How to Choose Ad Platforms for China Tech Blogs: A Review of Baidu Union Historical Data After Applying to Media.net

Recently, I have been re-evaluating how to monetize my blog with ads.

The site currently focuses on Chinese technical content, though I have also set up an English version. Monthly page views have reached about 54,000, but the audience is still primarily from mainland China. Because I do not want to enable auto ads, nor do I plan to cram pages with ad slots just to increase revenue, the available platforms are actually quite limited.

Previously, I applied for Wanwei Ads, which seemed to fit the positioning of a Chinese technical website. The platform’s application success page explicitly stated that after approval, an invitation would be sent via SMS and email; if no notification was received after over a week, it meant the application had been rejected.

After waiting for more than a week, I ultimately received no communication.

This means that, at least at this stage, the Wanwei Ads route is essentially a dead end.

Therefore, I started looking for other platforms that support manual ad placements. This round of investigation mainly focused on two directions:

1. Try applying for Media.net;
2. Re-examine my long-unused Baidu Union account and its historical revenue data.

1. What I really need is not another “auto ads platform”

Before looking for a new platform, I first clarified my own requirements.

I want a platform that meets at least the following conditions:

• Supports manual ad placement decisions by the webmaster;
• Does not force auto ads to be enabled;
• Does not automatically insert a large number of ads into articles;
• Accepts independent technical blogs;
• Can cover visitors primarily from mainland China;
• Ideally, can generate revenue through ad impressions rather than relying entirely on clicks.

The last point is particularly important.

Readers of technical blogs usually come to the site with a specific problem. They might be looking for a command, a solution to an error, or a server configuration. Once they find the answer, they often leave quickly and do not click on ads as frequently as users on news, entertainment, or consumer shopping sites.

If an ad platform relies entirely on CPC—cost per click—even if the site has a decent amount of traffic, the final revenue might still be very limited.

2. Why I ultimately chose to try Media.net first

When “Microsoft and Yahoo’s ad platform” was initially mentioned, what came to mind was actually Media.net, not the pubCenter that Microsoft later launched separately.

Media.net has long been associated with Yahoo and Bing’s ad demand, primarily offering contextual, display, and programmatic advertising solutions. In terms of product form, it is closer to AdSense than platforms aimed solely at developer traffic, and it allows publishers to control their own ad slots.

However, Media.net no longer has the obvious self-service registration portal it once did.

The official website presents more business partnership introductions for publishers; the actual entry point to submit information is the contact form on the Contact page.

The form requires the following information:

• First Name;
• Last Name;
• Company;
• Work Email;
• Region;
• What You Do;
• A brief partnership description.

For Region, you can select:

APAC-excluding Japan

APAC-excluding Japan

For publisher identity, I selected:

Publisher/Media Owner

Publisher/Media Owner

This indicates that Media.net at least accepts publisher inquiries from the Asia-Pacific region, but this does not mean it is necessarily suitable for mainland China traffic.

3. The biggest question before applying: Can mainland China traffic be effectively monetized?

Media.net’s main advantage is contextual advertising.

The platform strives to display ads relevant to the page topic based on webpage content, user intent, and ad demand. For English content and Western visitors, this model is quite mature.

But my website has several specific circumstances:

• Chinese content still makes up the majority;
• About 90% of traffic comes from mainland China;
• Readers are primarily developers, webmasters, and tech professionals;
• The loading speed of overseas ad scripts in mainland China is uncertain;
• There is no public information on whether Media.net has enough Chinese advertisers.

Therefore, instead of directly asking how to deploy ads, I first confirmed three questions in the contact form:

1. Whether it supports Chinese content;
2. Whether it can effectively monetize mainland China traffic;
3. Whether revenue is calculated based on impressions, clicks, or a mixed model.

Due to the character limit on the form’s final input field, I ultimately filled in a condensed description:

Chinese/English tech blog, ~54K monthly PV; 90% from mainland China. Do you support Chinese content/China traffic? Is revenue impression-, click-, or mixed-based? Email preferred.

Chinese/English tech blog, ~54K monthly PV; 90% from mainland China. Do you support Chinese content/China traffic? Is revenue impression-, click-, or mixed-based? Email preferred.

Although this text is very short, it contains the most critical information:

• The site is a Chinese/English technical blog;
• Approximately 54,000 monthly PV;
• About 90% of traffic comes from mainland China;
• Want to confirm if Chinese content and mainland traffic are supported;
• Want to confirm the specific billing model;
• Prefer to communicate via email first.

After submission, the page displayed:

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
We will be in touch soon.

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
We will be in touch soon.

At this point, the Media.net application is temporarily on hold.

It cannot yet be considered as having entered the review stage, nor can it be assumed that integration will definitely be possible. Currently, I have only submitted a publisher inquiry, and I still need to wait for an email reply.

4. Media.net might not be a self-service ad network for ordinary small sites

Judging from the current official website structure, Media.net’s publisher onboarding model has clearly shifted toward business partnerships.

It does not simply let webmasters register an account, submit a website, and wait for automatic review. Instead, it requires filling in company, work email, region, and publisher identity first, after which a staff member will contact you.

This means that several scenarios might occur next:

• Understanding the website’s situation via email;
• Requesting traffic sources and access data;
• Directly informing that mainland China traffic does not align with their partnership direction;
• Scheduling a phone or video conference;
• Providing a suitable programmatic advertising solution;
• No further reply.

Whether Media.net is worth pursuing depends on how it answers the questions regarding mainland China traffic and Chinese content.

Before they explicitly reply, there is no need to prepare ad slots in advance, nor is there any need to modify the current website for it.

5. Recovering my long-unused Baidu Union account

While waiting for a reply from Media.net, I remembered Baidu Union.

I had used Baidu Union before, but had not served ads for many years. In July 2026, I even received a “Baidu Union ad serving reminder” email, prompting me that the account had not served ad code for a while and that I could log in again to retrieve the code.

When logging into Baidu Union, I first entered an old account.

This account showed:

• Website cooperation not yet activated;
• Real-name authentication status abnormal;
• Financial information not yet filled in;
• Needs supplementary information such as bank card, ID card, and phone number.

I originally thought this was the account I had used for Baidu Union, so I proceeded to the financial information page.

While filling out the payment details, the system prompted:

修改财务信息需先绑定手机号

修改财务信息需先绑定手机号

When I subsequently tried to bind a phone number, a new prompt appeared:

该手机号已经被使用

该手机号已经被使用

This indicates that the phone number I am currently using is likely bound to another Baidu Union account.

Baidu’s account system has been quite complex for a long time. A single person might simultaneously have a Baidu account, an email account, an old username, and Union accounts registered during different historical periods. After switching accounts again, I finally found the old account that had actually been used for Baidu Union.

6. The real Baidu Union account still retains the website from 2017

After logging into the other account, the right side of the page showed that real-name authentication had been completed.

Upon entering “Website Cooperation”, I could see that the previously added website still existed:

• Website domain: shuijingwanwq.com;
• Website name: Shuijingwan;
• Creation date: April 14, 2017;
• Activated services: Network Alliance Promotion Cooperation;
• Status: Approved.

This also explains why the phone number could not be bound to the first account just now: the phone number must have been bound to this old account all along.

Since the website, account, and historical services still exist, there is no need to reapply for Baidu Union or recreate the website.

What really needs to be confirmed is:

Did Baidu Union’s ad revenue back then come from impressions, or mainly from clicks?

7. Historical reports prove that impressions alone brought almost no revenue

After entering Baidu Union’s data reports, I found the historical ad serving data from the second half of 2017.

The statistical period was:

2017-07-01 至 2018-01-01

2017-07-01 至 2018-01-01

The report data showed:

• Code slot impressions: 15,283;
• Page impressions: 8,261;
• Clicks: 2;
• Click-through rate: 0.01%;
• Estimated total revenue: 0.19 RMB;
• CPC: 0.09 RMB;
• eCPM: 0.01 RMB.

This set of data is highly representative.

Two clicks multiplied by a CPC of about 0.09 RMB results in exactly close to the total revenue of 0.19 RMB:

2 × 0.09 元 ≈ 0.18 元

2 × 0.09 元 ≈ 0.18 元

The eCPM in the report does not mean the platform paid revenue based on impressions.

eCPM is simply the existing revenue converted into an average earning per thousand impressions. Even if the actual revenue came entirely from clicks, an eCPM can still be calculated.

Therefore, this historical record basically confirms:

Baidu Union’s website ads at that time relied mainly on effective click settlement; simply generating ad impressions did not bring significant revenue.

8. Why it is difficult for technical blogs to increase revenue relying on click-based ads

This historical data also explains a long-standing issue.

Technical blogs often have very low ad click-through rates.

My blog’s readers mainly come from search engines, and their purpose for visiting is usually very specific, such as:

• Looking up a Linux command;
• Solving a WordPress error;
• Checking Nginx, PHP, or database configurations;
• Troubleshooting server, CDN, or caching issues;
• Learning about a plugin or development tool.

These types of readers usually read the main text directly and rarely click on ads unrelated to their problems.

If the ad content does not match the technical topic well, the click-through rate will drop even further.

In the historical report, 15,283 code slot impressions generated only 2 clicks, with a click-through rate of just 0.01%. This is enough to show that general click-based ads do not match well with technical blog readers.

9. Why Baidu Union might not be suitable for reintegration

Data from 2017 cannot directly represent 2026.

Over these years, advertiser structure, ad platform algorithms, cost per click, and website traffic have all changed. Theoretically, the results of reintegrating Baidu Union today might differ.

However, based on historical data and the current website characteristics, I still do not plan to redeploy Baidu Union ad code.

There are four main reasons.

1. Revenue relies too heavily on clicks

If it still primarily settles based on CPC, the low click-through rate of technical blogs will continue to be the core limitation.

2. Ad matching may not be better than existing solutions

Baidu Union caters to domestic comprehensive ad demand, while my content focuses on areas like WordPress, servers, CDN, AI, development tools, and technical operations.

If the advertiser inventory lacks related products, even if impressions increase, the click-through rate will not improve significantly.

3. New ad scripts will increase website costs

Reintegrating means adding new third-party scripts, ad slot management, and privacy statements, which could also impact page performance.

If the expected revenue is very low, these additional costs are unnecessary.

4. Historical data has already completed the validation

I originally considered reintegrating Baidu Union for testing because I could not confirm its past actual performance.

Now that I have found the historical reports and confirmed the relationship between impressions, clicks, and revenue from back then, there is no need to conduct another long-term test.

10. Status of ad platforms at the current stage

After this round of investigation, the status of several platforms is now quite clear.

Wanwei Ads

It has the highest match with Chinese technical websites and mainland China traffic, and supports a model closer to manual ad placements.

However, no notification was received for over a week after this round of application, so it can be considered as not approved.

Media.net

A publisher inquiry has been submitted.

Currently waiting for them to confirm:

• Whether it supports Chinese content;
• Whether it can effectively monetize mainland China traffic;
• Whether it uses CPC, CPM, or mixed billing;
• Whether further email or meeting communication is required.

Baidu Union

The old account and the approved website both still exist.

However, historical data shows that ad revenue mainly relied on a very small number of clicks, and the overall performance is not suitable for the current technical blog, so it will not be redeployed for now.

Google AdSense

Continues to be used as the foundational ad solution at this stage.

This article does not disclose specific revenue data, but judging from current actual performance, there is temporarily no reason to replace the current solution for Baidu Union.

11. Small and medium-sized technical blogs in mainland China are not without advertising value

The conclusion drawn from this round of investigation is not that “technical blogs cannot earn ad revenue.”

The real issue is that existing general ad networks may not necessarily accurately measure the value of technical readers.

In the eyes of programmatic advertising platforms, mainland China technical traffic might have several disadvantages:

• Relatively limited advertiser competition;
• Low click-through rates;
• Overseas ad script loading might be affected by cross-border networks;
• Limited ad matching capability for Chinese technical content;
• The scale of independent blogs is insufficient to receive dedicated business support.

But for cloud services, development tools, enterprise software, AI products, server vendors, and WordPress service providers, these readers themselves could be highly targeted.

In other words:

General ad networks value low-cost impressions and clicks, while direct advertisers value whether the audience happens to be developers, webmasters, and technical decision-makers.

Therefore, ad networks are not the only direction.

What might be more worth exploring in the future includes:

• Fixed ad slots for technical products;
• Monthly brand sponsorships;
• Developer tool trial campaigns;
• Direct advertising for cloud services and enterprise software;
• Affiliate marketing;
• Indirect conversions brought about by technical consulting.

12. Phased conclusion

This round of investigation ultimately accomplished two things.

First, a formal inquiry has been submitted to Media.net. Based on their reply regarding Chinese content, mainland China traffic, and the billing model, I will decide whether to proceed with integration.

Second, I recovered the actual old Baidu Union account and verified its true performance back then through the 2017 historical reports.

The final conclusion is:

Baidu Union’s historical revenue relied almost entirely on clicks, and impressions themselves did not bring significant earnings; for technical blogs with low click-through rates, it is not suitable as a replacement for the current ad solution.

In the short term, I will not redeploy Baidu Union, nor will I arbitrarily add more ad scripts just to find a new platform.

The more reasonable approach at this stage is to keep the currently stable ad solution, wait for Media.net’s reply, and gradually explore direct advertising partnerships that better match technical readers.

For small and medium-sized technical blogs in mainland China, ad monetization is indeed not easy.

But what is truly worth optimizing is perhaps not constantly switching ad network platforms, but finding advertisers willing to pay for a highly targeted technical audience.