Activated channels and lost virtually all of my Adsense income

[HeyJim]

Yeah, in another recent thread I indicated that I don't check my stats frequently because you can't stress out over the day to day fluctuations.
But, today is different.
Today I activated some channels and yesterday's all time record Adsense day has dwindled down to not enough income to eat at McDonalds!
I know channel stats run 48 hours behind but has anyone read any thing about aggregate data (Your earnings) running behind while thousands of excited webmasters initiate channels?
We are REPLACING the old Adsense code with the new stuff. Right?
(God, I sure hope so. Hope there's nothing wrong with the new code I inserted on the pages.)

[TheDave]

When I read this thread, I was in 2 minds as to whether to use channels or not. I did anyway, and today my EPC is about 4x higher than normal. I know that won't last, it never does :P But I think your fears are unfounded, at least at this early stage.

[longen]

>>and today my EPC is about 4x higher than normal

TheDave, looks like those down on Adsense earnings today are having their funds channeled into your account in error - enjoy while you can!

[jwebber]

"TheDave, looks like those down on Adsense earnings today are having their funds channeled into your account in error - enjoy while you can! "

Tomorrow he will login and see charge backs from google ;)

I did notice a sharp downward spike in EPC 2 days before the new reports came out. I have third party tracking setup and on that day I saw 1/4 EPC from the same exact ads I had the day before. Maybe its just the end of the world. :)

[austtr]

For the past several days, my dollar returns for the day are running at about 25% of previous returns so I can add my voice to those who are reporting big falls.

I have NOT implemented channels.
I have not changed page content.
Number of pages viewed within normal fluctuation range
CTR within normal fluctuation range
Average earnings per click has fallen through the floor.

The timing of the changes seem to coincide with the introduction of channels but I fail to see a connection between channels, which is just a reporting tool, and the amounts being paid per ad click.

[pipster2004]

Ok...

I'm another one with large decline..
Question is...
I have setup 5 channels for the various sites...
but I have left one or two site on the old system...
where does one see this data against the channel data?
There, should be a catch-all channel slot (default)!
Otherwise it just makes no sense!

[Macro]

I am seeing a big decline in EPC, total earnings and other metrics. Traffic and CTR are still strong. This suggests that the Google payout for Friday and Saturday dropped sharply. It's a fairly large site with quite significant figures and, more importantly, very stable figures over many months. Adding three channels has seemed to have caused the site to drop in EPC and earnings by about 70%. It normally never varies more than 10% from the average.

One smaller site with no channels is showing it's two best ever days. Maybe it's coincidence, maybe adding channels can delay some of your earnings by a few days.

[Glen_Murphy]

My revenue took a huge drop in the 24 hours after setting up channels.

BUT on the second day my revenue is hitting record highs - which makes me think it's just playing catchup now.

[Mario]

It seems for many of us that Google has temporarily? adjusted the ratio of payment we receive for each click by about 25%. This has happened many times before though usually closer to the end of the month.

[Edwin]

Big fall (over 40%) for me too post-channel.

I wonder if it's because Google treats the new channel-enabled ads as a completely new "ad unit" and basically forgets all the optimization work it has been doing up until now trying to serve the best mix of ads in the space. In other words, *perhaps* as soon as you uploaded the channel Google sees the space as new and starts experimentally serving ads.

The above assumes that Google's algorithm is working to fine tune the ad mix for any given page/site, just like it works to optimize the ads on Google itself...

[varya]

I added channels to all of my sites and I'm not seeing any kind of drop.

My EPC is actually up for the last couple of days, EPM and CTR are consistent.

[newbies]

I didn't notice EPC drop for me. It actually reached the highest level last week. Using channels two days ago, which has not affected my EPC so far. I guess EPC drop for some of you is industral specific or site specific, not a policy change of google.

[icedowl]

All seems back to normal today.

[ChrisKud5]

It would be nice to know exactly how the channel data is being included in the reports, if the channel data from 48 hours ago is added to the current day or added to the day it was accrued on.

With every small step adsense makes more and more unanswered questions appear.

Can ASA give us an answer as how the channel data is included and for what day. Are numbers added retroactivly 2 days later? Are daily earnings for a specific day only available two days later now with channels enabled?

[aris1970]

We haven't used any channels yet but our earnings suddenly dropped more than 50% yesterday and today. I really don't know what is happening with the new features of Google, but we should wait for 3-4 days until things get stabilized.

[Sunflux]

I had a HORRIBLE Friday and an almost as bad Saturday. Not just in earnings, but in CTR as well. Today seems to be back to normal.

Just a rash of poorly placed ads on the weekend?

[AdSenseAdvisor]

Can ASA give us an answer as how the channel data is included and for what day. Are numbers added retroactivly 2 days later? Are daily earnings for a specific day only available two days later now with channels enabled?

I'm sorry not to have given you your answer sooner...

Aggregate reports are updated throughout the day, and there is no 2 day delay for any column of your aggregate reports. This type of report includes all instances of your ad code, with or without a channel assigned. Basically, an aggregrate report is an AdSense report as it was 'pre-channels.'

Channel reports, however, are delayed 2 days. This means that all of the channel data for, say, March 20, will only be visible on March 22. Once the 2 days have elapsed, the stats will show up for the correct date - clicks that were made on March 20 will show up in your reports next to March 20. They won't be 'tacked on' to the current day of March 22.

Finally, on a related note, if you create a channel report that includes ONLY the last 2 days, your report will show 'No data available.' If you create a channel report that includes the last 2 days as well as days for which stats are available, the report will show all days with available numbers, and simply omit the rows for the last 2 days.

I'll be around throughout the day to help with any questions :)

ASA.

[jwebber]

Thanks for the answer ASA! I just logged in and noticed that Channel data has been updated and is behaving exactly as you described. And it is an extremely useful feature, very handy to help pinpoint the bad spots.

Now can you tell us why EPC is down? ;)

[pipster2004]

Ahhhh so if there had been a catch-all channel,
(one that all "un-channel assigned banners" are associated with) it would have been alot easier to understand!

[fezziwig]

After activating channels last week and watching traffic with the scripts, I have little doubt that reporting is delayed--and not just during the course of one day.

[annej]

sunflex, did you check to see if your overall traffic was down? Weekends are always slow on my sites and with the arrival of spring people are getting outdoors and are online even less on weekends.

[Sunflux]

No, impressions held about normal for a weekend. Friday was the lowest CPM day for me EVER.

[fezziwig]

The big question for ASA:

Is all aggregate income for a specific day reported on the day when the click through took place? Or is it lagged a day?

At the end of the day, my script generated data doesn't always seem to jive with the Google reports.

Thank you for your help, ASA!

[rbacal]

The declines also coincide with the College Basketball Tourney. Fer serious, there was a newspaper article a day or two ago indicating that the Tournament would cost businesses and employees 1.5 BILLION dollars in lost productivity.

They indicated lots of people watching the games or streaming them. Not only did my sales crap out for the few days, but so did adsense. (Today, good. No game).

They be watchin b-ball, Ethel, not be surfin.

[Sunflux]

Well, I have to say that Sunday and Monday were back to average or better numbers.

[Mario]

Same here. I knew it was only a blip.

[JohnKelly]

Same here as well, thankfully. Still getting 40+% alternate ads, but that is decreasing it appears. I suspect many new pages were added to the index, so have to be hit once before showing paid ads.

[Broadway]

I'd be curious. Do people really feel there was a "Channel Tax", their EPC decreased? Or did they find that later on the reporting by AdSense resolved itself and there was no dip in earnings for those first days after they activated Channels?

[freitasm]

I'd be curious. Do people really feel there was a "Channel Tax", their EPC decreased?

Not at all. I'm happy with my site's performance, and I've installed channels a couple of hours after the first release.

[ToddW]

Earnings down 75% last 3 days and not using channels. Decided to use channels to see what's up but wont know for 2 days, and maybe by then everything will be back to normal *hopes*

[ariel1042]

I activated a channel about a week ago & clickthrus & revenue has been dropping.

I can't see the channel so I must have put in the code wrong. It was only on one page, so I'll go back & change the code & see what happens.

Thanks to all