How to Earn Money from Images Using In-Image Advertising

We all know that we can earn money from text links (in-text advertising) and videos (in-video advertising), but did you know that we can earn money from our images too? And I am not talking about earning money by uploading your images to image-sharing sites or stock photo sites, but earning money just by displaying images on your own blog or site. Cool, isn’t it?

Yes! You can now earn money just by displaying images on your own sites. The only thing you have to do is sign up for an in-image advertising network and then add their JavaScript code or plugin to your blog or site. After you add the code, these networks will start displaying small adverts at the bottom of your images. These adverts only appear when you hover your mouse around the advert space, so they won’t disturb the visual appeal of the images.

Many image-focused sites like entertainment sites, movie news portals, celebrity fan sites, and wallpaper sites use these platforms to earn a lot of revenue. Maybe you could too.

Additionally: In-image advertising works best on websites with high-quality visuals and strong user engagement, making it a great monetization option for image-heavy blogs.

List of In-Image Advertising Networks

Currently, there are very few in-image advertising networks, but we hope that in the near future, more companies will take advantage of this unexplored niche.

1) Image Space Media

Image Space Media was the first company that experimented in this niche. Image Space Media (formerly PicAd Media) is a TechCrunch50 Demopit company and is the most popular in this niche.

Image Space Media pays you for displaying their in-image advertising on your website’s images. They have a highly intuitive dashboard called the PubStop platform. This platform allows publishers to evaluate which of their images are yielding higher earnings so they can place content in areas that earn the highest click-through rates (CTRs).

The dashboard features a section through which you can view ad impressions, earnings, CTRs, and eCPMs (much like Google AdSense).

Currently, Image Space Media offers only text adverts but plans to launch adverts in other media soon. Image Space Media also offers a plugin for WordPress users so that they do not have to insert code manually. Payments are sent through PayPal.

Just have a look at an example of an Image Space Media ad:

The box appearing at the bottom is an ad on that particular image.

2) GumGum

GumGum was first started in 2008 as a technology to track photos so that photo owners could generate royalty revenue from people who published or used the photos on their websites. Just a few days back, they completely transitioned to in-image ads. The company had started testing in-image advertising a few months ago, and now it is live.

Even though the dashboard of this network does not have many options, it does show earnings and impressions reports.

This advertising network overlays small banners on your images. You just need to add a small JavaScript code to your site to start earning, and payments are made via PayPal. See below for an example of the advert.

The small “Dear John” ad is a GumGum advert.

3) Embed Anything

While this platform is not a fully in-image advertising network, this company does use the in-image advertising framework to help you earn money.

Embed Anything’s basic idea seems somewhat similar to what GumGum had implemented when it first launched—the idea of helping picture owners profit whenever somebody uses their images.

The startup’s technology allows you to add an embed button (which only displays when you hover over it) on your images (as well as on articles) on your website so that anyone can grab an image code and use it on their web pages. Once the image is embedded, an overlay image will start displaying along with a link back to the source.

The network allows publishers to choose which advertisements they want to display in that ad space. Publishers can use any ad network like AdSense or AdBrite. For 50 impressions, the publisher’s ad will be displayed, and for the other 50, the network will display its own AdSense ads (a 50–50 revenue-sharing model). The network offers a dashboard where you can check how many impressions your image has received, where the image has been embedded, and also allows you to delete unwanted embeds.

Embed Anything also offers a WordPress plugin which you can use on your WordPress blog. For other sites, you need to add a small JavaScript code.

And yes, I forgot to mention—this type of advert has more CTR than even AdSense ads.

4) Pixazza

Pixazza’s unique advantage is its crowdsourcing platform, which uses experts to identify, tag, and match products found within online images.

Rather than relying exclusively on technology to drive product matching, Pixazza’s platform harnesses the taste, judgment, and insights of experts around the world. The combination of product experts and computer algorithms allows Pixazza to dynamically create and deliver optimal content related to each image.

How It Works

Consumers simply move their mouse over an image posted on their favorite website, and information appears to provide more detail or enable a purchase. With a simple hover action, consumers can get the look, details, and information about what is inside an image.

5) pixWISE

pixWISE helps site publishers optimize revenue generation across their web properties. Embed the pixWISE code on your website or application to immediately start enjoying new revenue streams when users interact with your photos. The contextual, location-based, and demographics-based in-image advertising delivery guarantees relevance and real value for your users.

Features

• Contextual keyword-based algorithms dynamically analyze the images on your site to serve relevant advertising.
• Minimum image dimension settings and tagging give you granular control over where ads should appear.
• Choose aggressive (ads appear dynamically) or passive (ads appear on user action) revenue generation options.
• Self-service payments via PayPal when your earnings reach USD 100.
• Web-based reporting and analytics interfaces allow you to optimize revenue generation.
• Earn 80% of revenue from ads served on your website. Serve your own Google AdSense or other ads and earn
• 100% of revenue when pixWISE can’t deliver.
• Supports standard IAB advertising formats for image and text ads.

6) AdsInImages

AdsInImages technology scans the content on affiliated sites, identifies images, and displays related banners above them in the form of overlays or bases.

Payout Details

1. Image Space Media: Payouts are made once your account reaches $25. You can receive payment through check or PayPal.
2. GumGum: Payouts are done monthly, but no payout limits have been mentioned. Payments are made through PayPal.
3. Embed Anything: You do not need to worry about payouts because you will be using your own advertising network such as AdSense or AdBrite.
4. Pixazza: Pixazza calculates a publisher’s earnings for each enabled site at the end of every month. If a site reaches its minimum monthly payment amount, Pixazza issues payment by the end of the following month. By default, the minimum payout is $10 but can be configured up to $500. Payment is made via PayPal or check.
5. pixWISE: Self-service payments via PayPal once earnings reach USD 100.
6. AdsInImages: Payments are sent 30 days after the last day of each month via PayPal or bank transfer. There is no minimum for PayPal payouts. For bank transfers, the minimum payout is USD 200.

Instructions: Before choosing an in-image advertising network, test it on a few images first to ensure it does not negatively impact user experience or page loading speed.

Case Study: Image Monetization in Action

A movie review blog implemented in-image advertising on high-traffic image galleries. Within a month, image-based ads generated an additional revenue stream without affecting bounce rate, proving to be an effective complement to existing AdSense placements.

You were asking me the best among these networks. It depends on what kind of site you have. If you run a celebrity or movie-related site, then GumGum is ideal. For other types of websites, I would recommend Image Space Media. I cannot comment definitively on the CTR of these networks because they are comparatively new. GumGum was released only a short time ago, so there hasn’t been enough time to thoroughly analyze CTR rates.

Conclusion

In-image advertising opens up a new and creative way to monetize image-rich websites. By choosing the right network and testing placements carefully, publishers can earn additional income without compromising visual appeal or user experience.