivers peak competition

The calendar changes every year. The behavior behind it largely doesn’t.

If you’re curious about the mechanics behind all of this, our guide on why eCPMs rise and fall throughout the year breaks down the underlying framework in more detail, and our look at the Q2 pattern covers what happens right before Q3 begins.

And if you’re evaluating whether your current ad setup is capturing this seasonal lift the way it should, Q3 is also the ideal window to make a change before Q4 arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does July feel slower than June? The very start of July often holds up thanks to July 4th spend, but the slowdown sets in once advertisers are back from the holiday and working with fresh, cautiously-paced Q3 budgets. This is the same pattern that shows up at the start of every quarter, not a sign of a problem with your site.

Is a Q3 dip normal? Yes. A softer late July is consistent with the seasonal pattern publishers see every year. What matters more than any single week is how performance trends across the full quarter.

Does August perform better than July? For many publishers, yes. Back-to-school campaigns typically start ramping in late July and build through August, giving demand a real lift ahead of the September push. Publishers in family, education, and retail-adjacent niches tend to see this most clearly.

When in Q3 should I expect the strongest performance? Late September typically outperforms the rest of the quarter, driven by advertisers spending down unused budget before the quarter closes.

Note: This piece follows the seasonality series’ standard disclaimer. Past performance can’t guarantee future results, and broader economic or market conditions can shift the pattern’s timing or intensity in a given year.

One of the world’s largest advertising platforms has changed how advertisers evaluate and buy publisher inventory and it could directly impact your revenue.

In Q2’s Kokai release, The Trade Desk began integrating Sincera‘s site-quality data directly into its buying methodology. This means advertisers using The Trade Desk can now automatically assess, filter and bid on inventory based on three key quality signals from your site: ads-to-content ratio, ads in view, and ad refresh rate.

Let’s break that down. These signals measure how much of your page is ads, whether those ads are actually visible to visitors, and how often they reload. Advertisers used to need extra steps to check this. Now it’s automatic, built directly into the tool they already use to decide where to spend.

This update is already influencing buying decisions across the open programmatic marketplace. Understanding these signals and optimizing for them is becoming increasingly important for publishers looking to maximize demand and revenue.

The three things they’re now measuring

How many ads are on your page compared to your content. 

Think of it like a ratio. If your page is 80% ads and 20% content, that’s a problem. Advertisers see that as a low-quality environment and are now empowered to avoid it automatically. A cleaner page with more content and fewer ads actually performs better with premium buyers. The optimal range is between 14-25%.

How many ads are visible on screen at the same time. 

This one surprises people. More ads visible at once isn’t a good thing. It signals a cluttered, overwhelming experience. Premium advertisers don’t want their brand showing up on a page that looks like a banner farm. They’re now measuring for it. The optimal range is 3 or fewer ads visible at once.

How fast your ads are cycling. 

Ad refresh rate is how frequently the ads on your page swap out for new ones. High refresh rates inflate the number of impressions your site generates, but each individual impression is worth less because it was on screen for a fraction of a second. Advertisers have always disliked high refresh rates. Now they can automatically penalize for them. The limit is 30 seconds, with optimal ranges between 45-120 seconds.

What this actually means for your earnings

When advertisers can filter by these signals, the money moves. Publishers who score well on all three attract more demand, and more competition for your ad space means higher earnings per page view. The advertisers most likely to filter on quality are also the ones with the biggest budgets. Performing well on these signals doesn’t just protect what you’re already earning. It positions your site for the premium demand that pays the most.

And this is just one update from one platform. The direction the industry is moving is clear. Ad quality signals are becoming a standard part of how programmatic buying works. More DSPs will follow.

Where Mediavine publishers stand

If you’re part of the Mediavine network, you’re already well positioned for these changes. Our platform is built around the same quality signals advertisers increasingly value, including balanced ad-to-content ratios, strong viewability and controlled ad refresh rates.

Mediavine’s Optimized Ad Experience (OAE) takes this a step further. As platforms like The Trade Desk continue using quality signals to evaluate inventory, OAE automatically keeps your site within preferred thresholds, helping maximize advertiser demand while delivering a better experience for your readers.

The result is fewer ads, higher viewability, improved ad-to-content ratios, and stronger long-term revenue potential, all without requiring ongoing manual optimization.

Q4 is the highest-earning quarter in digital advertising. Advertiser budgets peak, demand goes up, and CPM spikes significantly. The publishers who earn the most in Q4 are the ones who made moves in Q3, getting onboarded, optimized, and ready before the season that drives a significant portion of annual revenue.

The publishers who win Q4 aren’t just lucky with traffic. They’re with the right network. Here’s what that looks like.

What Makes Mediavine Different

Technology built and owned in-house.

Most ad networks rely on a patchwork of outside tools. Mediavine builds and maintains our own technology, including server-to-server bidding (a faster, more secure way to run ad auctions), page speed optimization, and ad placements designed to load quickly without slowing your site down. When Mediavine improves our technology, that improvement goes directly to your revenue. There is no middleman taking a cut.

99.5% human-verified inventory, independently validated by IAS, Jounce, and The Trade Desk. Zero MFA.

MFA stands for “Made for Advertising,” low-quality sites built purely to generate ad clicks, not to serve real readers. Mediavine has none of that. Every site in the network is a real publisher with real content and a real audience. That matters to advertisers, and when advertisers trust the inventory they are buying, more of them compete for your ad space. More competition means higher rates for you.

Publishers come first. Actually.

Every product decision Mediavine makes is measured against one question: does this improve publisher performance? Not advertiser convenience and definitely not the priorities of a private equity firm. We’re prioritizing publishers.

Lower ad density, better placements, faster pages.

More ads on a page does not mean more money. It usually means slower load times, a worse experience for your readers, and lower rates because advertisers pay less for cluttered inventory. Mediavine deliberately runs fewer, better ads because that is what drives revenue over the long term.

Hands-on account management.

Not a support ticket system and not a tiered response queue. Every publisher above Mediavine Official is assigned a dedicated account manager who is accountable to how your site performs.

Why Q3 Is the Right Window

During Q3, traffic is more predictable and the pressure is lower. You have time to get onboarded with a new network, get comfortable, and get your setup optimized before the season that drives a huge portion of your annual revenue.

Mediavine’s onboarding is built to get publishers up and running fast. From the moment you are approved, you have access to Mediavine’s full ad technology, a dashboard that shows you exactly what your revenue is doing and why, and for all publishers above Mediavine Official, a dedicated account manager who actually knows your site.

“Good Enough” Often Masks Real Upside

Most publishers who switch to Mediavine say the same thing: they had no idea how much money they were leaving on the table until they saw what their site could actually earn.

That is not a knock on your current ad solution. Ad management is complicated. A setup that’s been left alone for a while may seem fine, until you compare it with the results that a fully optimized setup can deliver. The difference shows up in your RPM, how often ads actually load on your pages, and how your revenue holds up when your traffic fluctuates.

If your RPM has been flat for a while, or your performance guarantee looks great for the first 90 days and a lot less great after that, those are signs something is off.

The Real Cost of Staying with the Wrong Network

Performance guarantees are one of the most common tactics competing ad networks use to attract publishers. On the surface, the offer sounds compelling. What often gets overlooked is what happens after the guarantee period ends.

The key factor is revenue share, the percentage of ad revenue you actually keep. Mediavine Premiere publishers retain 90% of the revenue their sites generate. Many competing networks retain 25%, leaving publishers with just 75%.

Consider a site earning $500,000 annually. Even with an aggressive guarantee promising a 30% revenue lift for six months, switching ad management would cost that publisher more than $112,000 over two years compared to staying with Mediavine. With a more typical guarantee, the two-year cost exceeds $135,000.

Short-term guarantees can create an initial boost, but long-term revenue share has a far greater impact on publisher earnings over time. The guarantee period is temporary. The revenue share you are left with is not.

Q3 Is the Window and Q4 Is the Payoff.

If you have been wondering whether it is time to switch, the answer is yes, and the time is now. You still have the runway to do it right, get set up, get optimized, and go into Q4 ready.

Apply to Mediavine and find out what your site could actually be earning.

Apply Now at mediavine.com/apply.

The most successful publishers in digital media build trust by showing up authentically, creating genuine content, and cultivating communities that connect.

This Pride Month, we’re celebrating five LGBTQ+ publishers in the Mediavine network who have built thriving digital businesses by doing exactly that. Their niches range from food and travel to gardening and disability advocacy. Their audiences vary significantly, but they all share a commitment to authenticity, inclusivity, and creating welcoming spaces.

Introducing…

Kathryn Doherty

Looking for practical recipes that make family dinners easier? Family Food on the Table is packed with approachable, healthy meals designed for real life. Founded by Kathryn Doherty, the site helps busy families get nutritious meals on the table without unnecessary stress or perfectionism.

Kathryn’s content is rooted in meeting readers where they are, whether that’s juggling work, school activities, or simply trying to get dinner ready after a long day. Her welcoming approach and practical solutions have made Family Food on the Table a trusted resource for families of all kinds.

Danielle Madden

Meal prep can feel overwhelming, but Project Meal Plan makes it accessible. Created by Danielle Madden, the site focuses on approachable meal prep recipes and planning strategies that help readers simplify their weekly routines.

Danielle has built a loyal audience by creating a space where everyone feels welcome. Through practical recipes and thoughtful community engagement, Project Meal Plan empowers readers to build confidence in the kitchen while making healthy eating more achievable.

Maartje Hensen

Travel looks different depending on who you are, and Once Upon a Journey embraces that reality. The travel and lifestyle platform created by Maartje Hensen draws from personal experiences navigating the world as a non-binary queer traveler.

Through destination guides, travel resources, and lifestyle content, Maartje offers a perspective that helps readers explore the world with confidence while celebrating both adventure and authenticity.

Raffaele DiLallo

For plant enthusiasts seeking expert advice without the intimidation factor, Ohio Tropics is a go-to destination. Founded by Raffaele DiLallo, the site offers practical guidance on houseplant care, rooted in years of hands-on experience.

Known for his approachable teaching style and honesty about both successes and failures, Raffaele has cultivated a thriving community of plant lovers who appreciate the welcoming, judgment-free environment he cultivates.

Meriah Nichols

At the intersection of disability advocacy, travel, parenting, and personal storytelling sits Meriah Nichols‘ platform. Through her work, Meriah explores life through multiple lenses, including disability, motherhood, and queerness, creating content that challenges assumptions and celebrates diversity.

Her long-running relationship with her audience has allowed readers to grow alongside her as she shares her evolving experiences and perspectives, building a community rooted in connection and understanding.

Branden Harvey

Good news is a radical act and Branden Harvey has built a media company around it. As the founder and CEO of Good Good Good, Branden created the Goodnewspaper, a printed newspaper dedicated entirely to good news, hosts the podcast Sounds Good, and has built an online community of more than 500,000 people committed to making the world better.

Before Good Good Good, Branden traveled the world as a humanitarian photographer, working with clients including the United Nations and Feeding America. He was invited to the first-ever White House photography meetup and was hired to cover Pope Francis’ visit to the United States on behalf of The Vatican. His work has been featured by The New York Times, Men’s Health, and Mashable, among others.

Branden brings the same intentionality to his publishing work that he brings to everything else. The belief that the stories we tell shape the world we live in.

Building Community Through Authenticity

Despite serving different audiences and content verticals, the foundations of these publishers’ successes are remarkably similar. They’ve built businesses by making people feel seen, welcomed, and understood.

Creating Spaces Where Everyone Belongs

For many LGBTQ+ publishers, Pride is deeply connected to the idea of belonging. That philosophy often extends beyond identity and into the communities they build online.

Danielle Madden says her identity has shaped the environment she creates for her readers. “My identity as a bisexual woman has made me keenly aware of some of the challenges faced by anyone who has ever felt different or out of place. That awareness shapes the kind of space I try to create at Project Meal Plan.”

Even as a recipe site, her goal is simple: “I want anyone to feel welcome within that niche if they find Project Meal Plan.”

Kathryn Doherty shares a similar philosophy. To her, Pride is “an opportunity to celebrate progress, community and love in all its forms,” something reflected in both her content and her approach to readers. She creates recipes “designed to work for families of all kinds” and says her audience feels comfortable sharing their specific needs because they know they’ll be met with understanding rather than judgment.

For Branden Harvey, that sense of belonging runs through everything Good Good Good publishes. “Every single day, Good Good Good publishes stories of people who have found ways to make a difference in the world,” he says. “For our readers, those stories serve as a reminder that change is possible and that hope is real. Many of our readers take that newfound sense of hope and turn it into action.”

When audiences feel welcomed instead of judged, trust follows.

Showing Up Honestly

Many of these publishers spoke about authenticity not as a branding strategy, but as a way of moving through the world.

For Kathryn Doherty, that means embracing imperfection. “I show up as I am— no makeup and hair not done, kitchen not clean— and try to share recipes that are helpful and solve problems.”

For Raffaele DiLallo, authenticity is inseparable from Pride itself. “Pride, to me, is about showing up fully as yourself without apology,” he says. “I spent years compartmentalizing different parts of my identity, and at some point I just got tired of that.”

That mindset has shaped Ohio Tropics from the beginning. “I don’t make Pride a headline, but I also don’t hide from it. That authenticity is baked into everything I do.”

Readers consistently respond to publishers who choose honesty over perfection, and connection over performance.

Turning Lived Experience Into Unique Perspective

In a publishing landscape where content is increasingly commoditized, lived experience remains one of the strongest differentiators a publisher can have.

For Maartje Hensen, their identity directly informs the stories they tell. “As a non-binary queer person, my identity has heavily influenced my work. My travel and lifestyle blog draws from my own experiences navigating the world as a queer person.”

Their definition of Pride reflects that perspective. “Pride is a protest. It’s a time to make our voices be heard for the most marginalized in our community,” they explain. “And sure, it’s also a celebration of queer joy, because we don’t have to be miserable while fighting this battle.”

Meriah Nichols sees Pride through a similarly expansive lens. “Pride means moving beyond acceptance or merely surviving in a world not built for us,” she says. “Pride means reclaiming joy, ditching shame, and celebrating how our differences shift culture forward.”

The most memorable publishers aren’t trying to sound like everyone else. They’re leaning into experiences and perspectives that only they can bring to the conversation.

Representation Isn’t a Campaign

Several publishers emphasized that authentic inclusion can’t be limited to a single month on the calendar.

Raffaele DiLallo offers straightforward advice for brands hoping to connect with LGBTQ+ audiences: “Don’t show up once in June and disappear.”

He notes that audiences can quickly spot the difference between genuine support and performance. “They can tell the difference between a brand that actually values them and one that’s using a rainbow logo as a marketing tactic.”

Meriah Nichols echoes that sentiment. “Pride isn’t performative. It isn’t a once-a-year thing to be celebrated or paid attention to.”

Instead, she argues that diversity should be reflected consistently in the people brands hire, partner with, and elevate throughout the year. “The things that we’re proud of are natural and normal parts of human diversity,” she says. “They need to be integrated into brands and advertising in authentic, holistic ways.”

Branden Harvey’s approach to running Good Good Good reflects that same principle year-round. “I made the decision to keep Good Good Good fully independent so we could make our own autonomous decisions and live out our mission without outside pressure,” he says. That independence means the publication never has to compromise on the stories it tells or the communities it covers, in June or any other month.

Community Is the Foundation

Pride and community go hand in hand. It’s about creating spaces where people can show up as themselves and know they’ll be welcomed.

Whether they’re helping families get dinner on the table, teaching meal prep, sharing travel experiences, helping plant lovers thrive, or advocating for disability and LGBTQ+ visibility, these publishers have built loyal audiences through that same principle.

Their success is a reminder that the strongest publishing brands aren’t built solely on traffic or trends. They’re built on trust, connection, and a genuine commitment to serving the people who show up every day.

Branden Harvey puts it simply: “The world is made better — bit by bit. And then one day you look up and realize all those small acts of hope and action have added up to a better world.”

Have your own story and want to be featured in our blog content? Reach out to marketing@mediavine.com

In recognition of Juneteenth, Mediavine is honoring this pivotal moment in American history by spotlighting the inspired work of Black publishers in our network. Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom, resilience, and culture, and we honor that spirit by uplifting Black voices and highlighting the culinary traditions that bring people together.

We invite you to explore this curated collection of thoughtfully crafted recipes you can make for Juneteenth. From beverages to entrees to desserts, you’ll find a celebration of flavor and heritage that honors this cultural moment.

Spotlighting 6 Incredible Publishers

These six talented publishers’ recipes and stories reflect the richness, depth, and joy of Black food culture:

Kenneth Temple is a Food Network Chopped Champion and New Orleans native who loves cooking the best Southern Creole classics from scratch. His Creole Oxtail Stew is a bold, slow-cooked celebration of New Orleans flavor. This is the kind of dish that brings everyone to the table.

Food Fidelity is Marwin Brown, a recipe developer and passionate home cook who brings together Southern comfort food, soul food traditions, and global influences in approachable, flavor-packed recipes. His Homemade Pork and Beans transforms a nostalgic classic into something special, combining tender pork belly, molasses, brown sugar, and slow-simmered beans for a smoky-sweet dish that’s hearty enough to earn a place alongside any spread.

Heal Me Delicious is run by Nicole Charles from her home kitchen in Toronto. Drawing on the bright, bold Caribbean flavors of her childhood in Trinidad, Nicole’s Watermelon Jelly and Custard is a dye-free, gluten-free summer dessert that layers homemade watermelon jello with creamy vegan custard and fresh fruit. It’s refreshing, absolutely beautiful, and made entirely from scratch.

Cooks with Soul is the husband and wife team of Marrekus and Krysten Wilkes, sharing hundreds of Southern soul food recipes, many passed down through generations. Their Berry Hibiscus Lemonade is a direct nod to the cultural significance of the iconic “red drink” in the Black community. It’s a vibrant, homemade blend of hibiscus tea, fresh strawberries, and raspberries that’s as meaningful as it is delicious.

Razzle Dazzle Life is Tamara Johnson, a self-proclaimed Southern gal serving up simple family recipes and weeknight dinner inspiration. Her Texas Style Smoked Beef Brisket is a 12-hour labor of love, filled with garlic butter, rubbed with spices, and smoked low and slow until it’s melt-in-your-mouth tender. Tamara calls it a must for Juneteenth, and we couldn’t agree more.

Whisk It Real Gud is April Boller Wright, a food blogger, recipe developer, and photographer based in Maryland. Her Southern Peach Cobbler has been shared over 223,000 times, and one taste tells you exactly why. With a buttery, crisp topping that bakes up like pie crust and peaches that stew in a rich caramel syrup, it’s the kind of dessert that becomes a family staple.

Celebrating Culture Through Community

At Mediavine, our publishing community is at the heart of everything we do. Juneteenth is a reminder that the recipes we share, the stories we tell, and the tables we gather around all reflect the history, resilience, and joy of Black culture in America.

To everyone who cooked, shared, and celebrated with us: thank you.

Ready to discover more? Follow our featured publishers above for more incredible recipes.

A performance guarantee sounds like a no-risk proposition. Run the math over two years and a different picture emerges, regardless of what the guarantee promises.

Performance guarantees are one of the most common tools competing networks use to recruit Mediavine publishers. The offer varies. Sometimes it’s a 30% lift, sometimes 15%. Sometimes the guarantee runs three months, sometimes six. The pitch always sounds favorable in the short term. 

What it doesn’t show you is what happens after the guarantee period ends.

Here’s what the numbers actually look like across four common scenarios.

All scenarios are based on a site earning $500,000 per year in gross revenue. These figures reflect Mediavine’s 90% revenue share for Premiere publishers. The alternative network’s standard revenue share is 75%.

Scenario 1: 30% guarantee, 3 months

The most aggressive offer. A 30% lift above current revenue for the first three months, then standard 75% revenue share for the remainder.

Year 1: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $403,125 

Year 2: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $375,000

Two-year cost of switching: -$121,875

Scenario 2: 15% guarantee, 3 months

A more modest guarantee. A 15% lift for three months, then standard 75% revenue share.

Year 1: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $389,375 

Year 2: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $375,000

Two-year cost of switching: -$135,625

Scenario 3: 30% guarantee, 6 months

A longer guarantee period at the higher lift. Six months at 30% above current revenue, then standard 75% revenue share.

Year 1: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $412,500 

Year 2: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $375,000

Two-year cost of switching: -$112,500

Scenario 4: 15% guarantee, 6 months

The most favorable scenario. The longest guarantee period at a 15% lift, then standard 75% revenue share.

Year 1: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $425,000 

Year 2: Mediavine $450,000 / Alternative network $375,000

Two-year cost of switching: -$100,000

What the math is telling you

In every scenario, including the most generous guarantee on offer, switching costs six figures over two years compared to staying with Mediavine.

The guarantee terms change but the conclusion doesn’t.

That’s because the guarantee is designed to make the short-term math look attractive. It works for the network making the offer. The guarantee period creates switching costs, builds dependency, and locks publishers into a revenue share structure that trails Mediavine’s Premiere revenue share by 15 points.

A 30% lift for 90 days sounds significant. Measured against 21 months at a lower revenue share, it isn’t.

The bottom line

Before evaluating any offer, run the full two-year comparison. Factor in the revenue share after the guarantee ends, not just during it. The short-term lift is real. So is the long-term cost.

A performance guarantee is temporary. The revenue share you’re left with isn’t.

*This is a hypothetical example for illustrative purposes only. Individual results will vary.

Google Search is constantly evolving and many updates have little immediate impact on how publishers operate. Google’s latest launch, however, offers a meaningful signal about where search and content discovery are headed: a greater emphasis on publisher identity and brand recognition.

On June 4, Google introduced Search Profiles, a new feature that gives publishers a dedicated presence within Google Search. These profiles allow publishers to showcase their latest articles, videos, social media content, and website links in a centralized location, making it easier for readers to discover and engage with their content.

One of the most notable aspects of Search Profiles is the ability for users to follow publishers directly from the profile page. While Google has not detailed the full impact of this feature, follows may help strengthen a publisher’s visibility across Google’s ecosystem, including Google Discover.

For publishers unfamiliar with Discover, it is Google’s personalized content feed that appears within the Google app and on some Android devices. Rather than relying on traditional search queries, Discover surfaces content based on a user’s interests and engagement patterns. For many independent publishers, Discover has become a significant source of traffic and audience growth.

Taken together, these updates suggest that Google is continuing to invest in helping users build direct relationships with trusted creators and publishers. As search evolves beyond individual pages and keywords, establishing a recognizable brand and fostering audience loyalty may become increasingly important components of long-term growth.

So What Does It Do, Exactly?

Once you claim your profile, it pulls in your latest content from connected platforms and updates automatically. It shows up in Google Search results, in your Knowledge Panel (the information box Google surfaces for recognized brands and people), through Discover, and at a shareable direct link.

Right now, Search Profiles are available in the U.S. to publishers with at least 100,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, or X, or 300,000 on TikTok. Google has said it plans to expand access and add more features soon.

The Big Picture

Google is no longer just ranking pages. It is deciding which publishers to trust.

The follow feature is the clearest proof of that. When someone follows your profile, your content shows up in their Discover feed more reliably. Google is building a direct line between publishers and their audiences within its own products by recognizing brands, not just URLs.

Here’s Where to Put Your Energy

Keep creating your high-quality content, growing your audience, and building your brand. If you’re eligible, claim your Search Profile and make sure your connected platforms are up to date.

This won’t change your revenue numbers this week, but more control over how you appear in Google Search and Discover is a net positive. The publishers who treat their brand as an asset right now will be better positioned as search keeps evolving.

We’re watching how adoption plays out and will keep you posted when there’s more to share.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Google Search Profiles?

Google Search Profiles is a dedicated page inside Google Search where publishers can display their latest articles, videos, social posts, and website links in one place. Readers can follow a publisher directly from their profile, which makes that publisher’s content more likely to appear in their Google Discover feed. Think of it as a hub for your brand inside Google Search.

It gives publishers a more structured presence within Google’s ecosystem, rather than relying only on individual pages to surface in results.

What is Google Discover?

Google Discover is the feed of recommended content that appears on the Google app home screen. It surfaces articles and videos based on a reader’s interests and browsing behavior, without them having to search for anything. It is one of the most significant sources of referral traffic for independent publishers, meaning it sends a meaningful share of readers to sites like yours.

Unlike traditional search, Discover is proactive rather than reactive, meaning content is pushed to users based on predictive relevance. This makes it especially important for publishers focused on evergreen content, lifestyle topics, and audience engagement.

Does this affect my search rankings or traffic right now?

Not directly. Search Profiles do not change how your pages rank in search results today. What they do is give you more visibility and control over how your brand appears across Google Search and Discover, and make it easier for readers to follow and find your content consistently.

Over time, this can indirectly influence performance by improving brand recognition and increasing repeat exposure, but it is not a ranking factor in itself.

Is this available to all Mediavine publishers?

Not yet. Search Profiles are currently available in the U.S. to publishers with an established following on at least one major platform. The current thresholds are 100,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram, or X, or 300,000 on TikTok. Google has said it plans to expand access in the coming months.

This phased rollout means eligibility is still limited while Google tests adoption and usage patterns. Broader availability will likely come as they refine the product and expand to more creator segments.

I don’t meet the follower thresholds. Do I need to do anything?

Not right now. Keep focusing on building high-quality content and growing your audience. As Google expands access, more publishers will become eligible. We will share updates as that happens.

In the meantime, there is no manual setup or workaround required, and being prepared with strong connected social and content channels will make onboarding smoother once eligibility opens up.

I meet the requirements. How do I claim my profile?

You can access your Search Profile through your Knowledge Panel in Google Search, by tapping your name in Google Discover, or through a direct profile URL. Make sure your connected platforms are up to date before claiming, so your profile pulls in accurate, current content.

It’s also a good idea to review how your brand appears across connected accounts first, since those inputs will largely determine what surfaces in your profile automatically.

Will this help my RPM or ad revenue?

Not directly or immediately. Search Profiles are a brand visibility and audience growth tool, not an ad optimization feature. That said, publishers with stronger brand recognition and more engaged audiences tend to perform better over the long term as search continues to evolve. More consistent visibility in Discover can contribute to traffic growth, which does affect revenue over time.

Is Mediavine doing anything in response to this update?

We are monitoring adoption and performance data as Search Profiles roll out more broadly. Our recommendation to publishers stays consistent: invest in high-quality content, audience development, and brand building. Those are the inputs that matter most as search continues to shift toward recognizing trusted publishers rather than just ranking individual pages.

We’re also watching how these profiles influence distribution in Discover and whether they change how audiences engage with publisher brands over time, so we can adjust guidance as the feature matures.

This Month’s Featured Organization: PFLAG

As we celebrate Pride Month, we’re proud to highlight our partnership with PFLAG, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQIA+ people, their families, and allies.

Founded in 1973, PFLAG has spent more than five decades helping create a world where diversity is celebrated, every person is respected, valued, and affirmed, and LGBTQIA+ people have the support they need to thrive. Through a network of hundreds of chapters across the United States, PFLAG provides peer support, educational resources, advocacy tools, and community connections that help individuals and families navigate their journeys with confidence and understanding.

While Pride Month shines an important spotlight on LGBTQ+ communities, PFLAG’s work continues every day of the year. From supporting parents seeking resources for a newly out child to advocating for safer, more inclusive communities, PFLAG serves as a trusted source of education, acceptance, and empowerment for millions of people nationwide.

By selecting PFLAG as a Shine PSA partner, your unsold inventory can help raise awareness of these resources, amplify messages of inclusion, and connect more people with the support networks they need.

For Branden Harvey, founder of Good Good Good, choosing PFLAG as a Shine PSA partner was a natural extension of how his entire business operates. His team voted on it, a decision that reflects the values at the core of everything Good Good Good publishes.

Why Pride Month Matters And Why It Can’t Stop There

Branden puts it plainly: “Sterling Graves, an artist (and fellow former Nashvillian) has this iconic quote you’ve probably seen on Instagram: “Pride is important because someone tonight still believes they’re better off dead than being themselves.” It takes so much courage and inner strength to acknowledge your true self and live that truth out loud. It’s scary, risky, and — historically and currently — often dangerous. 

Pride Month is important because it honors and acknowledges the heartbreaking history of the LGBTQ+ community and celebrates the work of so many brave queer folks who fought for the rights and norms we have today. And when we celebrate the progress we’ve made, it reminds each and every one of us that we’ve made progress before… and we can do it again.”

Impressions To Build a More Inclusive Future

At Mediavine, we prioritize premium, high-quality advertising demand over filling every available ad space at any cost.

In programmatic advertising, not every ad request results in a paid ad being served. While some platforms chase a 100% fill rate by accepting lower-quality ads, Mediavine intentionally takes a different approach. By maintaining high standards for ad quality and advertiser demand, we protect your revenue, preserve user experience, and maximize the long-term value of your inventory.

Occasionally, ad space will go unfilled. Rather than letting those impressions sit empty, Shine PSAs turn them into opportunities to support organizations making a meaningful impact in communities around the world.

What Are Shine PSAs?

Shine PSAs automatically fill unsold ad inventory with campaigns from nonprofit organizations selected by Mediavine publishers. Instead of serving low-value fallback ads or leaving space blank, your site helps amplify causes that matter.

Best of all:

• Shine PSAs only serve when paid ads aren’t available
• Shine PSAs do not impact your revenue opportunities
• Easy to enable directly from your Mediavine Dashboard
• Once activated, everything runs automatically behind the scenes

It’s a simple way to ensure every impression on your site contributes to something positive.

Support Beyond Pride Month

Pride Month brings important visibility to LGBTQIA+ communities, but meaningful representation shouldn’t be limited to a single month on the calendar.

Through Shine PSAs, publishers can amplify messages of inclusion, acceptance, and belonging visible throughout the year. When unsold inventory serves PFLAG campaigns, those impressions meaningfully support the work of an organization dedicated to creating a more affirming world for LGBTQIA+ people and the individuals in their lives.

Branden frames it this way: “One thing I immediately came to love about Mediavine was their Shine PSA program, which allows Good Good Good to essentially donate ad space on our website to nonprofits… These PSA ads are my absolute favorite ads I see on our site, and I love knowing how impactful they are for organizations and the people they serve. It’s such a cool and simple program, and I love that it exists.”

By choosing PFLAG as a Shine PSA partner, you’re helping ensure that every impression has the potential to foster understanding, spark connection, and reinforce the belief that LGBTQIA+ communities deserve support and visibility year-round.

Why Publishers Choose Shine PSAs

Make Unfilled Inventory Meaningful

Unsold impressions are a natural part of a healthy advertising strategy. Shine PSAs ensure those opportunities continue creating value instead of going unused.

Support Causes That Reflect Your Values

The messages that appear on your site help shape your brand. By choosing Shine PSAs, you can align your inventory with organizations working to create positive change and support communities that matter to you.

Maintain a High-Quality User Experience

Ads that aren’t worth serving shouldn’t be served. Shine PSAs replace the fallback ads and low-quality fill that degrade page performance and reader trust. They’re brand-safe, thoughtfully designed, and built to the same quality standards as the premium demand Mediavine prioritizes. Your readers get a cleaner, more intentional experience, and your site’s performance stays protected.

Set It Up Once and Forget About It

Enabling Shine PSAs takes less than a minute, and Mediavine handles everything else automatically.

How to Get Started

Opting into Shine PSAs is simple:

1. Go to Settings in your Mediavine Dashboard
2. Open the Shine section
3. Select PFLAG and any additional nonprofit partners you’d like to support
4. Save your preferences

Your unsold inventory will automatically begin supporting the causes you’ve chosen. Every impression on your site has the potential to do more. With Shine PSAs, those moments can raise awareness, inspire action, and support organizations creating meaningful change all year long.

👉 Learn more about Shine PSAs: help.mediavine.com/fill-your-unused-ad-inventory-with-a-psa

👉 Explore PFLAG’s mission: https://pflag.org/

👉 Interested in other nonprofit partners? Read more about our partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation and World Central Kitchen.

At Mediavine, smarter inventory means a stronger, more inclusive future.

Many publishers see that their Monetized RPM (mRPM) is higher than their standard RPM and stop there. But comparing the two can reveal valuable insights. The gap between those two numbers is actually telling you something, and the publishers who learn to read it will optimize their revenue in ways that were never possible with standard RPM.

Here’s how to use both together to your advantage.

Start With the Gap

Your standard RPM counts every session. Your mRPM counts only the sessions where ads were able to serve, meaning sessions where ads had a real chance to load and generate revenue. The difference between those two numbers tells you how much of your traffic is not fully monetizable.

A big gap means a significant portion of your sessions are unmonetizable. A small gap means most of your traffic is ad-eligible. That gap varies widely depending on your traffic sources, the countries your readers come from, and how your consent management platform is set up. The most common reasons sessions go unmonetized include:

• Traffic from regions with low or no advertiser demand
• Invalid or non-human traffic, including AI bot crawlers
• Privacy consent restrictions
• Content category restrictions implemented on the advertiser side
• Ad blockers

Neither end of that range is inherently good or bad. It’s simply your starting point and it shapes every other decision below.

1. Which Pages Are Actually Making You Money?

Traffic volume and monetization value are not always aligned. A post driving 50,000 sessions can earn less than a post driving 10,000 sessions, depending on the quality of that traffic. mRPM makes that visible.

In your Mediavine dashboard, look at mRPM alongside monetizable session volume at the page level.

High mRPM + high sessions

Your strongest pages. Advertisers are competing for this audience and paying for it. Update the content, build related posts, and drive more traffic here. More sessions on these pages have direct revenue impact.

Low mRPM + high sessions

Traffic is there, revenue isn’t. There are a number of reasons this can happen, like geographic, source-based, or technical. Identify the root cause before investing further.

Low mRPM + low sessions

These pages are neither driving traffic nor earning revenue. Audit them, update them, consolidate them, or redirect traffic to stronger pages.

High mRPM + low sessions

These pages monetize well but aren’t reaching enough people. Advertiser demand exists. The opportunity is building an audience for it. Prioritize SEO, internal linking, and related content to grow sessions here.

2. Where Is Your Traffic Actually Coming From?

Some channels consistently deliver readers who monetize more efficiently. Others just inflate your session count. Now you can tell the difference.

Look at your traffic sources, search, social, direct, referral, and compare the percentage of sessions from each source where ads actually served. The sources with strong rates are where your time pays off. The ones with low rates are worth a harder look before you put more effort into them.

Social traffic often skews lower here, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthless. It drives audience growth and brand visibility. Knowing the trade-off means you can make an intentional decision about it rather than just wondering why your numbers look the way they do.

3. Geography Matters More Than You Might Think

Advertisers bid more aggressively in certain markets, primarily the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. In other regions, fewer advertisers compete for your inventory, which means lower rates and fewer monetizable sessions.

If a significant share of your readers come from lower-demand regions, your monetizable session percentage will reflect that. Use that data to guide your content and SEO focus over time. Topics with strong search volume in high-demand markets will consistently monetize better than topics that primarily attract audiences from lower-demand regions.

This isn’t an overnight fix. But tracking your geographic monetizable session percentage over time will show you whether your efforts are moving in the right direction.

4. When Your Revenue Shifts, Here’s How to Diagnose It

See a boost or drop in RPM? Typically, publishers guess at why but mRPM removes some of that guesswork.

When your revenue shifts in either direction, compare standard RPM against mRPM. Two scenarios tell you two very different things.

Standard RPM shifted but mRPM held steady. 

Your monetization is working fine. The change is a traffic quality issue, more or fewer unmonetizable sessions coming in from a new source, a viral post that attracted bot traffic, or a seasonal influx from a lower-demand region. The issue may be more related to traffic quality than ad strategy. It is a traffic source audit.

Both standard RPM and mRPM shifted. 

This points to an actual monetization issue, like advertiser demand, ad strategy, viewability, or audience engagement. A boost here means your ad setup and content are firing on all cylinders. A drop is worth digging into and worth a conversation with your Account Manager.

Knowing which scenario you are in saves you from making the wrong fix. Changing your content strategy in response to a traffic quality problem solves nothing. And celebrating a traffic win when your monetization is actually what improved? That’s worth knowing too.

5. Use Both Numbers

Standard RPM and mRPM aren’t in competition. They’re two parts of the same picture.

Standard RPM reflects how your overall site is performing. It includes every session, monetizable or not. It’s your broadest view of growth. mRPM shows how your advertising is actually performing on the sessions where it had a real chance. It’s your measure of monetization efficiency.

Setting performance goals against standard RPM alone means measuring yourself against sessions that could never contribute to revenue. That’s not a useful benchmark for ad performance. But dropping standard RPM entirely means losing sight of how your overall audience is growing.

Keep both in view. Track your monetizable session percentage separately and watch it move over time as your traffic quality improves. Monitoring both gives you the full story.

Where to Start

Log into your Mediavine dashboard and pull your page-level data. The gap between your highest and lowest mRPM pages is where the clearest opportunities will show up. Start there, find the pattern, and build your strategy from what you uncover.

Questions about what you’re seeing? Reach out to your Account Manager or visit the Mediavine Help Center.