Ad Network FAQ

The Ad Network is available to anyone on the Scale plan or above, who is actively sending on beehiiv. Simply set your ad preferences up, and you'll be able to browse available offers in the live marketplace anytime from your Ad Network dashboard. Ad offers are updated hourly based on your preferences.

The beehiiv Ad Network connects you with pre-negotiated, performance-based campaigns (CPM or CPC) from our advertiser partners — no outreach required. Direct sponsorships give you full control to create and price your own ad products, set up a storefront, and sell directly to brands. For the best results, we recommend using both to diversify your monetization strategy.

Once you've set up your ad preferences, offers are available immediately in the live marketplace at Monetize > Ads > Offers. The marketplace shows up to 7 offers at a time, refreshed hourly in real time. You don't need to wait for a weekly email — you can browse and claim whenever it works for you.

Once your preferences are saved, head to Ad Network > Offers to browse the live marketplace. Ad offers refresh hourly. If you've just completed setup and the marketplace appears empty or shows fewer than expected offers, refresh the page after an hour.

When browsing the marketplace, you can downvote any offer that isn't a good fit and select a reason. Your initial matches may take one refresh cycle to populate based on your preferences.

Yes, the marketplace puts you in control. Browse available offers, claim the ones that are a good fit for your audience, and downvote anything that isn't.

The more ads you run, the more data we gather to fine-tune your recommendations over time. To get the best matches from the start, make sure your Ad Network preferences are set up in your account.

Yes! You can include up to 3 ads per post. The rules are: max 1 ad with a logo and max 2 ads without a logo. There's no requirement to include a logo ad — 1 or 2 logo-free ads is totally fine. You also cannot run the same ad more than once in a post.

beehiiv ad campaign payouts are based on CPM or CPC.

CPM (cost per mille) is a payment method where you earn based on the number of unique opens per send for an advertiser. For example, with a $5 CPM, you'll earn $5 for every 1,000 unique opens you deliver in a single send. You will only receive earnings from unique opens in email sends.

CPC, short for cost per click, is based on the number of unique clicks that the sponsored links in your newsletter send receive. For example, if the CPC for a campaign is $2 and you include an ad in your newsletter that receives 100 payable clicks, your payout would be 100 x $2, or $200. You will only receive earnings from clicks in email sends.

Ad Network payouts require a Stripe Express account, and Stripe has restrictions on certain countries and currencies. This means publishers in some regions can't currently receive Ad Network earnings through beehiiv.

To check whether your country is supported, visit Stripe's global availability page. If your country isn't listed or shows restrictions, you won't be able to set up a Stripe Express account for Ad Network payouts right now.

beehiiv does not support alternative payment processors (such as PayPal, Wise, or PriyoPay) for Ad Network or Paid recommendations earnings. All monetization payouts go through Stripe Express, so if Stripe Express isn't available in your country, you won't be able to participate in the Ad Network at this time, regardless of your plan.

Stripe periodically expands to new regions, so it's worth checking their availability page again in the future.

When a publisher runs an ad from the beehiiv Ad Network, we run those email newsletter clicks through an extra set of checks to identify the highest-confidence clicks, filtering out potential bot activity, fraud, non-unique clicks, and clicks that bounce immediately from the landing page.

Verified clicks is a content-quality signal, not what determines your payout. Payable clicks, a separate metric, is what beehiiv bills advertisers on and pays publishers on. See "What's the difference between payable clicks and verified clicks?" below.

Verified clicks works like a pass or fail check: a click either clears beehiiv's highest confidence tier or it doesn't. Payable clicks takes a wider view, weighing a full range of click-quality signals instead of applying one cutoff, which is what makes it a stronger basis for billing. Because they're measured differently, don't expect the two numbers to line up.

Most publishers will see a higher number under payable clicks than they did under verified clicks, since payable clicks credits a graduated range of click quality instead of only counting clicks that pass a single top-tier check. Your payout rate per click hasn't changed, only the way eligible clicks are counted.

The same habits that grow engagement generally will help here: send to subscribers who actually open and click, clean out segments that have gone quiet, and be selective about where new subscribers come from. Newsletters with engaged, organically grown lists tend to see a bigger share of their clicks qualify as payable.

No. Anything flagged as automated or tied to known bot infrastructure is filtered out before payable clicks is calculated, and it's never eligible for payout.

Unique clicks counts every subscriber who clicked. Payable clicks only counts the portion of those that land inside the payout window and carry enough quality signal. Some gap between the two numbers is normal on every campaign.

Some ads will perform better than others in your newsletters. Running ads can help you figure out what types of ads and brands resonate with your audience. And as you run more ads through the Ad Network, you'll see your earnings begin to compound over time.

Clicks that show up in your post analytics right after sending haven't finished processing yet. beehiiv tracks clicks on your ad for 72 hours after you send, filtering out bot traffic, fraudulent clicks, and non-unique clicks along the way.

Your performance report becomes available 96 hours (4 days) after sending, and shows your payable clicks (for CPC campaigns) or verified opens (for CPM campaigns), along with your confirmed earnings. Payable clicks, not the raw click count in your post analytics, is what determines your CPC payout.

If you check your earnings within that first 96-hour window, don't be surprised if nothing shows up yet, even though your post analytics already show clicks. That's expected. Once the window closes and the report generates, you'll see your confirmed payout.

It is not a guaranteed amount, but rather an estimate based on historical email performance for your newsletter and from prior campaigns we've run through the beehiiv Ad Network. Just remember that some ads will perform better than others, and your payment will depend on the performance.

The beehiiv Ad Network is accessible to users on the Scale plan or above. If you're an active Scale plan user, you're eligible to receive ad opportunities.

The marketplace shows up to 7 offers at a time, refreshed hourly. There's no cap on how many you can run over time — the more your newsletter performs for advertisers, the more relevant opportunities you'll see. The top 3 are always labeled Recommended for You based on your audience and past performance.

Note: The marketplace matches offers to your publication's audience, content, and sending history. If you haven't published any posts yet, you'll mostly see general campaigns open to a wide range of publishers until you build up more content and sending history.

Be sure that you have set up your ad preferences. Once your preferences are saved, head to Monetize > Ads > Offers to browse the live marketplace. Ad offers refresh hourly.

Browse available offers at Monetize > Ads > Offers, claim the ones you want to run, then add them to a post using the /ads command in the post editor or directly from the Offers page. For full step-by-step instructions, see Using the beehiiv Ad Network.

We use an advanced ML system to match ad opportunities to newsletters who fit the target audience and interests that the advertisers are trying to reach. We cannot guarantee that you'll absolutely love each and every company whose ad opportunity we send you. However, when browsing the marketplace, you can downvote any offer that isn't a good fit and select a reason. Downvoted offers are removed from your view and your feedback helps improve future recommendations — it does not negatively affect your publisher rating, and doing so helps our system better learn your preferences.

To ensure you get opportunities that best fit your publication, set your Ad Network preferences in the beehiiv app. This gives us essential information to serve you ads that align with your monetization goals.

Even if an ad is run late, early, or delayed due to timezone issues, the user's ad is still tracked and paid accordingly as long as it is sent within the timeframe of the campaign.

Yes. From your Offers page, go to the Claimed tab, then open the ad detail and select the Move option to reassign it to a different post. Do not delete the ad — deleted ads cannot be re-claimed.

It moves to your Canceled tab and the inventory is released back to the marketplace. You can browse the Available offers tab to see if a similar offer from that advertiser is available.

The marketplace shows offers matched to your publication based on your audience, content category, and past performance. If you're new to the Ad Network or have a smaller audience, you may see fewer offers initially. This improves over time as the system learns more about your publication.

When browsing offers in the marketplace, you'll see either a dollar estimate (for example, "Estimated earnings $25") or the label "Unlimited earnings."

Estimated earnings shows a projected payout based on your newsletter's historical open and click-through rates and the offer's payment model (CPM or CPC), when that projection is $10 or more. It's meant to help you evaluate the offer, not as a guaranteed amount. Actual earnings depend on how your audience engages with the ad.

Unlimited earnings appears when the projected payout is below $10. Your earning potential still depends entirely on your audience's engagement, and some offers in this category can outperform their initial projection.

Either way, your final payout reflects your confirmed payable clicks (or verified opens for CPM) after your send, not the estimate shown in the marketplace.

Why this happens: The Ad Network matches your publication with advertisers based on your audience, content category, and past performance. If the advertisers currently running campaigns are a close match for your publication's profile, you may see the same brands appear more than once, especially while those advertisers have active campaigns in the marketplace.

What you can do:

• Update your Ad Network preferences: Keep your publication tags and description current so the system can match you with more relevant advertisers.
• Downvote offers that aren't a good fit: Selecting a reason when you downvote helps refine future recommendations. It doesn't affect your publisher rating or reduce how many offers you receive.
• Run more ads: The more ads you run, the more data the system has to fine-tune your recommendations over time.
• Review your category preferences: If you've marked categories as "never work with" but accept or downvote offers in related categories, that can create mixed signals. Make sure your preferences reflect what you actually want.

The marketplace refreshes hourly, so new offers may appear soon even if today's look repetitive. If limited variety continues after updating your preferences and running more ads, it may reflect the current advertiser mix in the network at that time, which changes as campaigns come and go.

Downvoting removes the offer from your view and sends feedback to improve your future recommendations. It does not negatively affect your publisher rating or reduce the number of offers you receive.

If you delete an offer from a post, it is permanently canceled. The same or similar offer may be available from that advertiser in the Available offers tab. To avoid this, use the Move option if you want to place the ad in a different post.

You can place an ad anywhere you'd like in the newsletter. Refer to our ad placement article for complete instructions.

Each ad opportunity may have multiple creative options to choose from. Choose the one that you think your audience will react best to. Remember, the better aligned the ad is to your audience, the more clicks it will drive and thus more money earned.

Yes, you can manage ads directly on your post. Refer to our ad placement article for complete instructions.

Once you claim an ad, you have 5 days (120 hours) to publish it before it expires. You can claim up to 5 ads at a time, so you can plan ahead within that window.

If your claimed ad expires before you publish the newsletter, the ad inventory is released back to the marketplace, and you won't be able to send that specific ad.

To check the time remaining on your claimed ads, go to Ad Network > Offers, then navigate to the Claimed tab. Time remaining before expiration is displayed on each claimed ad card.

Yes, you can. Any ads you want to place from outside the beehiiv Ad Network are totally okay, however, the beehiiv ad should be the featured ad in your newsletter — don't let outside ads overshadow it.

If you want to promote the advertiser you are selecting through the beehiiv Ad Network with your own copy and your own click-outs, you are able to do so as long as the beehiiv specific URL parameters are not used. Just know, you will not be paid out for any clicks those links drive as beehiiv can only payout clicks that were part of the approved ad creative, as that is messaging that has been approved by the advertiser.

Also, keep in mind that including too many ads in your newsletter can negatively impact deliverability and email engagement.

No. Clicks and earnings are only tracked when an ad is added through the Ad Network using the /ads command or added directly from the Offers page. If you recreate an ad's copy yourself and paste in your own link, or use a different link than the one provided, those clicks won't be tracked and you won't be paid for that placement.

You're welcome to promote an advertiser with your own copy and your own links, just know you won't earn Ad Network revenue from those clicks unless the ad runs through the native Ad Network block.

No, you don't. With beehiiv, you always have full discretion on whether or not you want to move forward with an ad placement. Some ad opportunities might not be the right fit for your newsletter and your audience, and that's fine. There is no requirement to run the ad.

Each offer includes multiple creative versions — with a logo or without a logo — as well as different headline angles. Choose the version that best fits your audience and newsletter.

You can schedule each ad opportunity for one date. If the ad performs well, we'll send you a new opportunity to run the ad. You will only get paid for each ad placement once, unless you are invited to run that ad again.

No, you can only run an ad once in a post. If you try to run the same ad twice, you'll receive an error in the post editor that will have to be fixed before publishing. Simply remove any duplicate ads in the post to fix the error.

If a claimed ad expires before you publish it, it will move to your Canceled tab and the inventory is released back to the marketplace. To avoid this, keep an eye on expiration timers in your Claimed tab and publish or move ads before they expire. If you need to move an ad to a different post, use the Move option — do not delete it, as deleted ads cannot be re-claimed.

Yes, you can adjust some aspects of ads, it just depends on the ad. For example, some allow you to choose to feature the sponsor logo or not, and select the ad copy. If you choose to have the ads 'In partnership with' logo and info at the top of your post, you can adjust its width or alignment, and change the sponsor text.

Your Ad Network dashboard provides a snapshot of your new ad opportunities, current earnings, and upcoming accepted ads, all in one place. To access it, go to Monetize > Ads > Overview.

No, beehiiv does not share advertiser contact information from the Ad Network, but you can create a direct sponsorship storefront in your account to manage your own advertisers.

To cancel a claimed ad, go to Monetize > Ads > Offers > Claimed tab and select the cancel option on the ad. If you want to move it to a different post instead, use the Move option rather than cancelling. Deleted ads cannot be re-added.

When your Ad Network campaign runs, we monitor all eligible unique newsletter clicks generated by the campaign within the first 72 hours of the ad being delivered to your audience. Subsequently, 96 hours after you send the newsletter, you'll receive a comprehensive report detailing the click breakdown, earnings, and payment status. To view your Ad Network reports, go to Monetize > Ads > Reports.

We use Stripe as our main payment processing partner. You will need to first go through the Stripe Identity Verification, then your payments will be processed through Stripe using your beehiiv wallet.

For certain accounts, we utilize Mercury to process payments. In such cases, you'll receive an invitation from Brian Schneider to set up your account.

Payouts are sent on the 20th of each month for the prior month's ad units. For example, on February 20th you would be paid out for all January ad revenue earned.

Ad Network earnings deposit into your beehiiv Wallet on the 20th of each month, not directly to your Stripe account. You'll need to manually withdraw funds from your Wallet to move them to your connected bank account.

Yes, it is required to have a Stripe Express account setup in order to run ads within the Ad Network.  This account makes it possible for us to transfer money to your beehiiv wallet, where your balance will be available for withdrawal at any time. 

To set up your Stripe Express account for the Ad Network (and paid recommendations), go to the Payment Accounts area in your account to get started.

We use Stripe Express to seamlessly transfer your earnings directly into your wallet on the 20th each month for the prior month's earnings. You can choose to withdraw funds from your wallet at any time, without paying any sort of fee or transfer cost.

All of your ad earnings and payment dates are visible in your Ad Network Reports. To view past and current reports, go to Monetize > Ads > Reports.

From any report listed, click the 3 dots icon and select View Report to read the details, share it, or download it.

The beehiiv Ad Network offers both CPM ads and CPC ads.

CPM (cost per mille) is a payment method where you earn based on the number of unique opens per send for an advertiser. For example, with a $5 CPM, you'll earn $5 for every 1,000 unique opens you deliver in a single send.

CPC (cost per click) is based on the number of unique clicks that the sponsored links in your newsletter send receive. For example, if the CPC for a campaign is $2 and you include an ad in your newsletter that receives 100 payable clicks, your payout would be 100 x $2, or $200. You will only receive earnings from clicks in email sends.

CPM opportunities are based on the number of unique, human opens. To maximize your potential earnings, focus on consistently creating high-quality content and growing your audience sustainably. While you're paid on a CPM basis, advertisers evaluate the impact of their ads on their business, which influences whether a publisher will receive future opportunities.

No. The payout model is set by the advertiser for each ad opportunity. If an advertiser offers both CPM and CPC for the same placement, you'll be able to choose; otherwise, the payout type can't be changed.

You will receive a report regarding the performance of your CPM ads in the same way you receive reports for CPC. Reports will be available in your dashboard 96 hours after an ad is sent out.

CPM is based on unique readers or unique opens per send, and not on clicks, so it gives you more control and assurance that you'll be paid. For example, a $5 CPM will ensure that as long as 1000 unique readers or unique opens per send open your newsletter, you'll earn that amount. With CPC, there's no guarantee that you will receive payment.

When a publisher runs an ad from the beehiiv Ad Network, we run those email newsletter clicks through an extra set of verifications to ensure that the brand is only paying for the highest quality clicks. When doing so, we often are able to identify additional potential non-human interactions (bots), non-unique clicks, or clicks that result in a user bouncing immediately from the landing page. These verifications may result in a lower number of unique clicks than the original post-metrics shared.

You'll receive a detailed performance report 96 hours after the ad has been sent, which you can review at Ad Network > Reports. The report will show your payable clicks (for CPC ads) or verified unique opens (for CPM ads). Payable clicks is what determines your final CPC payout.

The purpose of this extra verification process is to enable us to build long-term partnerships between your newsletter and our advertising partners, resulting in more revenue driven to you over the lifetime of the relationship.

No. Every past campaign was billed and paid under the rules in place when it ran, and those figures aren't being revisited. Payable clicks changes how eligible clicks are counted going forward. It isn't a correction to anything that already happened.

We start with unique subscriber clicks that land inside your campaign's payout window, remove anything flagged as automated or invalid, and weight what's left by the quality signal we see on that traffic. We don't publish the exact weighting, which is standard across the industry.

No, you're both looking at the same figure. Payable clicks is shared: it's what advertisers are billed on and what you're paid on, each at their own rate.

No. Your payout per click is set per campaign, and payable clicks doesn't change it. It only changes which clicks count toward it.

Nope! We'll use the powerful beehiiv reporting tools to see how many newsletter clicks the sponsored links received, and then use that to calculate payout. There's nothing you need to do. However, if you are interested in seeing how any of your ad placements performed, you can review the report for the ad in your account, and see how many clicks the sponsored links received.

Yes you can! We don't require exclusivity to be in the Ad Network. You can run ads through the beehiiv Ad Network and also continue to work with other ad partners or source ad deals yourself by setting up a direct sponsorship storefront.

Absolutely! You can use paid subscriptions, direct sponsorships, or paid recommendations to earn revenue too!

No, the Ad Network is only available for use within beehiiv. To utilize the Ad Network, your newsletter must be sent through beehiiv's platform. It cannot be used with third-party email providers.

For all of our ad placements, we run the metrics through additional layers of verification to remove any bot clicks and fraudulent clicks. This is why the metrics for the ads can be different when looking at ad reporting vs. the post reporting.

No, we currently don't offer translated text, but it's on our roadmap for future updates.

• Publishers that are interested in monetizing through ads but don't have an ad sales team or know who to reach out to for advertising opportunities are perfect for the Ad Network. We will do all the heavy lifting for you — from finding you ad opportunities to providing you the necessary assets and even handling reporting back to the advertiser. beehiiv will be like your external ad sales team.
• Publishers who work with advertisers directly but have some open ad slots or remnant inventory can also utilize the Ad Network. If you have specific dates for which you can't find ad sponsors, you can plug beehiiv ads in on those dates. This prevents you from having to send out an email without an ad, so you'll never miss an opportunity to monetize.
• If you've had an advertiser fall through or have a gap to fill, instead of scrambling for a last minute advertiser or having to run an email without an ad, you can easily plug in an appropriate ad for your newsletter through the Ad Network.
• If you're interested in advertising in beehiiv newsletters through the Ad Network, simply click Talk to the team from this page.