nomis5 - 8:45 pm on May 2, 2009 (gmt 0)

More players searching for a static amount of revenue first, the recession second.

Adsense provided exceptional returns, many people saw this so they entred the market to get their share. That's why revenue has fallen. Now it's falling, some will withdraw and the earnings will go backup again but not to previous levels.

That explains why Adsense / Google is till pulling in increasing retrurns.

One question puzzles though. Some analysts refer to Google's lion share of income coming from paid ads in their SERPS. Has any one analysed if that income is decreasing or increasing. If its increasing significantly then the Adsense pot may be getting smaller but no effect on Google's bottom profit line.