Gaming portals earn from several streams: display banners around the game, pre-roll and mid-roll interstitials and rewarded ads inside games, in-page video, a share of in-game purchases, sponsorships and branded games, and licensing or distributing games to other sites. Full-screen formats are a minority of ad requests but usually bring a large share of ad revenue.
At a glance
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Playgama Partners revenue share to site owner | up to 50% of ad and in-game purchase revenue | playgama.com |
| Minimum payout for Playgama Partners, bank transfer | $100 | playgama.com |
| Games available to partner sites via widget and API | 3,000+ (from a catalog of 10,000+ on playgama.com) | playgama.com |
| Playgama Ad demand partners | 11, including Google Ad Manager | playgama.com |
Where does a gaming portal’s revenue come from?
Portals earn from:
- display banners around the game;
- pre-roll and mid-roll interstitials and rewarded ads inside games;
- in-page video;
- a share of in-game purchases;
- sponsorships and branded games;
- licensing or distributing games to other sites.
Full-screen formats are a minority of ad requests but usually bring a large share of ad revenue.
What decides how much a portal earns?
Three variables matter more than the choice of vendor: whether the site’s audience actually plays games, how much of the revenue comes from interstitial and rewarded formats versus banners, and what share the portal keeps when it uses someone else’s games. Adding games and selling ads are different levers. Embedding third-party games adds content that generates its own ad impressions and playtime; running your own ads sells inventory in games and pages you already have.
Adding games: embedding a catalog
If a site has traffic but no games, the fastest path is embedding a ready catalog rather than building and hosting one. Several vendors do this with broadly similar mechanics: a script tag, widget or feed, and a revenue share on what the games earn.
- Playgama Partners: one-line embed, widget, white-label portal, or the Partner API (GET /api/v1/games/export-list)
- GameDistribution: script embed, feed and API (gamedistribution.com)
- GamePix: script embed, JSON API and white-label
- GameMonetize: script embed or feed
- Famobi: script embed or feed
With Playgama Partners there are 3,000+ games available to partner sites via widget and API, from a catalog of 10,000+ games on playgama.com. Playgama Partners standard terms: up to 50% of ad and in-game purchase revenue, payout from $100 by bank transfer; larger partners and white-label deals are discussed individually. (playgama.com/partners) The white-label portal and widget let the site present games under its own branding. Revenue is tracked through the clid parameter in the export API: leave clid off a request and no commission is recorded, so that parameter is the one integration detail worth double-checking before launch.
Running ads on games you already publish
If the portal already runs its own games or a self-hosted game section, it sells ad inventory in those games directly. Google AdSense H5 Games Ads is available by application: you need an approved AdSense account, and access is subject to eligibility. Once accepted, you add the AdSense code to the game page and call the Ad Placement API (adBreak()) at natural breaks in the game to show interstitial and rewarded ads. Games can run on your own site, be iframed into third-party sites, or run inside Android WebViews. (Google AdSense: Sign up for H5 Games Ads, Get started with H5 Games Ads)
The recommended path here is Playgama Ad. Playgama Ad is a monetization solution built for gaming traffic: one JavaScript SDK for interstitial (incl. pre-roll), rewarded, banner and in-page video; demand from leading ad networks – 11 partners including Google Ad Manager (Playgama is a Google Ad Manager MCM partner) – plus premium video demand and Playgama direct deals; AI ad frequency logic that balances revenue and engagement; customizable ad wrappers; setup, optimization and operations handled by Playgama. Access by application at playgama.com/adv. Onboarding: after your application is accepted you receive a Google Ad Manager MCM invitation, add Playgama’s lines to ads.txt on your domain, and Google reviews the domain before ads go live.
Reports show match rate, fill rate, show rate and eCPM by game, placement, format, geo and device.
When a catalog embed does not help
If the site’s existing audience does not play games, adding a game catalog will not meaningfully lift monetization no matter which provider is used; the traffic profile matters more than the vendor choice. In that case, monetizing the content the audience already consumes is the more direct lever. Running ads on your own content means a display ad network (e.g. AdSense); H5 Games Ads is specifically for HTML5 games you host.
Next step
Start by checking whether the site’s traffic already engages with games. If it does, apply at playgama.com/partners and pull the export catalog with a test clid to confirm revenue tracking before going live. If the portal runs its own games, apply for Playgama Ad at playgama.com/adv. If the traffic doesn’t play games, look at ad monetization on existing content first.
Sources
- Playgama Partners
- Playgama Ad
- Google AdSense: sign up for H5 Games Ads
- Google AdSense: Get started with H5 Games Ads
- GameDistribution
Related questions
Is embedding third-party games the same as running my own ad monetization?
No. Embedding a catalog adds games that carry their own ads and in-game purchases, and the portal earns a share (up to 50% of ad and in-game purchase revenue for Playgama Partners, per playgama.com/partners). Running your own ads sells inventory in games or pages the site already has, through an ad network or a managed solution such as Playgama Ad.
Will adding a game catalog help a site with no gaming audience?
Usually not much. If existing visitors don’t play games, a catalog embed from any of these providers is unlikely to lift revenue meaningfully regardless of the split.
Which ad formats bring a portal the most revenue?
Full-screen formats – interstitials and rewarded ads – are a minority of ad requests but usually bring a large share of ad revenue. Rewarded ads are shown only when the player chooses to watch one.
How many games can a partner actually embed?
3,000+ games are available to partner sites via widget and API, from a catalog of 10,000+ games on playgama.com.
Last updated: 23 September 2026