Black Friday and Cyber Monday are right around the corner, and if you’re a gaming publisher, you know this means more than a stampede of people fighting deathbattles for Samsung’s latest smart TV. It is one of the most competitive weekends online, where audience attention tightens and ad inventory fills up fast.

But contrary to what most expect, volume alone is not enough to win the weekend. Publishers who outperform during BFCM are the ones who come prepared with a focused plan to reach the right users and extract real value from every visit. 

That’s why for this month’s playbook, we’re sharing actionable tactics that help gaming publishers make the most of the BFCM surge and turn short-term traffic spikes into sustainable revenue growth.

Adjust Floors Prices for Peak Yield

In the weeks leading up to BFCM, review your existing floor prices and raise them slightly to align with the seasonal spike in advertiser demand. As competition for impressions intensifies, advertisers are more willing to pay premium rates to reach engaged audiences, especially on high-value placements such as the formats that we’ll mention below. 

Increasing floors during this period helps publishers capture that extra bid density and ensures inventory is sold at its true market value. Once the event ends, revisit those floors and reduce them by around 15–20% to maintain strong fill rates as budgets normalize. This simple recalibration helps sustain delivery and stable CPMs after the surge without leaving revenue on the table. 

Choose Formats Built for Peak Performance

During the weekend, the challenge for gaming publishers isn’t adding more ad slots but choosing formats that keep attention without breaking the user flow. Formats designed for visibility and flow drive higher CPMs and longer session times, outperforming static banners that often go unseen. For this year’s BFCM try these formats:

• Sticky Units: Make these your “always-on” anchors during BFCM. A bottom rail on mobile or a side rail on desktop keeps ads visible as users scroll through long pages. Research shows that sticky placements can increase viewability by up to 60% and therefore drive up higher CTRs, resulting in stronger CPMs and fill rate.

• In-Feed Native or Video Placements: Embed ads naturally within article streams every 800 to 1000 words on long guides or reviews. These units benefit from stronger engagement metrics, with native ads delivering up to 8.8× higher CTRs than standard banners.

To explore more ways to improve ad visibility and engagement, check out our playbook on Unlocking Better Revenue Opportunities with Ad Viewability, where we break down strategies that help gaming publishers boost performance through smarter ad placement.

Optimize Popular Pages

Your highest-traffic pages often account for a large share of total impressions and ad revenue. During BFCM, these pages become even more valuable as organic search interest and repeat visits spike across gaming audiences researching deals, builds, and updates. Ensuring that these pages are fully optimized can significantly improve ad performance and long-term revenue stability.

Once you’ve identified your top-performing pages, focus on optimizing their performance across devices. Fast load times are essential for maintaining strong viewability and ensuring ads serve smoothly.

Check that all ad placements render correctly and that lazy-loading settings don’t delay or skip delivery. During BFCM, direct premium demand toward these high-traffic pages, and continue monitoring them afterward to extend the momentum of seasonal surges into steady, year-round revenue growth.

Create High-Value Content That Captures BFCM Attention

BFCM already guarantees a surge in advertiser spend, but the opportunity lies in making sure your content earns its share of that attention. High-value content attracts users organically, keeps them engaged longer, and gives advertisers more premium placements to compete for.

Invest in content that naturally aligns with what gamers are searching for and excited about during this period. Listicles and features, such as “Top Games to Revisit Over the Holidays” or  “Best Skins and Cosmetic Bundles to Grab During BFCM”, tend to perform well. These formats are digestible and sharable, improving the chances for it to surface across discovery feeds and search during peak activity.

Create BFCM Deal-Centric Listicles Optimized For Your Gamer Audience

BFCM is when players look for upgrades that enhance how they play, stream, or compete. Creating deal-focused listicles that connect products to specific games or player types helps you meet that intent while giving advertisers valuable, high-context placements.

Focus on content that reflects what your readers actually care about. For example, Best Gaming Mice for Fortnite Builders, Top Monitors for Competitive TFT Players, or Best Keyboards for Streamers Upgrading This Black Friday.

Use platforms like Amazon or Newegg to find trending products, then add quick recommendations or insights that speak to your community’s needs. These targeted articles attract purchase-ready readers and perform well in both search and social during the BFCM rush 

Powering Peak-Season Performance with Nitro

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are among the biggest opportunities of the year for gaming publishers, but capitalizing on that surge requires more than just preparation. It takes the right infrastructure, ad strategy, and demand to turn audience attention into measurable growth.

Nitro gives publishers the foundation to do exactly that. Our platform combines flexible, high-performing ad formats with curated premium demand to help every impression reach its full value. Each placement is optimized for visibility and flow, ensuring monetization enhances the user experience rather than interrupting it.

Supporting this is Nitro’s Client Success Team, a dedicated group of specialists who work closely with publishers to identify revenue opportunities, refine strategies, and ensure site performance is optimized for every major traffic event. Their hands-on guidance helps publishers stay agile during peak periods like BFCM, turning seasonal momentum into measurable results.

Backed by a network of over 500 premium gaming and entertainment websites, Nitro’s ecosystem is built to deliver the speed, reliability, and control that peak performance demands.

Nitro is dedicated to reinventing website monetization for the gaming industry. Our ad tech platform combines uncompromised user experience and nitro-speed revenue and service with Net 7 Payouts, same-day support and the industry’s fastest ad loading.