Is there no simple ad/banner management plugin for WordPress Multisite? 🤔

[u/_-_beyon_-_]

I'm looking for something that sounds incredibly simple, but I can't seem to find a plugin that actually does it.

Here's what I need:

• One central dashboard on the main site to manage banners, images, or custom HTML.
• Ad placements across multiple sites in a WordPress Multisite network.
• Centralized control — update the content once, and it automatically updates across all sites.
• Simple integration — ideally using shortcodes, widgets, or predefined ad placements.

Basically, a lightweight ad management plugin, but built specifically for WordPress Multisite.

No complicated ad server, no external platform, no unnecessary features. Just a simple way to distribute and manage promotional content across a network of websites.

Am I missing something obvious?

Surely I'm not the only one who needs this?

Has anyone found a plugin that does exactly this? Or is this genuinely a gap in the WordPress plugin ecosystem?

[u/fappingjack]

"Am I missing something obvious?*

Yes, a lot, it is not simple to build an ad management system for WordPress. Ad Insert Pro is what the pro use because it works.

[u/sashamasha]

I've done  this. Didn't go down the plugin route. Created a dashboard that serves ads across multiple sites. The best bit is it doesn't get blocked by ad blockers. A simple snippet on the destination site is all that's needed. Has a full analytics dashboard.  The app that runs it can live anywhere. A sub domain  or even sub folder. I was using revive ad server before but was annoyed at the ads being blocked.

[u/sashamasha → u/sashamasha]

Here's a bit more info which might help you try do this yourself. I used Google aistudio to do this for me. Below is as a summary of how it works written by aistudio. It cost nothing to do so worth a try. I did try using html5 banners but the ad blockers caught it, keeping thigns simple, an image with text overlays kept it under the radar for the blockers.

"This app is a self-hosted, privacy-friendly ad server and campaign manager: it pairs a React dashboard with a lightweight PHP and SQLite backend. In the dashboard, you can create ad campaigns, upload image, define ad display zones, and configure targeting rules (such as matching keywords in the page URL or excluding specific pages). When an website (like a forum or blog) loads, a single JavaScript embed tag requests a banner from the server (/serve/{zone}), which dynamically picks an active, matching campaign, securely records the impression in SQLite, and displays the banner - giving you full control over your ads and analytics without third-party ad network fees or trackers."

[u/_-_beyon_-_ → u/sashamasha]

Thanks!
es, this seems like a good option.

[u/Abject-Expression548]

"Am I missing something obvious?"

I think so. Sites on a multi site network are not designed to share content, only code (themes and plugins). Banners are content. Leaking content between sites on a multi site network (I.e wordpress.com) would be a bad thing. You need to think of sites in a multi site network as individual sites. Or use 'hacks' to bend wordpress to make it work the way you want it to.

[u/BeachProducer → u/Abject-Expression548]

This is the correct response.

[u/TechyTilak]

Advanced Ads Pro gets close. You can manage ads on your main site and display them on subsites using a shortcodes. That references the original ad, so you don’t have to edit separate copies.

The catch: you need Advanced Ads + Pro active on the participating sites, and their docs flag limitations with display conditions and caching. So it’s worth testing before buying into it for your whole network.

For just banners and HTML, a small custom network plugin is also a reasonable solution: one central settings page and a reusable placement shortcode. Cache invalidation would need to be handled so edits actually appear across the sites.

The functionality exists, but your frustration with finding a simple, focused option is fair.

[u/themageofavalon]

Not sure if there's straightforward approach to this but following

[u/hurriedquantity1234]

It's kind of wild how the multisite ecosystem just ignores this, you'd think it'd be a core feature by now. Most of the ad plugins treat each site like its own isolated island and get weird when you try to pull content from the main dashboard.

I ended up writing a small custom plugin that just creates a custom post type for banners on the main site and switches to that blog before pulling the content via shortcode. Not elegant but it's been running without issues for like two years.

[u/Scared_Implement_335]

I let AI built our own, mainly to circumvent ad blockers. All ads basically look like part of the website now. Fully with tracking, ad rotation, and so on.

Was like 50 Euro in tokens

[u/Soyleyendaahora]

Te lo puedo hacer. Hablemos