Google's revenue source

[Hugene]

Here is a link [businessinsider.com] to a chart showing the sources of Google's revenue.

I have trouble believing that AdSense accounts for so little.

Also, when they say google sites, to me that really means the Search Engine, because I don't believe YouTube, Picassa, Blogger or Gmail bring in much ad-clicks.

[willybfriendly]

Ads on other sites "minus acquisition costs" - this is where accountants can have all kinds of fun.

"Let's see, where should we allocate the costs of our new data center in Wierdistan? Oh, let's charge it against AdSense revenues!"

I agree with you. Adsense ads are too ubiquitious to account for a "mere" two billion dollars a year:o

[Sally Stitts]

As has been stated over and over again -
AdSense Total Acquisition Costs (TAC) averages 60% of AdSense partner revenue (more for some, less for others).

Google gets $10B revenue from AdSense, and pays out $6B to AdSense Partners as TAC. This results in $4B profit for Google from AdSense operations - NOT less than $1B, as shown on the chart!

However, this is STILL far less than the income Google receives by displaying ads on its search pages, so the basic point remains valid. Google COULD cancel AdSense at any time, and their bottom line would not suffer that much. I'm sure this fact is disturbing to AdSense publishers, such as myself.

If Google ever gets tired of the web "cesspool" (as defined by their CEO), they could say good-bye to AdSense. It is AdSense that is the primary cause of the cesspoool, by creating millions of websites that consist of stolen content, and jibberish content created by non-English speakers. Everybody wants a piece of the action, and tons of cr@p content gets created. If AdSense were elimated, millions of cr@p websites would disappear overnight.

Google is already cracking down on India and Pakistan for creating much of this undesired content. One of the biggest reasons for this is that Google does not support Urdu, the language of Pakistan, and Google does not support Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu or Tamil, the primary languages of India. So we get thousands of India and Pakistan webmasters creating less-than-ideal webpages in English.

[edited by: Sally_Stitts at 5:30 pm (utc) on Feb 25, 2010]

[londrum]

google wants their cookies and tracking stuff on as many sites as possible, to reach as many users as possible, to help with their 'interest based ads'. so far they've got analytics, custom search, google maps, and adsense too, and maybe a few others. i can't see them dumping one of them.

[Cancellara]

I'm not surprised AdSense revenue is not growing as most good websites can sell directly or through other networks that will offer them more professional service.

[filbiz]

I also have trouble believing that Adsense accounts very little revenue to Google.The reason is when Adsense was introduced, that is the time Google became the biggest search engine in the world. So was it just a coincidence?

[londrum]

adsense is also free advertising for google. they get their logo in prominent places on every page of every site that uses it. that is another reason for them not to dump it.

[maximillianos]

Since Google shares around 80% with the publishers, it does not add a lot to their bottom line (relative to the money they make from properties they own).

They generate a good deal of revenue from publishers, but most gets shared out.

[filbiz]

Yes londrum, now I get the picture. I think that is the real reason behind Googles success. Free advertising to millions of websites and even if they(Google) get less revenue from the publishers, they get more benefits in return so it is very important for Google to keep Adsense running.

[martinibuster]

This is public information that can be obtained from the same source BusinessInsider received it, information here [investor.google.com].