Article by Pamela Thompson

Everyone I know in the great web world of marketing wants to know how much money Google pays out in AdSense bucks.  Is AdSense hype, hysteria, or hope for a better tomorrow?  A quick Google search for “make money with AdSense” or “top AdSense earners” results in an onslaught of get-rich-quick-books and insta-matic websites promising big checks and a Mercedes Benz lifestyle.

It’s no secret that Google has forever changed the advertising industry.  As Google stocks soar, media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, and Oprah watch advertisers turn their backs on traditional media and line up at the AdSense store front.  Many claim that Google is too big, and conspiracy theories abound regarding “Big Brother” Google.  Wired magazine this month features a story about Google titled, “Is Google a Monopoly?” Meanwhile, Wired magazine has shrunk down to a thin 3mm as they continue to loose advertisers to the Google ad machine.

For better or worse, Google is a formidable powerhouse here for the long run.  What I want to know is,  where do those advertising dollars end up? Are Google bucks lining the coffers of Larry and Sergey’s trust funds, or are they creating new wealth?  Are AdSense millionaires the new media moguls of tomorrow? Will the webmasters of today find their way onto the Fortune 500 list of tomorrow?  Or, is Google going to gobble up the media world in one big CHOMP and leave nothing but crumbs for the rest of the industry?

The following is a blog post I have seen on at least 5 blogs touting the next generation of AdSense millionaires:

Here listed world’s top Google AdSense earners

1. Markus Frind – Markus Frind from plentyoffish.com is making $300,000 a month. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. Plentyoffish.com is the largest free dating site in the world. His website receives more than 900,000 active daily users.

2. Kevin rose – Kevin rose owner of digg.com is making $250,000 a month. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.

3. Jeremy Shoemaker – Jeremy Shoemaker is earning $140,000 a month, founder of shoemoney.com.

4. Jason Calacanis – Jason Calacanis the founder of weblogs, Inc is earning $120,000 a month. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1970.

5. David Miles Jr. & Kato Leonard – David Miles Jr. & Kato Leonard from freeweblayouts.net is making $100,000 a month.

6. Tim Carter – Tim Carter $30,000 per month. Tim Carter is the founder of a home improvement website AskTheBuilder.com.

7. Joel Comm – Joel Comm is earning $24,000 per month. Joel Comm is the founder of joelcomm.com and many other Google AdSense website.

8. Shawn Hogan – Shawn Hogan is earning $10,000 per month. He is the founder of a popular webmaster forum forums.digitalpoint.com.

Though these stories are intriguing, they are unsupported by verifiable source documentation, tax returns, or financial statements.  I have stumbled upon this same list all over the web; however, a multitude of blog postings does not prove the validity of these numbers. Rather, this list of “Top AdSense Earners” has perhaps become an urban-blog legend amongst the get-rich-quick crowd.

In light of these unsubstantiated details, I Goggled Google’s 2008 annual report and dug up some facts. According to the Kelsey Group, the global advertising industry (including print, online, television, outdoor advertising–everything) is estimated at $600B. The total portion of these dollars that is spent on Internet Advertising is estimated at $45 billion (globally). Google rakes in about $21 Billion of these Internet advertising dollars–almost half of the entire sector. Google’s annual report (2008) states that about 35% of it’s revenues come from its Network Members (Adwords Advertising), and that it pays out most of this revenue back to the AdSense Network. This is substantiated in their annual report by details showing that they pay out  $5.2 billion to it’s Google AdSense Network.  While a very large chunk of this pay out goes to the biggest players (like Amazon), most of these dollars are going to web site owners, webmasters, and media content providers.

So, it turns out that Google pays out about $28% of its annual revenues to the Google AdSense Network. Considering that Google rakes in over $21B per year, that 28% payout is no small chunck of change. Indeed, it is an amount worthy of a media-mogul-wannabe’s attention. In my humble opinion, Google may have a monopoly on the media, but it is a game I want to play.