Google reveals Adsense revenue share

you gain 68% from adsense for content and 51% for adsense for search

[alahamdan]

Hello

Finally Share revealed:

[adsense.blogspot.com...]

As you may already know, AdSense is comprised of several products. The most popular are AdSense for content, which allows publishers to generate revenue from ads placed alongside web content, and AdSense for search, which allows publishers to place a custom Google search engine on their site and generate revenue from ads shown next to search results. Since AdSense for content and AdSense for search offer publishers different services, the revenue shared with publishers differs for each of these products.

AdSense for content publishers, who make up the vast majority of our AdSense publishers, earn a 68% revenue share worldwide. This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense for content ads that appear on your sites. The remaining portion that we keep reflects Google's costs for our continued investment in AdSense — including the development of new technologies, products and features that help maximize the earnings you generate from these ads. It also reflects the costs we incur in building products and features that enable our AdWords advertisers to serve ads on our AdSense partner sites. Since launching AdSense for content in 2003, this revenue share has never changed.

We pay our AdSense for search partners a 51% revenue share, worldwide, for the search ads that appear through their implementations. As with AdSense for content, the proportion of revenue that we keep reflects our costs, including the significant expense, research and development involved in building and enhancing our core search and AdWords technologies. The AdSense for search revenue share has remained the same since 2005, when we increased it.

[buzzmachine.com...]

I had two primary complaints about Google in my otherwise admittedly and obviously wet-kiss book, What Would Google Do?: Google’s policy aiding government censorship in China and its opacity on advertising relationships. The first is pretty much fixed and this morning, Google is addressing teh second. so is the second. (Uh-oh, now I have fewer excuses not to be a fanboy.)

At a press meeting with Google execs in Davos in January, I pressed them about the advertising openness, having discussed the issue with publishers at DLD in Munich right before. In Davos, Google’s president of global sales, Nikesh Arora, replied that the company was reconsidering its transparency on AdSense. This morning, they’re revealing the deal in a blog post (to which I’ll link as soon as it’s up; this news was embargoed for 10a ET). From the post:

[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 3:16 pm (utc) on May 24, 2010]
[edit reason] added quotes? [/edit]

[travelin cat]

AdSense for content publishers, who make up the vast majority of our AdSense publishers, earn a 68% revenue share worldwide. This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense for content ads that appear on your sites.

I'm thinking most people thought the revenue share was much less.

[Rodeo]

Just got the tweet on my mobile. I'm surprised really, never thought it (content) would be that higher a share to publishers.
How many ad networks have we seen claiming industry's highest revenue share at 70%?
68% from the largest(?) ad network is excellent IMO

[nethead]

wow very interesting...I always thought that G makes at least 50% - guess I was wrong.

[wanderingmind]

... and the share has ALWAYS been that, despite the recession...

[maximillianos]

This is very interesting. First off, I thought it was higher (75-80%). Secondly, this makes me wonder if I should be using my own site search script with embedded content ads (68% rev share) versus the Adsense Search (51% rev share).

That 17% could make a big difference.

Interesting.

[Gomvents]

Who thinks YOU are getting 68%? As I read it they pay out 68% of what they get in... I wouldn't be surprised if that % fluctuates depending on your site's traffic, conversion rate, IP of clicker, etc. etc.... a Few big players getting 70%+ can make the average 68% with some people getting only 50% or less... How else do you explain clicks worth a penny and sometimes even sub-penny? CPM targeting?

[purplecape]

Why is that figure surprising? People who calculated it, using Google's financial reports, have always found it to be 65-70%. That's been posted here a few times over the years....

Of course, that's the overall share, so some publishers could be making more than others. I don't see anything in the post that says all publishers get the same share.

Interestingly, Google also makes a point that is I've heard a few times here: "Additionally, when considering different monetization options, we encourage you to focus on the total revenue generated from your site, rather than just revenue share, which can be misleading. For example, you would receive $68 with AdSense for content for $100 worth of advertising that appeared on your site. If another ad network offers an 80% revenue share, but is only able to collect $50 from ads served on your site, you would earn $40. In this case, a higher revenue share wouldn’t make up for the lower revenue yield of the other ad network."

[ecmedia]

Hopefully it will end all the conspiracy theories. I was particularly amused by those who claimed that every time their revenue dropped it was because G was simply taking out more money to meet its quarterly numbers.

[chrism]

This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense for content ads that appear on your sites.

@Gomvents, that was my initial reaction too until i re-read the sentence above.

[Alcoholico]

I love this sentence:

...in the spirit of greater transparency with AdSense publishers...

The italian judge had nothing to do with that.

[walkman]

68% is a fair share IMO.

[netmeg]

So what changes now that we know this? The stats are still stuck and I still have a monster killer death head cold.

[Go60Guy]

I'm sure some of the conspiracy theorists will assert that the 68% refers only to what they actually report to publishers. There will be skeptics.

Oh well, anyhow, I seem to recall some years ago seeing a serious discussion about some of the larger publishers negotiating a heftier revenue share, upwards of 90%. Who knows?

[anand84]

Interesting because a deduction of the same from Google's quarterly earnings revealed that the publishers share was 75.0%,73.8%,73.9% and72.1% for the four quarters of 2009...This means the revenue share has dropped from 75% to 68% in just over a year!

[Edge]

This is a step in the right direction.

I think Google should be appluaded for moving towards full revenue share disclosure.

The more each publisher understands the revenue share and customer ROI the better equiped we are to improve the AdSence publisher product via our wedsites.

[wolfadeus]

Ah-hah! (but didn't we know that already?)

[londrum]

i was a little bit surprised that it was that high. thought it was lower. not complaining though.

i wonder where they're going to publish the updated figures, further down the line. because i think the truly useful thing in them publishing the figure now (from a publisher's point of view) is that they'll have to think twice before lowering it. whereas if it remained secret nobody's going to know if they shave off a tenth of a percent here and there.

[ken_b]

Well that sure beats the 50 - 60% some other networks pay.

Maybe publishers can use this info to get a better deal from other networks.

[Gomvents]

chrism, "This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense for content ads that appear on your sites"

Define "WE" and "YOUR". Google is likely speaking collectively meaning what I am suggesting may still be the case and until they come out and say otherwise SPECIFICALLY I will continue to think this way.

[martinibuster]

This means the revenue share has dropped from 75% to 68% in just over a year!

Please read this part:

AdSense for content publishers, who make up the vast majority of our AdSense publishers, earn a 68% revenue share worldwide. This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense for content ads that appear on your sites... Since launching AdSense for content in 2003, this revenue share has never changed.

I wonder if the private deals they made with some of their content partners like MySpace was large enough to skew the payout estimates?

[netmeg]

Actually the one thing that I do find interesting is that advertisers must be paying through the nose these days. My eCPM for 2010 is like FOUR TIMES what it's been for every year previous. Sure, my CTR has tanked enormously, but the huge eCPM increase means I'm almost approaching 2008 (my best year) levels.

I don't get even half the clicks I got last year (which was itself way down from 2008), but the ones I do get are some honking big clicks.

[edited by: netmeg at 3:42 pm (utc) on May 24, 2010]

[Lame_Wolf]

We pay our AdSense for search partners a 51% revenue share,

LOL
They are sure making lots of money from me then. 3 clicks, 3 pence.

[unLTD]

Interesting observations:

(a) Over the next few months we’ll begin showing the revenue shares for AdSense for content and AdSense for search right in the AdSense interface.

(b) when considering different monetization options, we encourage you to focus on the total revenue generated from your site, rather than just revenue share, which can be misleading. For example, you would receive $68 with AdSense for content for $100 worth of advertising that appeared on your site. If another ad network offers an 80% revenue share, but is only able to collect $50 from ads served on your site, you would earn $40. In this case, a higher revenue share wouldn’t make up for the lower revenue yield of the other ad network.

(c) Last December, we asked for your ideas and feedback on how we can make AdSense better. We received more than 600 suggestions....

[walkman]

I think Google should be appluaded for moving towards full revenue share disclosure.

If you want to thank [webmasterworld.com...]

[Go60Guy]

@martinibuster

I wonder if the private deals they made with some of their content partners like MySpace was large enough to skew the payout estimates?

Exactly my question.

[Sally Stitts]

Some people get paid less than 10%.
Some people get paid 20%.
Some people get paid 30%.
Some people get paid 40%.
Some people get paid 50%.
Some people get paid 60%.
Some people get paid 70%.
Some people are paid 80%.
Some people are paid more than 90%.

The average is apparently 68%.

Not all publishers are equal, regarding what they bring to the party. Some provide very high conversions - some provide very low conversions. They are NOT rewarded equally, nor should they be. There is a vast difference in payout between publishers.

So, do we really know any more than we did before?
I say no. We don't know anything more than we did before.

Except that EPC is up, and CTR is down, as reported extensively.

[joelgreen]

Good to know but changes nothing

[dvduval]

That is pretty amazing they can share that. I would expect their next closest rival far behind now, and would have a difficult time providing numbers that good on a large scale.

[Swanny007]

They say the 68% number is the worldwide share. I still think some people get a bit more or a bit less depending on performance. I guess I'll find out when they put the percentage into my AS account in the coming months.

What does this change? Well, nothing with AdSense. But I will use that when negotiating with other ad companies who are paying me in the 50% - 60% neighborhood.