Before the 7th of August, 2026, Journey by Mediavine required publishers to have at least 10,000 premium sessions in the last 30 days from their approved territories; while the location requirement remains the same, publishers no longer need 10,000 sessions but just 1,000 sessions.
So if your website has up to 1,000 sessions, which you could likely get with about 1,100+ views monthly, and the traffic comes mainly from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and so on, you are qualified to apply.
Earlier on, publishers were required to install the Grow by Mediavine plugin on the site for 30 days, but that is no longer required.
Mediavine is streamlining the application process and also creating a stronger connection between the Journey brand and the main Mediavine program.
It seems like Journey by MV is fading away gradually as this new process integrates publishers directly into the same dashboard and experience that a regular Mediavine user will have.
According to their blog:
“Journey is how we find and support the next generation of publishers before anyone else does, and it’s why we’re pouring resources into the program.”
What this means for Small Publishers
This is an opportunity to monetize your sites faster if you know how to get tier-1 traffic.
However, some users reported being immediately rejected even though they technically qualify.
The update is early, and it might just be some issues they need to fix.
As a user myself, the previous Journey by MV process was buggy, with a lot of complaints from users.
I hope this serves better.
If you have sites with the Grow plugin installed and you were waiting for approval, you need to log in to your Mediavine dashboard to check the status.
Because it seems all the previous installations are no longer valid, you need to apply using this new method.
This is what I experienced myself.
Thank you for reading so far; let me know what your thoughts are.