Top 22 PPC Platforms For Paid Advertising in 2024

This is our comprehensive guide on PPC Platforms for paid advertising. We'll cover exactly what advertising platforms and ad networks to consider, along with stregnths and weaknesses for each.

PPC platforms like Google, Meta & Amazon dominate the advertising landscape, but they're not the only ones.

Advertisers love pay per click platforms because they can quite clearly see how their advertising budget is performing.

What is a PPC Platform?

A PPC platform refers to the specific digital marketing platform used to create and launch pay-per-click advertising campaigns.

For example, Google Ads and Facebook ads are both PPC platforms.

These platforms provide you with all the tools you need to create adverts and target your specific audience depending on location, age, interests and more.

You can then launch pay per click ads on a respective ad network, where you'll be charged every time someone clicks on your ad.

Marketers prefer using PPC platforms to advertise because they can easily measure the ROI from their campaigns. 

The Top PPC Platforms For Paid Advertising

Now we're going to look at the top PPC platforms out there on the market right now for paid advertising, broken down into various categories including:

• Search - PPC platforms that are driven by search engines like Google or Bing.
• Social Media - Platforms like Facebook & Instagram.
• Video - Platforms like YouTube & Twitch where the focus is on video content.
• Display - Platforms that focus on working with publishers to show display ads.
• Others - We have a few extra bonus PPC platforms to show you as well.

Search PPC Advertising Platforms

These platforms primarily focus on placing ads in search engine results or other websites based on specific keywords entered by the user.

The most obvious one is Google, but we should also consider other platforms like Amazon as well. 

1) Google Ads

Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is the largest PPC platform in the World by some distance, and in our opinion it's the best.

It's the default search engine used by 92% of the World across all devices, and on top of that, their display advertising network runs banner & video adverts across a mammoth swathe of the internet as well. 

This is why most advertisers prefer to start with Google Ads as their number 1 platform, because the sheer scope and scale of Google means that paid advertisers can reach pretty much their entire audience.

• Ad Formats - Text, Video, Image, Email. They also have Performance Max which uses AI to cover all 4 of these! 
• Strengths - The biggest and most intelligent advertising platform in the World for a reason. Their ad technology is pretty incredible. 
• Weaknesses - Arguably not the best PPC advertising platform if your goal is to generate new demand, with other platforms like Instagram and TikTok providing a more engaging experience. Additionally, some of the Google reps can be annoying.  
• Pricing - Google Ads cost around $3.67 per click on average, but varies massively depending on industry and ad type.

2) Microsoft Ads (Bing)

Bing is the World's second largest search engine, and you can advertise directly there via Microsoft ads. 

Bing actually accounts for over 10% of the global desktop market.

It's growing fast as well since 2021, as it attempts to slowly dethrone Google.

The biggest thing for advertisers is that Bing users are older and wealthier than Google users. 

• Ad Formats: The primary use case is going to be text-ads on their search engine.
• Strengths: Access to an extremely wealthy userbase, and cheaper ad costs compared to Google. 
• Weaknesses: Smaller market share compared to Google.
• Pricing: Generally lower CPCs compared to Google Ads, averaging around $1.54 per click.

3) Amazon Ads

Amazon accounts for 47% of all Ecommerce spend in the USA. Simply put, almost everyone is using Amazon to search for products.

If you're an Ecommerce brand and your products are not on Amazon, you're probably missing out on a ton of revenue.

Amazon actually makes the third biggest ad revenue of all PPC platforms, behind Google and Meta.

This is because their platform is so incredibly popular and competitive that brands can actually buy advertising space directly on Amazon's website.

• Ad Formats: Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Display and Stores.
• Strengths: Direct access to Amazon's huge user base and platform, which is known to have extremely strong conversion rates. 
• Weaknesses: The platform is highly competitive especially in popular product categories, which can drive up costs. Additionally, you're kind of locked into the Amazon ecosystem.
• Pricing: You only get charged when someone clicks on your add (PPC style) but CPCs can vary widely based on the product category and competition. CPCs can range from $0.80 - $1.50

4) Apple Search Ads

Apple Search Ads is the advertising platform that gives app developers the opportunity to boost and promote their apps directly in the app store search results.

This platform is ONLY suitable for boosting your Apple app, and doesn't have any other use cases. 

But their annual ad revenue from this is around $7 billion, so it's an incredibly popular investment for many advertisers and entities that have an application for download.

• Ad Formats: Text & images are pulled direct from your app store listing, so you don't need to upload any creative assets. 
• Strengths: It's really great for targeting high-intent users. For example if someone was to search for "Spotify" but you have an amazing music app alternative, then your app could in fact appear above Spotify in the App store!
• Weaknesses: It's totally limited to the iOS ecosystem, so if you don't own an app, this is a non-starter. 
• Pricing: Cost-per-tap (CPT) model, where you pay only when a user taps on your ad. The average CPT can vary, but it often ranges from $0.50 to $3.00 depending on the competition.

Social Media PPC Advertising Platforms

There's a huge number of social media sites out there, and collectively that eat up a huge amount of people's time.

Let's see which platforms are the best for paid advertising.

5) Meta Ads (Facebook & Instagram)

Meta Ads use the joint power of both Facebook and Instagram, allowing advertisers to reach audiences on both platforms at the same time.

Our favorite feature of their advertising platform is that Meta will automatically deploy your ads to either Instagram or Facebook depending on where their algorithm is seeing the best results - So you don't need to manually allocate advertising budget to each platform individually. 

We all know that Facebook and Instagram offers a very visual and compelling experience that allows advertisers to really get creative.

• Ad Formats: Image, Video, Carousel, Slideshow, Stories etc.
• Strengths: Unmatched audience reach with incredible targeting options, and an advanced algorithm that will largely take care of that targeting for you using AI. Meta is also an incredible platform for PPC remarketing. 
• Weaknesses: Ad performance can be impacted by lack of cookies tracking, and also ad fatigue means that adverisers need to constantly refresh their creatives to remain relevant. 
• Pricing: Average CPC for Meta ranges from $0.50 to $2.00 depending on industry.

6) LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn Ads is a very unique opportunity because it's focuses 100% on the professional social network of LinkedIn, and there's really no serious alternative.

It's particularly great for recruiters, B2B companies and services, because it's really where professionals look to either improve their own career OR seek to improve their company's fortunes.

Additionally, you can leverage their InMail which is pretty awesome for some personal targeting. 

• Ad Formats: Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail (very cool feature), Text Ads, Dynamic Ads, Video Ads.
• Strengths: Pretty exceptional targeting because you can literally target based on industry, company size, job title etc. It's also a very 'serious' platform where people expect to conduct business on.
• Weaknesses: It's notorious for having a high CPC compared to other platforms.
• Pricing: Typically much higher than other platforms, with CPCs ranging from $5 to $8. But the ROI can still be incredible! 

7) X (Twitter) Ads

X (formerly known as Twitter) is still one of the most used, but also most controversial social media platforms out there.

Since Elon Musk acquired the company, he has tried to improve advertising performance and stamp out issues with bots that were impacting the platform.

We're still not 100% confident that the platform is a great choice for advertisers.

But, because of the sheer volume of people that use the platform, it's one that large brands should at least consider and test.

• Ad Formats: Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, Video Ads.
• Strengths: X is ideal for quick, impactful messages and has strong viral marketing potential.
• Weaknesses: Messages can quickly get lost or drowned out compared to other platforms, and there's still an issue with traffic quality from advertising reported by users.
• Pricing: We've seen reports that you need to start with a minimum $15k budget to get going on X, and ad reps will push you to spend at least $500 per day. 

8) TikTok Ads

TikTok truly is experiencing phenomenal growth as a platform, and marketers are starting to invest a ton into TikTok Ads.

To have any success on TikTok as a PPC platform, you need to create UGC (user generated content) because anything else simply won't work.

We spoke to a leading TikTok ads agency who say that they prefer taking their client's top performing organic posts and literally just using those as adverts.

• Ad Formats: In-feed video ads (primarily)
• Strengths: High engagement rates, particularly with younger demographics + rare ability to go viral.
• Weaknesses: Super fast-paced nature, and if your creative is weak you just won't do well (although the same can be said for a lot of platforms),
• Pricing: You have to spend a minimum of $50 per day, and they use based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions) which will work out to something like $1-10 per CPM. 

9) Reddit Ads

Reddit officially launched on the New York stock exchange in March 2024, so they're certainly in a position now where they want to improve their paid advertising capabilities.

They now have more than 260 million active weekly users, which means that big advertisers can't really ignore the platform anymore.

Most people struggle to get success with Reddit ads, but we do have a contact that gave us some very positive feedback:

"I have been having success with Reddit ads by targeting single subreddits per ad group, and using native-appearing ads that feel like natural posts. I only show them to USA traffic and mobile-only, and primarily to advertise app installs. It's been working very well."

• Ad Formats: Promoted Posts, Display Ads, Video Ads.
• Strengths: Ability to target audience by specific subreddits (categories) is pretty great.
• Weaknesses: Reddit users are pretty skeptical of advertisers. 
• Pricing: Typically a cost per click between $0.20 - $1.20.

10) Snapchat Ads

Snapchat still has a surprisingly strong user base, with over 800 million active monthly users Worldwide.

We've seen strong evidence to suggest that it's actually a great platform for targeting a very young user base e.g. between 15-20 years old.

It's completely geared toward very short form video content (similar to TikTok) and of course instant photographs.

• Ad Formats: Snap Ads (video), Sponsored Lenses, Sponsored Geofilters, Story Ads.
• Strengths: Very strong engagement from Gen Z and younger users.
• Weaknesses: Temporary nature of Snapchat content means ads have super short lifespan.
• Pricing: CPM (cost per thousand impressions) on Snapchat can range from $2.95 to $10.00.

11) Pinterest Ads

Pinterest is primarily a platform where people come to for inspiration and discovery - And it's absolutely vital that advertisers acknowledge that fact!

Very rarely is someone going to make a direct purchase from Pinterest, but it truly is an awesome place to get people acquainted with your brand.

Obviously with the nature of Pinterest, you're only going to get good results with Ecommerce brands either in the fashion space or home decor primarily. 

95% of brands fail with Pinterest ads because they just use the exact same strategy that worked on Facebook or Instagram.

• Ad Formats: Promoted Pins, Video Pins, Carousel Ads, Shopping Pins.
• Strengths: Fantastic platform for discovery because you can showcase products with beautiful images! 
• Weaknesses: Super niche target audience, particularly Women. However generally quite an affluent user base.
• Pricing: It's typically a PPC platform that focuses on charging advertisers per click, which range from $0.10 to $1.50 per click depending on the goals (engagement vs. traffic).

12) Quora Ads

Quora is definitely a much smaller platform that all the others so far, reporting around 300 million active users in 2023.

But Quora has had a resurgence lately because Google likes to show Quora results for a huge range of questions, because you're getting answers from real, verified people.

One of the big issues we saw reported with Quora ads is that people will often 'accidentally' click on them, because of their positioning and the fact they look so much like organic posts. 

With that said, it's still going to be an interesting top of funnel platform for some advertisers.

• Ad Formats: Image Ads, Text Ads, Promoted Answers.
• Strengths: Great for targeting people who are researching or looking for answers. Well educated audience - over 50% with a college degree.
• Weaknesses: Probably not going to be strong for consumer goods.
• Pricing: It's a PPC platform that usually charges between $0.10-$3 per click. 

13) Nextdoor Ads

Nextdoor is a social media platform that revolves entirely around local communities.

So in our opinion, this isn't a great PPC platform for large brands, but rather local businesses. 

That's because users only really care about content from their local neighborhood, and if you try hitting them with National ads, well it's just not really in keeping with the theme.

We've seen tons of local businesses e.g. window cleaners, contractors get great success with Nextdoor ads on a very low budget as well! 

• Ad Formats: Sponsored Posts, Local Deals.
• Strengths: Highly targeted local advertising.
• Weaknesses: Limited reach compared to national or global platforms.
• Pricing: Tend to be super cheap and flexible pricing model for local businesses.

Video PPC Advertising Platforms

Now we're going to dive into some of the options for video advertising platforms! 

14) YouTube Ads

The obvious huge one here is YouTube, and whilst it's technically part of Google ads (they're owned by the same company) we've separated this one out because YouTube just feels like a totally different website.

YouTube ads work extremely well for a huge number of use cases.

Obviously, YouTube is 100% video based, and it's actually cheaper than other platforms for the simple reason that most advertisers don't have the budget or appetite to creat video content for YouTube ads. So there is definitely an opportunity here! 

• Ad Formats: Skippable and non-skippable video ads, bumper ads, overlay ads, display ads, sponsored cards.
• Strengths: Over 2 billion+ users and the power of Google's incredible ad platform. You can also build way more trust with videos.
• Weaknesses: Producing high-quality video content can be more expensive, and a lot of users are pre-programmed to just skip video ads.
• Pricing: CPV (cost per view) can range from $0.010 to $0.030. 

15) Twitch Ads

Twitch is the World's largest streaming platform for gamers, and the engagement levels are kind of insane.

It's an incredibly popular platform for certain types of advertisers, and their technology is pretty awesome since they're owned by Amazon as well.

• Ad Formats: Stream ads (includes pre-roll and mid-roll), display ads, homepage ads.
• Strengths: Serious audience in gaming & tech communities. More immersive advertising into a highly engaged audience as well! Plus, the platform is 100% live (like TV).
• Weaknesses: Limited appeal outside of gaming and related entertainment sectors. Also easy for advertisers to get messaging all wrong.
• Pricing: They don't work with small advertisers, and you'll need a minimum budget of $50,000 to advertise on Twitch.

16) CTV Ads (StackAdapt)

CTV ads refers to 'connected TV ads' which is just a fancy way for saying advertising on TV streaming platforms.

So if you want to advertise on platforms like Hulu, Netflix, Disney+ and other smaller platforms, most advertisers will typically use a platform like Stackadapt in order to push ads out programatically to various TV platforms.

• Ad Formats: Video ads that play before, during, or after streaming content.
• Strengths: High engagement and viewability rates, as ads are often unskippable. CTV advertising on StackAdapt allows for precise targeting based on viewer data.
• Weaknesses: Higher costs compared to standard digital ads due to the premium nature of the inventory. Also, measuring direct conversion from CTV ads can be difficult.
• Pricing: CTV advertising has a higher CPM (cost per thousand impressions) due to the premium experience and advanced targeting capabilities.

Other PPC Advertising Platforms

Now we'll take a look at some other incredibly popular advertising platforms that serious marketers like to use.

17) Outbrain

Outbrain is a very unique PPC platform. 

Have you ever seen those recommended articles at the bottom of news websites that have super click-baity titles?

That's Outbrain at work.

It's called 'native advertising' and you basically pay to have your article or web page recommended on incredibly popular websites & blogs across the internet e.g. major magazines or newspapers.

• Ad Formats: Native ads that appear as part of a site’s content, recommended articles, and sponsored content links at the bottom of articles.
• Strengths: High user engagement by providing content that is relevant and interesting to the reader. Higher click through rate vs. traditional display ads.
• Weaknesses: There's an issue across native ads that often misleads users into thinking they're clicking on a legitimate news article. 
• Pricing: They use a PPC model at Outbrain, with the cost per click coming in typically between $0.10 and $1.00.

18) Taboola

Taboola is essentially just another alternative to Outbrain (above), but platforms are native advertising platforms that show ads up on media sites.

• Ad Formats: Native ads typically in the format of content recommendations.
• Strengths: Better CTR than typical display ads.
• Weaknesses: User fatigue + clickbait nature of ads. 
• Pricing: CPC ranges typically between $0.10 to $1. 

19) MediaVine

Mediavine is a very interesting display advertising network that focuses on working with high-quality publishers, particularly in the lifestyle space.

It gets a lot of good reviews & feedback for being an ad network that has genuinely high quality traffic, because most of the audience is super connected with more independent bloggers.

• Ad Formats: Display ads, video ads, sticky ads, and in-content ads that integrate smoothly within the publisher's content.
• Strengths: Mediavine is known for its strong publisher relationships, offering high fill rates and excellent RPMs (revenue per thousand impressions). 
• Weaknesses: Focus primarily on the lifestyle and entertainment niches.
• Pricing: Mediavine operates on a revenue share model, typically taking a percentage of the ad revenue generated from the publisher's site - It means for a pretty fair deal for publishers as well. 

20) Media.Net

Media.net is essentially Yahoo! and Bing's answer to Google's display ad network.

They have a huge audience reach, and they're used by a ton of different large publishers and advertisers in various ways.

• Ad Formats: Display ads, native ads, and video ads.
• Strengths: Strong focus on contextual relevance. Media.net's ad technology integrates with the Yahoo! Bing Network, providing access to a search-driven ad inventory
• Weaknesses: While Media.net offers substantial reach, it may not have the same level of immediate brand recognition as larger platforms like Google or Facebook.
• Pricing: Media.net typically operates on a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) model, with rates varying massively.

21) The Trade Desk

The trade desk is a DSP (demand side platform) which lets advertisers purchase ad space across a huge range of different platforms and formats.

Ad inventory from a huge range of sites like BBC, Conde Nast etc. is all hooked up to The Trade Desk. You can even advertise on 1000s of podcasts and streaming platforms as well. They kind of have everything!

They'll also report on how your ads are driving business outcomes.

Advertisers use a DSP so that they don't have to sign up to multiple different individual ad platforms.

• Ad Formats: Pretty much every type of display ad on every channel.
• Strengths: Very advanced targeting options. 
• Weaknesses: Pretty sophisticated, only for serious media buyers. 
• Pricing: The Trade Desk operates on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis, with prices varying.

22) Spotify Ads

Spotify ads is actually an incredibly strong platform, and the great thing is it's suitable for both large and small advertisers.

With pretty much the entire World regularly listening to podcasts & music, Spotify represents such a unique platform to capture audience's attention.

There's also just a $250 minimum budget to run for Spotify ads, making it very accessible. 

We're very impressed overall at the platform.

• Ad Formats: Audio ads, video ads, sponsored playlists, and podcast ads.
• Strengths: Spotify’s strong data on users lets you target precisely based on age, gender, genre etc. 
• Weaknesses: Audio ads may be less visually appealing than other platforms. Also, users on premium plans don't hear ads - Which can be a downside because they're probably the wealthiest portion of the audience! 
• Pricing: You can start a campaign for a $250 minimum budget! Super accessible. 

Summary

There's a pretty overwhelming number of different PPC platforms that advertisers have available to them nowadays.

Your decisions should always begin with your own brand and product - If you're a local services business then platforms like Google and Nextdoor are going to be optimal.

But if you're an Ecommerce brand then you're almost certainly going to be wanting to advertise on Meta. 

It's also vital to remember that some platforms (like Pinterest) are particularly strong for generating demand, but perhaps not so good at converting customers on the spot.

We recommend running patient experiments across different platforms and measuring results very carefully, so that you understand the impact each platform has had on your revenue and business outcomes.