Google has big AdSense news, which it says won’t result in a change to how much publishers get paid. Google said it is changing its AdSense revenue-share structure and will also pay per impression and not per click. But again, Google says this won’t change how publishers get paid.
Google wrote, “Based on our tests, we don’t expect publishers to see a change in their earnings as a result of these updates.” I don’t see how this is possible but I guess it depends on what you define as “change.”
Two things are changing:
(1) Google is updating the AdSense revenue-share structure, which was that publishers retained 68% of the revenue generating from their ads. Now, Google is splitting the AdSense revenue-share into separate rates for the buy-side and sell-side.
For displaying ads with AdSense for content, publishers will receive 80% of the revenue after the advertiser platform takes its fee, whether that be Google’s buy-side or third-party platforms, Google explained.
“When Google Ads purchases display ads on AdSense, Google Ads will retain on average 15% of advertiser spend. There are variations because Google Ads does not take a fixed, per-impression fee, as many advertisers choose to pay based on user actions, like a click or conversion. Overall, publishers will continue to keep about 68% of the revenue,” Google added.
Now when advertisers use a third-party platform to purchase display ads on AdSense, publishers will keep 80% of the revenue after the third-party platform has taken its fee. “Google does not control or have visibility into the fees that these third-party platforms charge advertisers or how they calculate them,” Google wrote.
(2) AdSense to switch to per-impression payments from per click payments. Google said it is an “industry standard of paying per-impression.” “This update will provide a more uniform way for publishers to be paid for their ad space across Google’s products and third-party platforms, helping them compare with other technology providers they use,” Google added.
Google said these changes should go into effect “early next year.”
