AdSense anecdote from G earnings call yesterday

[shorebreak]

I listened in on Google's earnings call yesterday, and at one point an analyst what changes, if any, occured in Q3 in terms of ad coverage and CPCs. In answering the CPC part of the question, the G exec said that search CPC data for Q3 was misleading because of changes in the mix of AdWords (search) vs AdSense (contextual) revenues.

I'm not sure what to make of that, but wonder if it meant that CPC growth was slightly negative in the quarter because contextual clicks made up a bigger % of G's total revenues in Q3 than in Q2.

Incidentally, I also saw some data in a blog post by Efficient Frontier that showed Google Content spending (as a % of overall G spending) was up 82.8% YoY = much more than G Search.

Those two things together are making me think that Google's Content business is growing a lot faster than search, and that it might be correct to say that Content 'saved' Google this quarter.

Anyone care to comment?

[koan]

Anyone care to comment?

If I helped save Google's quarter, I want a Google pen ;)

[skweb]

It does not surprise me because as belts are tightened people may not be searching for that designer handbag but they sure would still like to entertain themselves by visiting blogs about latest bags and if they see a great ad for a handbag they will click.

The other major change that is occurring is the volume of content we now have. Yes, as more people blog -- we are talking even personal blogs that aren't business per se but as long as friends and family visit them they eventually add up in clicks.