Bloggers Not Getting Rich. Plus AdSense Dominance

Posted on October 12, 2005

A survey by Qumana on blog advertiser earnings has found that 69% of bloggers surveyed earn less than $20 per month.

On a per month basis, 69% of our bloggers (those who previously indicated they participate in advertising programs) earn less than $20 per month from all income sources: advertising & sponsorship. It's rather a pity that so many bloggers, of whom we have identified as being experienced, are not seeing any return for their efforts.
You can see from the graph that there is a real hurdle between $50 a month and anything above. From general experience, I know that blogs tend to go through several earnings ranges. You can be stuck on one range for a long time then jump up to the next without really experiencing a gradual incline in that direction.

A large image of the graph mentioned can be found on Flickr. Not surprisingly, most of the bloggers surveyed said they would like to be making more money than they are. Probably because $20 or less per month is not much. 22% said they want to make more than $1000+ a month.

So what types of advertising vehicles are bloggers using? A recent study by Ads on Blogs of 500 A-list blogs helps answer this question. Ads on Blogs found that 30% of the blogs they analyzed are using Google's AdSense program. BlogAds was the second most frequently used ad vehicle and was found on over 18% of the blogs. Then came donations (over 17%), Amazon.com (12%) and merchandise (over 7%). Other types of advertising used included affiliates, Chitika, AdBrite, Yahoo and site sponsorships. Ads on Blogs also found that over 36% of the A-list blogs they analyzed had no advertising at all.