For the first time, Google has announced the commission it takes when paying publishers who run their ads and it is a lot higher than had been estimated - in some cases up to 49%. To put this in perspective, Mediabids is the only company running a pay-for-response program in print of any size and the commissions we take are, in most cases 10%, or less.

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Google Reveals Revenue Split with AdSense Publishers

Google has announced the revenue split it gives to AdSense publishers for its two main AdSense products, AdSense for content and AdSense for search. Until now, the small publishers who use Google’s self-serve AdSense products had no idea how Google was sharing the revenue pie.

AdSense for content publishers, who make up the vast majority of Google’s AdSense publishers, earn a 68% revenue share worldwide, Google says, clarifying: “This means we pay 68% of the revenue that we collect from advertisers for AdSense content for content ads that appear on your sites.”

The portion Google keeps represents the company’s continued investment in AdSense, including the development of new technologies, products and features. It also reflects the costs Google incurs. Since launching AdSense for content in 2003, this revenue share has never changed.

AdSense for search partners receive a 51% revenue share, worldwide, for the search ads that appear through their implementations. As with AdSense for content, the proportion of revenue that Google keeps reflects its 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 Google increased it.

Search Engine Land points out that the split disclosed is for self-serve AdSense publishers rather than big publishers who work directly with Google. Those ad deals would have different splits, depending on the publisher, Google says. Bigger publishers are rumored to get bigger shares.

Google said it will not share the revenue split for publishers who use AdSense for mobile apps, feeds or games, because the company is still learning about how much it costs the company to deliver those types of ads. Google says it may divulge those splits at a later date.